Cadence Minerals #KDNC – Further Progress at the Amapa Iron Ore Project

Cadence Minerals (AIM: KDNC) is pleased to announce an increase in the rate of 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%.