for personal use only · • in an area of operating open pit clay mining operations of sibelco and...

26
Hemerdon tungsten and tin project (ASX: WLF, AIM: WLFE) For personal use only

Upload: others

Post on 14-Mar-2020

0 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Hemerdon tungsten and tin project

(ASX: WLF, AIM: WLFE)

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

2

Cautionary Statement

• The information contained in this document has been prepared based upon information supplied by Wolf Minerals Limited (the Company).

This Document does not constitute an offer or invitation to any person to subscribe for or apply for any securities in the Company.

• While the information contained in this Document has been prepared in good faith, neither the Company nor any of its shareholders,

directors, officers, agents, employees or advisers give any representations or warranties (express or implied) as to the accuracy, reliability

or completeness of the information in this Document, or of any other written or oral information made or to be made available to any

interested party or its advisers (all such information being referred to as Information) and liability therefore is expressly disclaimed.

• Accordingly, to the full extent permitted by law, neither the Company nor any of its shareholders, directors, officers, agents, employees or

advisers take any responsibility for, or will accept any liability whether direct or indirect, express or implied, contractual, tortious, statutory

or otherwise, in respect of, the accuracy or completeness of the Information or for any of the opinions contained in this Document or for

any errors, omissions or misstatements or for any loss, howsoever arising, from the use of this Document. Neither the issue of this

Document nor any part of its contents is to be taken as any form of commitment on the part of the Company to proceed with any

transaction and the right is reserved to terminate any discussions or negotiations with any person. In no circumstances will the Company

be responsible for any costs, losses or expenses incurred in connection with any appraisal or investigation of the Company. In furnishing

this Document, the Company does not undertake or agree to any obligation to provide the recipient with access to any additional

information or to update this Document or to correct any inaccuracies in, or omissions from, this Document which may become apparent.

• This Document should not be considered as the giving of investment advice by the Company or any of its shareholders, directors, officers,

agents, employees or advisers. Each party to whom this Document is made available must make its own independent assessment of the

Company after making such investigations and taking such advice as may be deemed necessary. In particular, any estimates or

projections or opinions contained in this Document necessarily involve significant elements of subjective judgment, analysis and

assumptions and each recipient should satisfy itself in relation to such matters.

• This Document may include certain statements that may be deemed forward-looking statements. All statements in this discussion, other

than statements of historical facts, that address future activities and events or developments that the Company expects, are forward-

looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on

reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ

materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The Company, its shareholders, directors, officers, agents, employees or

advisers, do not represent, warrant or guarantee, expressly or impliedly, that the information in this Document is complete or accurate. To

the maximum extent permitted by law, the Company disclaims any responsibility to inform any recipient of this Document of any matter

that subsequently comes to its notice which may affect any of the information contained in this Document. Factors that could cause actual

results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, continued availability of capital and financing,

and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of

future performance and that actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements.

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

3

The Presentation Team

Humphrey Hale, Executive MD

– 16 years in mining industry

– Previously with AngloGold Ashanti

– Geologist with Exploration and Mining Consultants

– Founding director of a private gold exploration company

Don Newport, NED

– Formerly head of Standard Bank's Global Mining Finance Business.

– Previously led the Barclay's Capital Mining Sector Team

Richard Lucas, CFO and Company Secretary

– Ex CFO of the Geotech Group

– Lihir Gold mine in PNG

– Previously a director at PWC

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

4

Overview of Wolf Minerals

• Emerging low cost tungsten development company with tin credits

• Focused on a significant deposit of strategic metals:

- option to acquire 100% of the Hemerdon Project

• Positive DFS and strong outlook for tungsten and tin prices

supports case for rapid development of Hemerdon

– payback period 2-3 years

• Existing Planning Permission (Mining License) in place. Future strategy

to extend Planning Permission and mine life to 14+ years

• UK provides a politically stable location, valuable support from UK Government

• Financing of project progressing

Offtake agreement with 2 of the largest tungsten manufacturers, Global Tungsten Powders

and Wolfram Bergbau und Hutten confirming saleability of concentrate

£75m of financing secured, comprising £55m senior debt from ING, Unicredit and Cat

Financial and £20m from offtakers

Resource Capital Fund a significant and supportive shareholder (17.8%)

• First production expected in early 2014

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

5

Tungsten

• Dense metal with properties that make it almost

impossible to substitute

• Highest melting point of all non-alloy metals

• Tensile strength at high temperature

• Wear resistant

• Good heat and electrical conductivity

• Lowest coefficient of thermal expansion

• High performance manufacturing, cutting and

drilling tools

• Steel additives for strength and hardness

• Aircraft, space and technology

• Mining, oil and gas and construction

• Superalloys

• Military applications and nuclear

• Light bulbs and electronics

Demand

Properties

Supply

Uses

• Dominated by the Chinese (~85% of supply)

• UK/Europe keen to source non-Chinese supply

of this critical metal

• Tungsten demand correlates closely with

economic output, where tungsten demand in one

year reflects growth in GDP the previous year

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Others Portugal Austria

Canada Russia China

Total Linear (Total)

World: Mine production of tungsten by main countries, 1998-2010 (t W)

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

90000

100000

19

89

19

90

19

91

19

92

19

93

19

94

19

95

19

96

19

97

19

98

19

99

20

00

20

01

20

02

20

03

20

04

20

05

20

06

20

07

20

08

20

09

20

10

20

11

20

12

20

13

20

14

20

15

20

16

World: Forecast tungsten demand, 1989 to 2016 (t W)

Source ITIA: Roskill forecast

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

6

Positive outlook for tungsten

• Ammonium Para Tungstate (APT) is the most

traded of the tungsten products

• APT is published by Metal Pages and Metals

Bulletin

• Tungsten product prices are quoted in metric

tonne units or mtu (1 mtu = 10kg)

Demand

• Global tungsten demand is forecast to grow at

a rate of 6-7% per annum, from 70,051t WO3

in 2010 to 111,602t WO3 in 2015

• The APT price is expected to remain above

US$400 for the foreseeable future due to

shortage of supply.

Supply

• Historically, primary production not sufficient to supply market demand which has been supplement by

sales from stockpiles (largest stockpiles were located in the FSU now thought to be exhausted)

• Focus for Chinese tungsten production is on the domestic market and any increases in production

capacity are likely to supply domestic tungsten demand rather than the export market creating a

significant demand/supply imbalance. There is a focus on preserving domestic resources.

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

7

History of Hemerdon Project

• Tungsten first discovered in 1860’s

• Mined for Tungsten during Wold War I up to the end of World War II for armament production

• Historical feasibility study conducted by AMAX in 1982

AMAX didn’t develop the mine due to the tungsten price crashing in 1986

• Planning approval obtained in June 1986 and valid until 2021

• Option agreement for 40 year lease entered into in by Wolf in December 2007

• Proven and Probable reserve obtained following drill campaign in 2008

• BFS published in May 2011

• £75m financing secured in 2012 (comprising £55m senior debt and £20m loan from offtakers)

• Offtake agreement now in place with Global Tungsten Powders and Wolfram Bergbau und Hutten

confirming saleability of concentrate

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

8

• .

• In an area of operating open pit clay mining

operations of Sibelco and Imerys

• Located close to local necessary infrastructure,

6 miles from Plymouth

• Significantly de-risked with existing Planning

Permission (Mining Permit)

• Thorough public consultation and enquiry

process completed

• Blue outline: approved planning permission

limits

• Red outline: approved pit rim limit

Hemerdon Project (SW England)

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

9

Tungsten at Hemerdon

Item DFS

Throughput 3Mtpa

Open pit strip ratio (LoM) 1.5:1

Tungsten Grade 0.19% WO3

Tin Grade 0.03%

Tungsten Recovery 66%

Tin Recovery 64%

Tungsten Production pa 345,000mtu*

Tin Production pa 462 tonnes

• Open pit mine with gravity separation

• Attractive Metallurgy and Saleable Concentrate

• 65% tungsten and 40% tin marketable

concentrate will be produced for sale

• No significant deleterious elements

• Offtake in place confirming suitability of product

*mtu – metric tonne unit = 10kg

Definitive Feasibility Study May 2011

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

10

Hemerdon Definitive Feasibility Study

• Positive DFS confirms the financial and technical viability of a world class 3Mtpa open pit

tungsten and tin mine in the UK

• Robust economics for ~ 10 year operating period:

• DFS limited only by the existing Planning Permission (Mining License)

• Resource has potential to expand life of mine to 14+ years

Cash surplus £M

NPV £M*

NPV AUD$M*

Payback yrs

IRR

Price Case (US$/mtu)

$300 $350 $400 $450 $500

£250 £324 £397 £471 £545

£34 £67 £101 £134 £167

$54 $107 $162 $214 $267

4.5 3.5 2.8 2.4 2.1

14% 20% 25% 29% 33%

*Ungeared post tax figures at an 8% discount rate

• Strong leverage to the APT

price (currently US$430/mtu)

• C1 Cash Cost of US$105/mtu

• Capex of £104m

• Payback Period of 2.75 to 3.25

years

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

11

DFS Headline Outcomes

* C1 Cash costs are operating costs including mining, processing, site administration and royalties

**Current ATP price is c.$460mtu

Result Units Base Case Upper Case

ATP Price** US$/mtu 360 415

Operating Period Yrs 9.25 9.25

Annual Throughput Mtpa 3 3

Tungsten Production Mtupa 345,000 345,000

Tin Production Tpa 462 462

Average C1 Cash Cost* US$/mtu 105 105

CAPEX £M 104 104

Operating Surplus £M

338 424

Project NPV₈ (post tax ungeared)

£M

£74M £114M

IRR % 21% 26%

Payback Years 3.25 2.75

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

12

Capital Cost

• High % of capital costs expended in GBP. Low exposure to exchange rates

• Working capital is part of the operating expenditure

• 20% discount to the Ammonium Para Tungstate (APT) assumed as a treatment cost

• Tin revenue derived as LME pricing 20% less smelter treatment charges

• 2% royalty to landowners

• 10% contingency included

• Estimated as EPC contract

Item £ 000s

Process plant 65,366

Infrastructure 8,491

Land purchases 10,548

Owners costs 10,403

Contingency 9,314

Total 104,122

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

13

Low Operating Costs

• Cash cost for operating period of US$122 per mtu (C1 cash cost after tin credits of

US$105 per mtu)

• Operating costs reduced by:

– Access to grid power

– 2 stage open pit design with low strip ratio:

• Stage 1 0.7:1

• LOM 1.5:1

– No large scale capital facilities required e.g. airstrip, powerlines, roads, accommodation.

– Ready source of labour familiar with open pit mining

– Gravity milling and processing plant

Cost Area US$ /mtu

Mining 66.99

Processing 53.10

General Administration (inc. marketing & royalties) 15.52

Total (Less tin credits 30.44) 105.18

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

14

Development Timetable

2012 2013 2014

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2

Senior debt secured

Offtake agreed

Earth moving contract tendered

EPC contract awarded

Link Road constructed and adopted

Plant earthworks completed

Major equipment installations

completed

Plant commissioning commences

Plant accepts first ore

Plant operating at design capacity

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

15

Near Term Strategy

Planning Permission

• Updated Jan 2011 in consultation with Devon

County Council and stakeholders

• New link road commenced and due to be

completed July 2012.

• Applied for water abstraction permit and waste

dump licence

Offtake

• Offtake agreement agreed

• Confirms suitability of Hemerdon concentrate

Financing

• £75m of debt secured comprising:

– £55m of senior debt

– £20 million loan from offtakers

• Supportive key existing shareholders

• EPC contract out for tender

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

Resource Capital Funds

• Resource Capital Funds (RCF) are specialist resources private equity funds

• Since inception in 1998, RCF has supported over 100 mining companies involving projects in 36

countries and 26 commodities

• RCF V has US$1.02 billion of committed capital, RCF VI expected to be over US$2.0 billion

• RCF made their initial investment in Sept 2009

• Participated in all subsequent offerings in July 2010 and March 2011

• Wolf currently has a $6m loan facility from RCF to fast track the project

• RCF is a strong supportive shareholder holding 17.8%.

16

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

17

Strategies to Extend Mine Life

Further upside from saleable secondary aggregates – not included in the financial model

Short term

• Extend Planning Permission (Mining Licence) to mine the

Measured and Indicated Resources (currently lie outside the pre-

approved pit design

• Potential to add 2 years to the operating period

Medium term • DFS two-stage pit design provides an opportunity to steepen the

final pit walls

• Potential increase of 3 years to mineable reserves

Longer term • Mineralisation open at depth to 400m and along strike

• Provides opportunities to extend the pit design and mine life by

many years

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

18

Why Wolf?

Mine planning permission in place

Positive DFS with significant leverage to APT price upside

Strong tungsten fundamentals

Hemerdon is an advanced new tungsten project outside of China

Strategic location of assets - politically stable exporter

£75m of finance secured

Offtake agreed

Supportive major shareholder in RCF

Hemerdon provides Wolf with an excellent springboard to develop a

mid-tier specialty metal company offering superior shareholder returns

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

19

Appendices

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

20

Mineral Resources and

Ore Reserves

Ore Reserves Proven Probable Total

Mt WO3 % Sn % Mt WO3 % Sn % Mt WO3 % Sn %

Granite 18.9 0.18 0.03 2.4 0.18 0.03 21.3 0.18 0.03

Soft Granite 4.6 0.19 0.03 0.9 0.21 0.03 5.5 0.21 0.03

Total 23.5 0.19 0.03 3.2 0.19 0.03 26.7 0.19 0.03

Mineral Resources Tonnage (Mt) WO3 grade (%) Sn grade (%)

Measured 76.8 0.15 0.02

Indicated 40.3 0.13 0.02

Measured and Indicated 117.1 0.14 0.02

Inferred 284.2 0.13 0.02

Measured, Indicated and Inferred 401.4 0.13 0.02

Tables reported at a cutoff grade of 0.063% WO3

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

21 -60,000

-40,000

-20,000

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Project Cashflow GBP '000s

Operating Cashflow (post-tax) Additional Cashflow (US$415/mtu) Capex Land Sales

Project Cashflows

• Base case pre-tax operating cashflow for 9.25 year

operating period of £338 million with upper case £424 million

• Average annual revenue of £65 million to £74 million per

year

• CAPEX of £104 million repaid in 2.75 to 3.25 years

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

22

Process Flowsheet

Conc.

Sizers

Scrubber

Screens Crusher

Deslime DMS 2.7SG

Spirals

Tables

DMS 3.3SGRegrind

Screen

DMS 3.3SG

+9mm

-9mm +0.5mm-0.5mm

+63µm -0.5mm

Reject to tails

-1.7mm +0.5mm

-0.5mm

+1.7mm

Reject

Conc. +0.5mm ,- 9mmConc. -0.5mm

Reject to tails

Conc.

Conc. +0.5mm ,- 1.7mm

Conc.

Regrind

Reject -63µm to tails

Roast

LIMS

Flotation

WHIMS

-0.3mm

Reject Mags Fe3O4

Non Mags

Floats = Reject Arsenic

Sinks

Non Mags Mags

WO3 Conc.Sn Conc.Conc.Conc.

ROM

+0.5mm

Simple Gravity flowsheet to produce tungsten and tin concentrates for sale

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

23

The Wolf Minerals Team

Humphrey Hale, Executive MD

– 16 years in mining industry

– Previously with AngloGold Ashanti

– Geologist with Exploration and Mining Consultants

– Founding director of a private gold exploration company

Richard Lucas, CFO and Company Secretary

Ex CFO of the Geotech Group

Lihir Gold mine in PNG

Previously a director at PWC

Executive Team

Rupert McCracken, Project Manager

Over 25 years’ experience in development, construction and commissioning of mineral processing projects

Previously held project manager positions with Comet Resources, Ticor South Africa, BHP Billiton and Resolute Mining

Jeffery Harrison, UK Operations Manager

Mining Engineer with over 20 years’ experience

Significant experience in large scale open pit operations

Previously General Manager at Queensland Magnesia and Operations Manager for Imerys Minerals

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

24

The Wolf Minerals Team

John Hopkins

Currently Chairman of Midas Resources Ltd, NED Universal Coal Ltd and gas and condensate producer Hawkley Oil and Gas Ltd.

He has recently stepped down from chairing gold producer Adamus Resources Ltd .

Jonathan Downes, NED

Founding director of Hibernia Gold (now Moly Mines Limited) and Siberia Mining Corporation (now owned by Monarch Resources Limited).

Currently NED of Corazon Metals Limited, NED of Sabre Resources and the Managing Director of Ironbark Zinc Limited.

Adrian Byass, NED

Competent Person for reporting to the ASX for certain minerals. A founder of Siberia Mining Corporation and Hibernia Gold

Currently an Executive Director of Ironbark Zinc Limited.

Jim Williams, NED

Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the AusIMM

Founding Head of Mining for Fortescue Metals Group Ltd

Served as Chief Mining Engineer for Bechtel in Australasia, Principal Mining Consultant for Minproc Engineers and CEO for Laverton Gold

Don Newport, NED

Formerly head of Standard Bank's Global Mining Finance Business.

Previously led the Barclay's Capital Mining Sector Team

Chris Corbett, NED

Resource Capital Fund representative

mine development, production and construction experience with contractor Byrnecut Mining and corporate and business development roles with Wesfarmers Limited.

Non-Executive Team

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

25

Current Company Structure

Company overview

Wolf Minerals specialises in tungsten and specialty metal exploration and development

Dual listed

: WLFE : WLF

Issued Shares 86.87M

Unlisted Options 5.95M

ASX Listed Options (exp. 30 Sep ’12, £0.156) 21.44M

Share Price (20 April 2012) £0.24

Market Capitalisation £21M

Significant Shareholders

Resource Capital Fund V 17.77%

Traxys Projects 9.59%

RMB Resources 3.73%

(Top 20 shareholders - 58%)

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y

26

Competent Person Statement

• The Information in this report relates to Exploration Results, Mineral Resources or Ore reserves is based on

information compiled by Mr. H. Hale BSc. (Hons), MAIG. Mr. Hale has sufficient experience that is relevant to the

style of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as Competent Person as

defined in the 2004 Edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and

Ore reserves. Mr. Hale consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on this information in the form

and context in which it appears.

• “The information in the report to which this statement is attached that relates to Exploration Results and Mineral

Resources is based on information compiled by Phil Jankowski, who is a Member of the Australasian Institute of

Mining and Metallurgy. Phil Jankowski is a full-time employee of SRK Consulting (Australasia) Pty Ltd (“SRK”), and

has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and

to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 Edition of the

‘Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves’. Phil Jankowski

consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it

appears.”

• The Ore Reserve estimate is based on work completed by Mr Quinton de Klerk, who is a Member of the

Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr de Klerk is a full time employee of Cube Consulting and has

sufficient experience which is relevant to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as

defined in the 2004 edition of the ‘Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and

Ore Reserves’. Mr de Klerk consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form

and context in which it appears.

For

per

sona

l use

onl

y