FireFly Metals (TSX: FFM) has outlined a 32-year underground copper-gold mine at its Green Bay project in Newfoundland and Labrador, with a study putting the operation’s post-tax net present value at A$2.2 billion.
The preliminary economic assessment returns an internal rate of return of 42% and payback in under two years, with the net present value struck at a 7% discount rate. The company ran those numbers on prices consisting of copper at US$5.00 a pound, with gold at US$3,500 an ounce and silver at US$44.
By tonnage, the base case is a modest operation amounting to 1.8 million tonnes a year, or 4,800 tonnes a day. Ore averages 1.83% copper over the life of the mine, with gold and silver credits on top, and copper recoveries run above 98%. That works out to about 50,000 tonnes of copper equivalent a year once the mine hits its stride, and 872,000 tonnes of payable copper across three decades.
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Building it would cost A$513 million after Canadian tax credits, with a further A$876 million of sustaining capital spread over the mine life. Ore would be extracted by long hole open stoping and treated through a conventional flotation circuit.
Operating costs sit in the lower half of the global curve. C1 cash costs come in at US$2.05 a pound of copper equivalent, falling to US$1.17 once by-product credits are applied. On an all-in C3 basis, the figures are US$2.33 and US$1.53.
FireFly also modelled a 4.6 Mtpa alternative that lifts NPV to A$3.0 billion and steady-state production to 90,000 tonnes of copper equivalent for an 11 year period, funded by a A$476 million expansion and a 1,450-metre hoisting shaft. Overall mine life in that scenario would sit at 22 years.
“Green Bay is one of the best undeveloped copper projects in the world based on a range of key metrics,” managing director Steve Parsons said, adding the mine could become one of the largest outside those held by the diversified majors.
A definitive feasibility study on the base case is due in the first quarter of 2027 alongside a final investment decision, with first concentrate targeted for mid-2029.
The company moved immediately to fund that runway, announcing a A$190 million raising at A$1.78 a share, consisting of a A$150 million institutional placement, a C$29.6 million Canadian bought deal and a share purchase plan of up to A$10 million.
Firefly Metals last traded at $1.87 on the TSX.
