Taseko Mines announces improved economics for Yellowhead Copper Project

Taseko Mines (TGB) announced the results of the recently completed technical report for its 100%-owned Yellowhead Copper Project in British Columbia. Project highlights include: 25 year mine life with average annual copper production of 178 million pounds, at total cash costs of $1.90 per pound; concentrator designed to process 90,000 tons per day of ore with an expected copper recovery of 90%, and produce a clean copper concentrate with payable gold and silver by-products; conventional open pit mining with a low strip ratio of 1.4; NPV – 8% – of $2.0B and IRR of 21% after-tax, at $4.25/lb copper, $2,400/oz gold and $28.00/oz silver; over the first five years of the mine life, grade is expected to average 0.32% copper, producing an average of 206 million pounds of copper at total cash costs of $1.62 per pound; life of mine site operating costs of $12.89/ton milled; initial capital costs of $2.0B with a payback period of 3.3 years; expected to be eligible for the federal Canadian Clean Technology Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit, with around $540M of eligible initial capital costs reimbursed in year one of operation; total life of mine production of 4.4 billion pounds of copper, 282 thousand ounces of gold and 19.4 million ounces of silver. In operation, Yellowhead would support about 590 direct jobs and approximately 1,120 indirect and induced jobs in the area. Total tax payments to the Provincial and Federal governments over the 25-year mine life are estimated at $3.2B. Initial capital costs of $2.0B are estimated.