REG - Cadence Minerals PLC - Further Progress at the Amapa Iron Ore Project

Cadence MineralsAnnouncement

18/04/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 0507L  Cadence Minerals PLC  18 April 2024

Cadence Minerals Plc

 

("Cadence Minerals", "Cadence", or "the Company")

 

Further Progress at the Amapa Iron Ore Project

 

Cadence Minerals (AIM: KDNC) is pleased to announce progress on the
environmental applications and the ongoing development of the 67% 'Green Iron'
processing flow sheet at the Amapá Ore Project ("Amapá", "Project" or
"Amapá Project").

 

Highlights:

 

·       Submission of the Environmental Control Plan - "PCA" (Plano de
Controle Ambiental) and an Environmental Control Report - "RCA" (Relatório de
Controle Ambiental) submitted ahead of schedule for the Mine and Railway.

·       The PCA and RCA are part of the state environmental approval
process required to obtain an Installation License ("LI"), which, once
granted, allows construction at Amapá to commence.

·       The port's environmental licensing is on schedule with the PCA
and RCA and is due to be submitted in the third quarter of this year.

·       Sampling of two tonnes of iron ore representing the life of
mine material is complete. This will be sent to an engineering firm in China
to test the 67% Fe "Green Iron" flow sheet.

 

Cadence CEO Kiran Morzaria commented: "The Cadence Board and Management team
are thrilled with the recent uptick in the pace of developments at the Amapá
Iron Ore Project.

 

The early submission of our environmental reports underscores the Project's
commitment to sustainability and efficient project management, and this, along
with the anticipated approval of our installation license for the current
year, is paving the way for the rehabilitation and commissioning of the Amapá
Project. Our dedication to the 'Green Iron' initiative reflects our vision for
an environmentally lower carbon iron ore product. I look forward to reporting
further progress to you in the coming weeks and months."

 

Licensing

As announced in September 2023, Amapá Project Management had agreed with the
Amapá State Environmental Agency ("SEMA") to an expedited environmental
process, given the Project had previously been granted all its Operational
Licenses ("LO").

 

The PCA and RCA for the mine and railway were submitted to SEMA last week.
SEMA will now review the application. The RCA and PCA for the wholly-owned
port continue progressing, with the final reports due for submission in the
third quarter of this year. Our understanding from SEMA is that based on the
current timeline, the LI will be granted by the end of 2024. The LI allows the
rehabilitation and construction of the Amapá Project, and once this is
completed, the LO is granted, and mining operations can commence.

 

67% 'Green Iron' Flowsheet

The Amapá Project Management team continue to develop the 'green iron'
flowsheet. Part of the work entails carrying out a mineralogical and
multi-elemental analysis of run-of-mine ore, concentrate, and tailings, along
with testing the full circuit at a pilot-scale level. To this end, the Project
has completed a life-of-mine sampling, collecting approximately two tonnes of
material, which will now be shipped to our independent processing engineers in
China.

 

About the Amapá Project and Cadence Ownership

The Amapá Project is a brownfield integrated iron ore project in the Amapá
State of Brazil. It has Mineral Resources of 276 million tonnes (Mt) at 38.33%
Iron (Fe) and Ore Reserves of 196 Mt at 39.34%. The Project consists of the
mine, processing plant, wholly owned port and a 194km railway, all operated by
PBA. A Pre Feasibility Study ("PFS") was published in January 2023, which
delivered a post-tax net present value of US$949 million at a discount rate of
10% and a post-tax internal rate of return of 34%, with an average annual life
of mine EBITDA of US$235 million annually. In the PFS, after ramp-up, the
planned yearly average production was forecast to be 5.3 Mtpa of Fe
concentrate, consisting of 4.4 Mtpa at 65.4% Fe and 0.9 Mtpa at 62% Fe
concentrate. Over the life of the mine, Amapá is forecast to deliver free
on-board C1 Cash Costs of US$35.53 / dry metric tonne.

 

As of March 28(th) 2024, Cadence's total investment in the Amapá Project had
increased by approximately US$1.1 million to approximately US$13.2 million,
and consequently, the equity stake in the project now stands at 33.6%.

 

 For further information contact:

 Cadence Minerals plc                                         +44 (0) 20 3582 6636
 Andrew Suckling
 Kiran Morzaria

 WH Ireland Limited (NOMAD & Broker)                          +44 (0) 20 7220 1666
 James Joyce
 Darshan Patel

 Fortified Securities - Joint Broker                          +44 (0) 20 3411 7773
 Guy Wheatley

 Brand Communications                                         +44 (0) 7976 431608
 Public & Investor Relations
 Alan Green

 

Qualified Person

Kiran Morzaria B.Eng. (ACSM), MBA, has reviewed and approved the information
contained in this announcement. Kiran holds a Bachelor of Engineering
(Industrial Geology) from the Camborne School of Mines and an MBA (Finance)
from CASS Business School.

 

Cautionary and Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this announcement are or may be considered
forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are identified by their use of
terms and phrases such as "believe", "could", "should", "envisage",
"estimate", "intend", "may", "plan", "will", or the negative of those
variations or comparable expressions including references to assumptions.
These forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts but rather
on the Directors' current expectations and assumptions regarding the company's
future growth results of operations performance, future capital, and other
expenditures (including the amount, nature, and sources of funding thereof)
competitive advantages business prospects and opportunities. Such
forward-looking statements reflect the Directors' current beliefs and
assumptions and are based on information currently available to the
Directors.  Many factors could cause actual results to differ materially from
the results discussed in the forward-looking statements, including risks
associated with vulnerability to general economic and business conditions,
competition, environmental and other regulatory changes actions by
governmental authorities, the availability of capital markets reliance on
crucial personnel uninsured and underinsured losses and other factors many of
which are beyond the control of the company. Although any forward-looking
statements contained in this announcement are based upon what the Directors
believe to be reasonable assumptions. The company cannot assure investors that
results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements.

 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the company to
constitute Inside Information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation
(E.U.) No. 596/2014, as it forms part of U.K. domestic law under the European
Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended. Upon the publication of this
announcement via a regulatory information service, this information is
considered to be in the public domain.

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