Yorbeau reports positive Preliminary Economic Assessment of Scott Zinc-Copper Deposit in Québec.
YORBEAU RESOURCES INC.
110 Place Crémazie, Suite 430, Montréal, QC, H2P 1B9
www.yorbeauresources.com
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Yorbeau reports positive Preliminary Economic Assessment of Scott Zinc-Copper
Deposit in Québec.
Project indicates pre-tax IRR of 16.5% with an NPV8 of $144 million.
Montréal, November 20, 2017 - Yorbeau Resources Inc. (TSX: YRB) (the “Company” or
“Yorbeau”) is pleased to announce results of a Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”)
prepared by Normand Lécuyer, P.Eng. and Jeff Sepp P.Eng. of Roscoe Postle Associates Inc.
(“RPA”).
Under the base case PEA the Scott mineralized material is fed to a new 2,500 tonne-per-day
concentrator plant located at the mine site. Results indicate positive economics with a pre-
production capital expenditure of $215 million, a net pre-tax cash flow of $516 million, an
Internal Rate of Return (“IRR”) of 16.5%, a pre-tax Net Present Value (“NPV”) of $144 million
at an 8% discount rate, and a mine life of 15 years. Tables 1, 2 and 3 show summaries of LOM
estimated project capital costs and operating costs for the base case scenario.
Table 1: Scott Project Preliminary Economic Assessment Highlights:
(based on US$1.30/lb Zn, US$3.50/lb Cu, US$23/oz Ag, US$1500/oz Au and Canadian dollar
exchange rate of US$0.80) - all values in Canadian $’s unless noted otherwise)
Base Case: All Ramp Scenario with New Concentrator at Mine Site
Net Cash Flow Pre-tax Net Cash Flow of $515.8 million
IRR Pre-tax IRR of 16.5% with a 6-year payback
NPV Pre-tax NPV(8%) of $144.0 million
Operating Costs Life of mine (“LOM”) Opex Costs of $89.02/tonne mined (includes
mining, milling, G&A and Environmental)
Capex Pre-production capital of $215.47 million,
Sustaining capital cost of $113.2 million
Production Average peak annual payable production
YORBEAU RESOURCES INC.
110 Place Crémazie, Suite 430, Montréal, QC, H2P 1B9
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(Payable) Zinc (years 9 – 12) : 75 million lbs. Zn in 72,405 t of concentrate
Copper (years 5 – 8) : 15 million lbs. Cu in 28,467 t of concentrate
Silver (years 5 – 8) : 395,835 oz in Cu concentrate
Mine Life Planned mine life of 15 years
LOM Mill Feed Estimated Plant Feed of 12,024,000 tonnes grading 4.14% Zn, 0.81%
Cu, 26.59 g/t Ag and 0.24 g/t Au over LOM
Mill Recoveries
Average LOM recoveries : Zn: 87% , Cu : 85%
Ag : 45% reporting to the Cu concentrate,
Au : 63% reporting to the Cu concentrate
MINING AND DEVELOPMENT
The preproduction mine development is carried out by a mining contractor and turned over to the
mine crews in year one. Contractor rates were used for the preproduction period while manpower
estimates were made for the owner operators commencing in year one of the mine production.
Although a shaft scenario was considered, an all ramp system was selected as the most
appropriate and the mineralized zones are therefore accessed via a ramp system. The Scott
Project will take approximately two to three years of initial development to prepare the mine for
production. Mining during the LOM will include 50% mineralized material from Longitudinal
LH stopes, 26% from Transverse LH stopes, 11% from Cut and Fi ll stopes, and 13% from
development. The Stringer type mineralization will be mined using the Longitudinal stoping
method and thus represents a large portion of the production profile.
RPA has used a sublevel interval of 20 m, as no geotechnical work has been completed to
sufficiently assess the ground support requirements. There is an opportunity to potentially
increase the sublevel interval however only for the Transverse stopes while maintaining good
control of the mineralization limits and mining dilut ion. Once more geotechnical work is
completed, level spacings may be increased, reducing capital and operating costs. The ramp
option achieves production more quickly than a shaft option, however, peak production is not
achieved for 4 years, and limited t o 2,350 tpd, due to the development required to establish
sufficient working levels.
PROCESSING
A concentrator would have to be built on site and the mill production mirrors the mine
production. The mill feed would produce copper and zinc concentrates a ssumed to be
commercially viable. Mill recoveries for the concentrates based on early metallurgical test work
are shown in Table 1. The test work is considered incomplete and values for gold recoveries in
the concentrate need to be verified. In RPA’s opi nion, additional testing of the massive sulphide
YORBEAU RESOURCES INC.
110 Place Crémazie, Suite 430, Montréal, QC, H2P 1B9
www.yorbeauresources.com
material and the stringer material independent of each other are required to adequately
understand the metallurgical response and obtainable marketable concentrate products.
The recoveries used in this initial analysis and shown in Table 1 are based on the assumption of
further optimization relative to metallurgical testing completed to date. The testing has indicated
a high consumption of lime, required to adjust the pH valu es in the circuit. The limited testing
will necessitate additional work to properly assess the processing cost from the point of view of
reagent consumption.
Table 2: Scott Project Preliminary Economic Assessment – Operating Costs:
Cost ($/t milled)
Mining 54.14
Processing 27.49
General & Administration 7.40
TOTAL 89.02
Numbers may not add due to rounding.
Table 3: Scott Project Preliminary Economic Assessment – Pre-production Capital Costs:
$(millions)
Mining 52.58
Processing 60.00
Infrastructure 15.78
Tailings 4.65
Sub Total 133.01
EPCM* 46.55
Contingency 35.92
TOTAL 215.47
*EPCM : Engineering Procurement Construction Management
Numbers may not add due to rounding.
YORBEAU RESOURCES INC.
110 Place Crémazie, Suite 430, Montréal, QC, H2P 1B9
www.yorbeauresources.com
RECOMMENDATIONS
Among several recommendations made by RPA, the following are of note :
The Study is based in part on Inferred Mineral Resources that are considered too
speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them. Therefore,
additional in-fill diamond drilling to bring Inferred Resources to the Indicated category is
required before further economic studies are considered. Given the level of accuracy
needed for the drilling, an underground exploration program may have to be considered.
A preliminary evaluation of an all-ramp versus ramp and shaft modes of access showed
that the shaft scenario would increase the daily mining rate while lowering the operating
and sustaining capital costs, however, at the expense of higher pre-production capital
expenses. Additional tonnage discovered at depth may give additional support to the shaft
scenario and it is recommended to continue exploring the mineralized system at depth
and in particular west of the Gwillim Lake fault.
An underground exploration program, involving a ramp and drill accesses, would provide
a head start on mine development, with a positive impact on project economics.
The mine design and schedule were based on preliminary knowledge of ground
conditions and rock mechanics. To support the next stage of mine design it is
recommended to perform prefeasibility -level geotechnical studies, as part of the
underground exploration program.
Estimated mill recoveries for the concentrates are based on early metallurgical test
work. The test work is still incomplete and additional testing of the massive sulphide
mineralization and the stringer mineralization independent of each other are required to
adequately understand the metallurgical response during processing of both types of
mineralized material for the life of th e mine and to obtain marketable concentrate
products.
Discussion with the Province of Québec and the Canadian Environmental Assessment
Agency should be initiated to confirm Environmental Assessment (EA), permit and
approvals requirements. Environmental baseline data collection and engagement with
Indigenous communities should also be initiated.
“We are very excited about the results of the PEA study on Scott, which provides a strong, initial
foundation for eventual development of a new mine in the Chibougamau camp.” stated Dr.
Gérald Riverin, Yorbeau’s President. “The ideal location of the project in an area already blessed
with all necessary infrastructure has led to maintaining infrastructure capital costs to a relatively
low level when compared to similar zinc projects. The horizontal widths and favorable geometry
of the mineralized zones support the use of low cost long hole mining methods which had a big
positive impact on the results of the study. Yorbeau is now in a position to evaluate a number of
options to develop the Scott deposit.”
The project has been valued using a discounted cash flow (DCF) approach. This method of
valuation requires projecting yearly cash inflows, or revenues, and subtracting yearly cash
outflows such as operating costs and capital costs. At this early stage of the study, royalties and
provincial or federal taxes have not been included. Cash flows are taken to occur at the middle of
YORBEAU RESOURCES INC.
110 Place Crémazie, Suite 430, Montréal, QC, H2P 1B9
www.yorbeauresources.com
each period. The resulting net annual cash flows are discounted back to the first year of
valuation, and totaled to determine net present values (NPVs) at the selected 8 percent discount
rates. The internal rate of return (IRR) is calculated as the discount rate that yields a zero NPV.
The payback period is calculated as the time needed to recover the initial capital spent.
For readers to fully understand the information in this news release, they should read the
Technical Report supporting the PEA in its entirety, including all qualifications, assumptions and
exclusions that relate to the PEA, which will be filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the
Yorbeau Resources website at www.yorbeauresources.com within 45 days of the date of this
news release. The Technical Report is intended to be read as a whole, and sections should not be
read or relied upon out of context.
The PEA is considered preliminary in nature and includes economic analysis that is based, in
part, on Inferred Mineral Resources. Inferred Mineral Resources are considered too speculative
geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would allow them to be
categorized as Mineral Reserves, and there is no certainty that the results will be realized.
Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves because they do not have demonstrated economic
viability.
Qualified Persons
Work at Yorbeau is carried out under the supervision of Gérald Riverin, PhD, P. Geo. He is a
qualified person (as defined by NI 43-101) and has reviewed and approved the content of this
release. The Technical Report and PEA referred to in this press were prepared by Normand
Lécuyer and Jeff Sepp. Both are employees of RPA and are independent of Yorbeau. By virtue
of their education and relevant experience, they are “Qualified Persons” for the purpose of
National Instrument 43-101. Normand Lécuyer and Jeff Sepp have read and approved the
contents of this press release as it pertains to the disclosed mining, milling and cost estimate
aspects.
About Yorbeau Resources Inc.
The Company’s 100% controlled Rouyn Property contains four known gold deposits in the
6-km-long Augmitto -Astoria corridor situated on the western half of the property. Two of the
four deposits, Astoria and Augmitto, have substantial underground infrastructure and have been
the subject of NI 43 -101 technical reports that include resource estimates. The Company has
signed an Option Agreement with an affiliate of Kinross Gold Corporation to pursue exploration
on the Rouyn Property (see press release dated October 25, 2016). In 2015, the Company
expanded its exploration property portfolio by acquiring strategic base metal properties in
prospective areas of the Abit ibi Belt of Quebec and Ontario that also feature infrastructure
favourable for mining development. The newly acquired base metal properties include Scott
Lake which hosts important mineral resources.
More information on the Company may be found on the Co mpany’s website at
www.yorbeauresources.com.
YORBEAU RESOURCES INC.
110 Place Crémazie, Suite 430, Montréal, QC, H2P 1B9
www.yorbeauresources.com
For further information, please contact:
Gérald Riverin, Ph D., P. Geo
President
Yorbeau Resources Inc.
Tel : 819-279-1336
G. Bodnar Jr.
Vice President
Yorbeau Resources Inc.
Tel.: 514-384-2202
Toll free in North America: 1 -855-384-
2202
Forward-looking statements: Except for statement of historical fact, all statements in this news
release, without limitation, regarding new projects, acquisitions, future plans and objectives are
forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance
that such statements will prove to be accurate; actual results and future events could differ
materially from those anticipated in such statements. The results of the economic analysis
represent forward-looking information, as defined under Canadian securities laws, that is
subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause
actual results to differ materially from those presented in the PEA. RPA is of the opinion that the
accuracy of the results is in the range of industry wide commonly accepted scoping studies.