Home Uncategorized Rupert Resources Completes Pre-Feasibility for Ikkari Confirming a High-Margin Project Net Present...

Rupert Resources Completes Pre-Feasibility for Ikkari Confirming a High-Margin Project Net Present Value of USD1.7 Billion and IRR of 38%

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TORONTO — Rupert Resources Ltd (“Rupert” or the “Company”) has completed a Pre-feasibility study (“PFS” or “study”) for its 100% owned Ikkari Project (the “Ikkari Project” or “Ikkari”). Ikkari is located 40km from the town of Sodankylä in Northern Finland. An accompanying National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”) technical report is available on the Company’s website at www.rupertresources.com and has also been filed on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca.

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{All figures are in US$ unless otherwise noted}

PFS HIGHLIGHTS

Maiden Mineral Reserve declared for the Ikkari Project with Probable Mineral Reserve of 52Mt at 2.1g/t Au for 3.5Moz Au representing an 85% Mineral Resource to Mineral Reserve conversion.All weather project economics with leverage to higher gold prices: After-tax Net Present Value (5% discount) (“NPV”) of $1.7 billion with unlevered Internal Rate of Return (“IRR”) of 38% and payback after 2.2 years, assuming long term market consensus gold price of $2,150 per troy ounce (“oz”). NPV of $2.5 billion with IRR of 49% and 1.7 year payback at $2,650/oz.High margin production profile: Expected lowest quartile all-in sustaining cost (“AISC”) of $918/oz over LOM, and $717/oz during years 1 to 10 primarily due to a high open pit grade and low strip ratio.Long life: 20-year life of mine (“LOM”) comprising an open-pit operation for the first 10 years with average annual production of 227koz per annum, transitioning to an underground operation (years 10 – 20).Manageable initial capital requirement of $575 million including contingency with project maintaining the low capital intensity indicated by the 2022 Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”).100% Contained within Rupert Property: All project infrastructure contained within Rupert’s 100% owned exploration licences. Access road, power line and discharge pipeline permitted though separate auxiliary permitting process and do not require siting on mining or exploration permits held by Rupert Resources.First gold pour targeted in 2030 based on Environmental Impact Assessment (“EIA”) submission and Definitive Feasibility Study (“DFS”) initiation in H2 2025, a 24-month permitting timeline and a 2½ year construction period.

Graham Crew, Chief Executive Officer of Rupert Resources said “The results of today’s study and declaration of 3.5Moz Probable Mineral Reserve confirm Ikkari’s ability to translate robust project fundamentals into compelling project value. The PFS confirms Ikkari’s potential for lowest quartile costs combined with manageable initial capital requirements in a Tier 1 jurisdiction for mining. Work on the Definitive Feasibility Study and Environmental Impact Assessment are already underway and we look forward to publishing results from our 2025 winter exploration campaign in due course.”

Financial model after-tax project value and returns at range of gold prices

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Gold price (USD / troy ounce)

NPV ($m)*

IRR (%)

Payback (Years)

1700 (Reserve price)

950

27%

3.1

2150 (base case & LT consensus)

1,700

38%

2.2

2650

2,500

49%

1.7

3000 (high case)

3,100

56%

1.4

*NPV rounded to 2 significant figures at all gold prices

Financial Model Assumptions

Assumption

Unit

Value

Gold Price (unless stated otherwise)

USD / Troy Ounce

2150

Discount rate

%

5

Exchange rate

EUR : USD

1 : 1.05

Corporate tax rate

%

20

State and landowner royalties1

%

0.75

10.75% combined state and landowner royalty payable on plant feed gold content.

PFS Summary

Ikkari is a grassroots discovery made in 2020 by Rupert and completion of the PFS represents a major milestone for the company as it advances the Ikkari Project towards production. The PFS builds on the 4.09Moz Indicated Mineral Resource delivered in November 2023 and enables the Company to declare a maiden Probable Mineral Reserve for the project of 52Mt at 2.1g/t Au for 3.5Moz. Following the successful completion the PFS, Rupert will progress to a Definitive Feasibility Study for the project and expects to submit its EIA in H2 2025.

The Ikkari PFS envisages a staged mine design to minimise waste stripping and enable early production from high grade areas in the open pit. The open pit will produce ore for 10 years before transitioning to a long hole open stope (“LHOS”) underground mine from year 10 for the remainder of the 20-year LOM. Both the grade and the low strip ratio in the open pit are key drivers of a lowest quartile ASIC operation set out in the PFS.

Production Summary

Years 1 to 10

LOM (20 years)

Milled tonnes (Mt)

35

52

Mill tonnes per annum (Mt/year)

3.5

2.6

Average processed gold grade (g/t Au)

2.1

2.1

Average metallurgical recovery (%)

95.8

95.8

Average annual gold production (koz)

227

167

Saleable gold (koz)

2,270

3,340

1Total Cash Cost ($/saleable oz)

603

747

Sustaining capital ($/saleable oz)

115

171

2All in Sustaining Cost (AISC) ($/saleable oz)

717

918

Total initial capital including contingency ($ M)

575

1Cash cost includes selling expenses
2As per the World Gold guidance (Gold All in Sustaining Costs | Gold AISC | World Gold Council) available at www.gold.org/gold-standards/non-gaap-metrics-guide, the objective of the AISC metric is to provide stakeholders (i.e. management, shareholders, governments, local communities, etc.) with transparent and comparable metrics that reflect as close as possible the full cost of producing and selling an ounce of gold, and which are fully and transparently reconcilable back to amounts reported under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”) as published by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) or the International Accounting Standards Board (“IASB” also referred to as “IFRS”). AISC is a non-GAAP metric.

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Project economics

Life of Mine

Years

20

Net Present Value* ^

US $m

1,700

Internal Rate of Return (unlevered)*

%

38

Payback

Years

2.2

Capital Expenditure (Initial)

US $m

575

Capital Expenditure (Sustaining)

US $m

571

Gross Revenue^

US $m

7,200

Operating Cost^

US $m

2,400

Free Cash Flow (after tax)^

US $m

2,800

*Modelled using $2150/oz gold and 5% discount rate; ^Rounded to 2 significant figures

Operating cost estimate

Operating cost

Unit

Yrs 1 to 10

LOM

OP mining unit cost

$/t material mined

4.11

OP Strip ratio

Waste : Ore ratio

3.72

OP mining unit cost

$/t ore mined

17.21

UG mining unit cost

$/t ore mined

46.0

Mining

$/t ore milled

19.6

26.1

Processing

$/t ore milled

11.9

13.4

Co-Disposal Storage

$/t ore milled

2.5

2.0

Water Management & Treatment

$/t ore milled

1.9

2.3

Site G&A

$/t ore milled

2.2

3.0

Total Operating Costs

$/t ore milled

38.1

46.8

1Excludes capitalized pre-strip tonnage and cost
2Strip ratio is inclusive of capitalized pre-strip tonnage

Capital cost estimates (All USD millions)

Area

Initial Capital

Sustaining Capital

Mining

45

212

Co-Disposal Storage

34

24

Surface Infrastructure

72

3

Concentrator & Filtration Plant

190

2

Closure

0

151

Water Management and Treatment

136

118

Electrical Engineering

17

2

Indirect

15

0

Contingency

66

59

Total Capital

575

571

Ikkari Mineral Reserve

Category

Mining Method

Cut-off

Tonnage

Grade

Gold Content

Au (g/t)

(Mt)

Au (g/t)

Kg

Ounces

Proven

Probable

Open Pit

0.34

35.7

2.2

79 920

2 486 000

Underground

1.04

16.3

1.9

32 370

1 007 000

Total

52.0

2.1

112 290

3 492 000

Notes:

Tonnages are rounded to the nearest 100,000 and ounces are rounded to the nearest 1,000.Mineral Reserves were estimated using the CIM Best Practices Guidelines (as defined below) and classified using the CIM Definition Standards (as defined below)The Qualified Person within the meaning of NI 43-101 (“Qualified Person” or “QP”) for the Mineral Reserve Estimate is Mr. Timothy Daffern, Technical Director with WSP. The effective date of the estimate is November 25, 2024.Mineral Reserves are based on a gold price of US$1,700/oz and fixed metallurgical recovery of 95.0%Open pit Mineral Reserves are converted from Indicated Mineral Resources only through the process of pit optimisation, mine design, schedule and are supported by a positive cash flow analysis.Mine design was constrained by a minimum 20m offset to the project boundaryOpen pit Mineral Reserves include 4% dilution and 4% mining losses applied in the production schedule.Underground Mineral Reserves are stated using a 1.04 g/t stope cut-off grade. Underground Mineral Reserves are generated through the generation of optimised stopes, design of long hole open stoping, schedule and are supported by a positive cash flow analysis.Underground Mineral Reserves account for planned dilution of 15%, unplanned dilution of 6%, secondary dilution of 3% and with mining losses of 4%.Mineral Reserves are defined at the point where ore is delivered to the plant. All figures are rounded to reflect the relative accuracy of the estimates.Totals may not sum due to rounding.

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Ikkari Mineral Resource (inclusive of Mineral Reserves)

Resource Category

Mining Method

Cut-off

Tonnage