RE:RE:RE:Q3 FinancialBeluga2020,
IMHO, there is more to this OSP delay story. On the technical side--
From Orvana's February 24th news release:
EMIPA – Bolivia
"Since placing EMIPA in care and maintenance status in October 2019, two business initiatives have been in development, namely, (i) the reassessment and review of a comprehensive exploration program of EMIPA's 58K Ha land package, and (ii) the completion of the feasibility analysis of the Oxide Stockpile Project (OSP)."
"Regarding the OSP, the original technical approach was to combine acid heap leaching with a sulphidization acidification thickening recycling process (SART). Upon completion of an extensive metallurgical analysis, EMIPA considered an alternative that would reduce the OSP's CAPEX and maximize the efficient recovery of Au, Cu and Ag. The new processing approach consists of tank acid leaching, solvent extraction-electro winning (SX-EW) for Cu, tank cyanide leaching for Au. EMIPA is now undergoing further de-risking metallurgical analysis to confirm Recoveries, CAPEX and OPEX. At the moment, our analysis suggests that Ag and Zn recoveries from the OSP may also be revenue contributors. Further analysis is required to confirm potential levels of revenue from Ag and Zn. Subject to the successful review and design of the OSP and receipt of sufficient funding, operations at EMIPA are estimated to re-open in late 2022."
From the December 2011 43-101 report on Table 13-1, the Oxide ore zinc content is 0.81 percent, and the iron content is 5.11 percent. With tank acid leaching, the copper and zinc will be leached into solution in the 500 cubic meter acid leach tanks.
On page 64, the consultant's report states that "Up to 50% of the zinc in the ore dissolves in the acidic leach, which, unless the zinc is removed, results in a tendency of dissolved zinc build-up in the circulating leach solution. The zinc may be precipitated from the flotation tailings by heavy dosing with lime slurry to raise the pH to the vicinity of 9.5. However, consideration should be given to recovering the dissolved zinc from the circulating process water."
Based on a total operating cost of $93 USD/t Don Mario OSP will generate $45.3 million USD in revenue at a total production cost of $21 million USD. That is with three revenue producing metals--gold, silver, and copper.
Add 1017 tpq of zinc production, and that adds $3 million USD per quarter in revenue, and after tax profit would go from $14 million USD/quarter to $17.5 million USD/quarter.
ganndolph