VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Jan. 3, 2013) - I-Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE:IMA)(PINKSHEETS:IMAHF) ("the Company") is pleased to announce estimated Indicated Mineral Resources of 5.7 million short tons and the accompanying results of the Technical Economic Model (TEM) of its Prefeasibility Study ("PFS") for its Bovill Kaolin-Halloysite-Quartz-K-Spar Project (the "Bovill Kaolin Project"). Highlights of the TEM include:
- $237 million Pre-Tax NPV; US$150 million After Tax NPV
- 37% Pre-Tax IRR; 28% After Tax IRR
- Initial Capital Cost of $66.0 and Total Life of Mine Capital costs $83.3 million
- 5.7 million short tons of resources
- 4.0 million short tons of reserves
- 25+ year mine life with 0.39:1 strip ratio
- 3 year estimated after tax payback
Statement of Mineral Resources
The Indicated Mineral Resources are reported in Table 1. No mining cut-off grade is applied since all material within the pit design can be mined for a profit. Three mineral products are included in the resource: feldspathic sand, a combination of potassium feldspar ("K-spar") and quartz, kaolinite clay and halloysite clay:
Table 1: Statement of Indicated Mineral Resources from the WBL Pit and Middle Ridge areas (as of 18 December 2012)
|
| | Percent (%) | Tons (000s) |
Total
Tons
(000s) | feldspathic
Sand | Kaolinite
Clay | Halloysite
Clay | Waste | feldspathic
Sand | Kaolinite
Clay | Halloysite
Clay | Waste |
| 5,690 | 75.6 | 13.8 | 2.8 | 7.8 | 4,302 | 785 | 159 | 444 |
Results of the Pre-Feasibility Study
The PFS assumed a weighted average price of primary clay products - halloysite, kaolin, metakaolin, quartz and K-spar - of $236/ton as supported by market studies completed by I-Minerals, preliminary studies being undertaken by a European company specializing in halloysite research, and a market study conducted by a major international marketing and research firm. Resources can support a mine life of well in excess of 50 years; however initial indicative economics were performed assuming a 25+-year market for primary clay products. Mineral Reserves are presented below in Table 2 and production highlights are tabulated in Table 3.
Table 2: Statement of Probable Mineral Reserves, (as of 18 December 2012) All figures thousands of tons
|
Total
Tons | Quartz
Sand | K-feldspar
Sand | Kaolinite
Clay | Halloysite
Clay |
| 3,995 | 2,243 | 897 | 709 | 147 |
| |
Table 3:Production Highlights
|
| Parameter | Value |
| Average Annual Production Rate | 208 kst |
| Process Throughput Rate (nominal) | 800 tons ore per day |
| Stripping Ratio (waste:ore) | 0.39 |
| Mine Life (market limited) | 25+ years |
On an after-tax basis, technical-economics indicate an NPV6% of US$150 million with an IRR of 28%. Payback will occur 3 years from the start of production. Economic results are summarized below.
Table 4: Economic Results 1
|
| Description | LoM Value
(US$000s)
Pre-Tax | LoM Value
(US$000s)
Atfer-Tax | Unit Cost
(US$/ton
product) |
| Gross Revenue | $943,000 | $943,000 | $236 |
| Marketing | ($4,000) | ($4,000) | ($1.00) |
| Royalties (5% sales) | ($47,000) | ($47,000) | ($11.80) |
| Gross Income | $892,000 | $892,000 | $223 |
| Mining Costs | ($50,800) | ($50,800) | ($12.70) |
| Processing Costs | ($204,200) | ($204,200) | ($51.10) |
| G&A Costs | ($6,000) | ($6,000) | ($1.50) |
| Operating Costs | ($261,000) | ($261,000) | ($65.30) |
| Mine Capital | ($1,100) | ($1,100) | - |
| Process Capital | ($66,700) | ($66,700) | - |
| Tailings Capital | ($11,800) | ($11,800) | - |
| Owner Capital | ($3,700) | ($3,700) | - |
| LoM Capital | ($83,300) | ($83,300) | - |
| Taxes | | ($190,400) | - |
| Subtotal Capital & Tax | ($83,300) | ($273,700) | - |
| CASH FLOW | $357,300 | $357,300 | - |
| NPV6% | $236,700 | $150,000 | - |
| IRR | 37% | 28% | - |
| (1) Differences in totals and subtotals are due to rounding, and are not material to the results presented. |
| |
The technical economics results for the PFS and its supporting Mineral Resource estimate presented in this press release was completed by SRK Consulting (US) Inc. ("SRK") in Lakewood, Colorado. Tetra Tech ("TT") in Denver, Colorado was commissioned by the Company to complete design of the Proposed Tailings Facility (PTF). HDR, Inc. (HDR) in Boise, Idaho was commissioned by the Company to aid in permitting and environmental issues. Roberts & Schaefer ("R&S"), a KBR Company, was commissioned to complete the design for the planned processing and product packaging facilities.
Dr. Bart Stryhas constructed the geologic model and resource estimation results reported herein. He is responsible for the resource estimation methodology and the resource statement. Dr. Stryhas is a Qualified Person (QP) and is independent of the issuer applying all of the tests in Section 1.4 of NI 43-101. Valerie 0bie (QP) completed the reserve estimation reported herein and is responsible for the economic assessment.
I-Minerals' Bovill Kaolin Project is a pre-feasibility level mining venture located in north-central Idaho. The mineral reserves delineated from the primary clay represent the largest deposits of high quality K-feldspar, quartz, and halloysite in the Western United States. This pre-feasibility study is preliminary in nature.
"We are very pleased with the technical economic results of the Pre-feasibility study and there is material latitude going forward to improve on these results," commented Thomas Conway, President and CEO of I-Minerals Inc. "There are large areas of primary clay which have had insufficient drilling to be categorized as indicated resources and these areas of inferred resources could not be included in the pre-feasibility modeling. Additional drilling and metallurgical work offers the prospects on not only increasing indicated resources of primary clay, but should also lead to the discovery of additional high grade halloysite zones. The detailed metallurgical work undertaken as part of the PFS process demonstrated the halloysite was not uniformly distributed throughout the primary clay. This resulted in the PFS halloysite resources being only about 150,000 tons whereas the inferred halloysite resource in the 2011 PEA was something approaching 235,000 tons - yet the difference in after tax NPV is only about 3%. The demand for our products has never been as strong as it is at present despite the slow growing economy. We believe this is a testament to our products being some of the highest quality available. Beyond the halloysite with incomparable combination of aspect ratio and purity, chemically our K-spar is equal to or better than the industry's best of the past which is no longer produced while our ability to produce minimum 99.9% SiO2 purity quartz through flotation processing leaves us incredibly well positioned. Some major industrial minerals companies are taking notice - and why wouldn't they? This has the potential to get very exciting."
The NI 43-101 compliant Technical Report is being completed by SRK, TT, HDR and R&S and will be filed on SEDAR (at www.sedar.com) in its entirety as required. All values presented in this press release are in US imperial units and 4Q 2012 US dollars.
I-Minerals Inc.
Thomas M. Conway, President & CEO