VANCOUVER, BC, Dec. 29, 2023 /CNW/ – Rokmaster Resources Corp. (TSXV: RKR) (OTCQB: RKMSF) (FSE: 1RR1) (“Rokmaster” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce positive results from the Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) completed by Ausenco Engineering Canada ULC (“Ausenco”), supported by Mining Plus Canada Consulting Ltd.(“Mining Plus”), Knight Piésold Ltd.(“KP”), P&E Mining Consultants Inc. (“P&E”), and Canenco Consulting Corp.(“Canenco”), for the Revel Ridge polymetallic gold-silver Project (“Revel Ridge” or the “Project”) located in the Revelstoke area of southeastern British Columbia.

The PEA demonstrates the Revel Ridge Project’s ability to become a long life and robust polymetallic gold-silver mine with strong project economics at US$1,850/ounce gold, while today’s spot price is over US$2,000 per ounce. In addition to the PEA, Revel Ridge has upside potential to expand current Mineral Resources through ongoing exploration diamond drilling, both down dips, along on-strike and on other occurrences.

A National Instrument (“NI”) 43-101 Technical Report summarizing the PEA will be filed on SEDAR+. Amounts stated are in Q4 2023 Canadian dollars (C$).

• High-grade underground mine with mineralized material¹ averaging C$361/t NSR value (diluted) comprising Main Zone with 11.43 Mt averaging 3.80 g/t Au, 37.37 g/t Ag, 2.34 % Zn, 1.30 % Pb (diluted) and Yellowjacket Zone 0.34 Mt averaging 8.61% Zn, 2.66% Pb, 65.0 g/t Ag and 0.07 g/t Au (diluted).
• After-tax NPV5.0% of C$454M and 21.1% IRR at US$1,850/oz Au, US$23.00/oz Ag, US$1.26/lb Zn, and US$0.90/lb Pb.
• After-tax payback period of 3.2 years discounted at 5.0%.
• Pre-production capital expenditures (“CAPEX”) of C$588M (US$436M²) including contingency of C$84M (US$62M²).
• After-tax NPV_5.0%: CAPEX Ratio of 0.77:1.
• Life of mine (“LOM”) average annual payable production of 158 koz AuEq per year (114 koz Au per year, 940 koz Ag, 32.6 mlbs Zn, 19.6 mlbs Pb) over a production lifespan of 11.4 years.
• LOM cash costs³ of US$540/oz payable Au on a by-product basis, LOM all-in sustaining costs (“AISC”⁴) of US$836/oz payable Au on a by-product basis.
• 2,920 tonne per day (“t/d”) crush and particle sort-mill-flotation-POX & gold plant producing gold/silver doré and saleable zinc and lead concentrates.

The 2023 Revel Ridge PEA considers an underground mine with on-site treatment of the mined material by particle sorting followed by conventional milling, and flotation to produce separate lead and zinc concentrates for sale to third-party smelters, in combination with on-site treatment of refractory gold concentrates to produce gold-silver doré. The mine will comprise an owner-operated, ramp developed, long hole stope underground mine.

The processing capacity of 2,920 tonnes per day will result in a production lifespan of 11.4 years. An additional 18 months of mine ramp access and development, and construction of the process plant and filtered waste management facility (filtered tailings and filtered residues) is planned prior to the project becoming fully operational in Year 1. The PEA leverages Revel Ridge’s existing infrastructure, including all-weather access roads, 3 km of underground development, permitted waste rock storage facility, full camp facility and approximately 15 km from the BC Hydro electrical system and the City of Revelstoke with its skilled labor pool.

The PEA is derived using the Company’s NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate (June 06, 2023). The effective date of the PEA is December 29, 2023, and a Technical Report will be filed on the Company’s website and SEDAR+ within 45 days of this disclosure.

Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. The PEA is preliminary in nature and includes Inferred Mineral Resources that are too speculative to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as Mineral Reserves. There is no certainty that PEA results will be realized.

The economic analysis was performed assuming a 5% discount rate. Cash flows have been discounted to the start of construction, assuming that the project execution decision will be taken, and major project financing will be carried out at this time.

On a post-tax basis, the NPV discounted at 5% is C$ 454 M; the IRR is 21.1%; and payback period is 3.2 years. A summary of the project economics is shown in Table 1.

NPV_5.0 remains positive for changes of 25% in revenue drivers (commodity prices, grade, and recovery), capital expenditure or operating costs. After-tax economic sensitivities to commodity prices are presented in Table 2 illustrating the effects of varying gold price as compared to the base-case. Additional Project sensitivities will be presented in the Technical Report.

The Company’s current Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE; effective date of June 6, 2023) completed by P&E Mining Consultants Inc. forms the basis for this PEA. The MRE includes drilling results from the Company’s 2020-2022 exploration diamond drill programs.

Notes:

Table 4:            The Mineral Resource Estimates for each of the five mineralized zones at Revel Ridge

An underground mining scenario is the basis for this PEA. The owner-operated and leased mining fleet will utilize conventional trackless haulage and long-hole stoping with backfill using cemented process tailings (paste), cemented rockfill and waste rock.

The mine designs and scheduling were engineered to provide 1,066 kt per year of mineralization to the 2,920 t/d process plant. A total of 11.77 Mt of diluted mill feed, including Inferred material, and comprising of Main Zone mineralisation with 11.43 Mt averaging 3.80 g/t Au, 37.37 g/t Ag, 2.34 % Zn, 1.30 % Pb (diluted) and Yellowjacket Zone mineralisation of 0.34 MT averaging 8.61% Zn, 2.66% Pb, 65.04 g/t Ag and 0.07 g/t Au (diluted) is expected to be processed over the life of mine. Mill feed will be trucked to the process facility located proximal to the main portal. Waste rock that cannot be accommodated within the mine as backfill will be stored together with dry-stack tailings or in a separated facility constructed adjacent to the process plant. Underground mining dilution has been accounted for in the minimum 2.0 m width of stope shapes, with an additional allowance for overbreak. Total dilution in the delivered mill feed is estimated at 35.4% (4.17 Mt).

To support this PEA, metallurgical test work was supervised by Canenco Consulting Corp. and flowsheet development test work was undertaken at Base Metallurgical Laboratories Ltd. using samples from the Main Deformation Zone (MDZ). The recent metallurgical programs have focused on sensor based sorting, optimizing sulphide flotation, impurity depression, assessment of onsite limestone as a reagent, maximizing pressure oxidation and leaching recovery resulting in a process flowsheet that has improved overall extraction.

Based on the envisioned circuit and corresponding laboratory test response, the overall process recoveries based on the samples tested for the Main Zone mineralization were expected to be in the range of 94-96% Au, 84-85% Ag,

71-73% Pb and 70-74% Zn. The Yellowjacket mineralization is less complex metallurgically than the Main Zone mineralization and responds to standard sequential flotation. Based on the metallurgical studies undertaken in 2014, the overall process recoveries for the Yellowjacket zone were expected to be 86% Au, 94% Ag, 88% Pb, and 93% Zn.

Run-of-mine (“ROM”) material is crushed and screened before particle sorting to remove gangue. The beneficiated material reports to the milling and flotation circuits where lead and zinc sulphide concentrates are produced and dewatered for sale while the refractory sulphides are collected and treated by pressure oxidation (“POX”) to facilitate extraction and recovery of gold and silver by cyanide leach – Merrill Crowe process and refining to doré bars.

Multiple marketing assessments have been completed to support this PEA which indicate that Revel Ridge zinc and lead-silver-gold concentrates are saleable. 

The capital cost estimate conforms to Class 5 guidelines for a PEA-level estimate accuracy set out by the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International (“AACE”) with an estimated accuracy of +50%/-30%. The operating cost estimates were developed from first principles and benchmarking and applied to the mine production schedule.

The capital and operating cost estimate was developed in Q4 2023 Canadian dollars (C$). The capital cost summary is presented in Table 5 and the operating cost summary is presented in Table 6.

Revel Ridge represents an existing exploration site with existing permits for mine discharge and waste disposal. The site has been maintained in good standing and environmental monitoring has been ongoing during operations and since the site was last active in 2012. There is a database of environmental information for the site and region spanning almost 30 years. To accommodate the mine design contemplated by the PEA, updated baseline data and an environmental assessment and mine permits will be required. The Company is currently performing an analysis of existing environmental data to identify additional data needs with the intent of carrying out environmental baseline studies to advance the environmental assessment and permitting processes.

The 2023 PEA demonstrates that Revel Ridge has the potential to become a commercially robust project. Additional opportunities and next steps include:

• Continued exploration and infill drilling for conversion of Inferred Mineral Resources to the Measured and Indicated categories.
• Mine scheduling investigations allowing for the further optimization of blending scenarios.
• Supplementary metallurgical optimizations including deposit-wide variability testing and host rock limestone quality.
• Optimization of the particle sorting process, flotation recovery and concentrate quality as well as the leach-Merrill Crowe process.
• Analyses and environmental baseline studies to support expedited permitting.
• Further optimization of waste and water management infrastructure, including surface geotechnical site investigations, laboratory testing, physical waste characterization, water balance modelling, and engineering studies.

A team of independent Qualified Persons (“QP”) (as such term is defined under NI 43-101) at Ausenco, P&E Mining Consultants Inc., Mining Plus, Canenco and KP have led the PEA and have reviewed and verified the technical disclosure in this press release, including:

• Kevin Murray, P.Eng., of Ausenco is an independent QP for process and infrastructure capital and operating cost estimation and project financials.
• Scott Weston, P.Geo., of Ausenco is an independent QP for the environmental and permitting studies.
• Eugene Puritch, P.Eng., FEC, CET., of P&E Mining Consultants Inc. is an independent QP for the geology and Mineral Resource Estimate.
• Evan Verkade, P.Eng., of Mining Plus is an independent QP for the mine planning and cost estimation.
• Stacy Freudigmann, P.Eng., F.Aus.IMM., of Canenco is an independent QP for metallurgical test work and recovery model.
• Wilson Muir, P.Eng. of Knight Piesold is an independent QP for the tailings and waste rock management facility.

Rokmaster’s flagship Revel Ridge Project is host to a high-grade gold and polymetallic orogenic sulphide deposit which has been the subject of the PEA with an effective date of December 29, 2023, and an Updated Mineral Resource Estimate¹ on the Revel Ridge Property with an effective date of June 6, 2023. The 2023 Mineral Resource Estimate remains open in all directions and occupies approximately 2.0 km of the total 5.7 km strike length of the Main Deformation Zone (MDZ) as defined by geological mapping, drilling, and geochemistry.

• Measured & Indicated (M&I): 1.53 million gold equivalent (“AuEq”) Measured & Indicated (M&I) ounces contained within 7.16 million tonnes with an average grade of 6.63 g/t AuEq.
• Inferred (Inf): 1.49 million AuEq ounces contained within 7.56 million tonnes at an average grade of 6.11 g/t AuEq.

Ausenco is a global diversified engineering, environmental, construction and project management company providing consulting, project delivery and asset management solutions to the resources, energy, and infrastructure sectors. Ausenco’s experience in poly-metallic projects ranges from conceptual, pre-feasibility and feasibility studies for new project developments to project execution with EPCM and EPC delivery. Ausenco is currently engaged on a number of global projects with similar characteristics and opportunities to the Revel Ridge project.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors of

Rokmaster Resources Corp.

John Mirko

President & Chief Executive Officer.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term in defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (“forward-looking statements”). Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “intends,” “estimates,” ‘projects,” “potential” and similar expressions, or that events or conditions “will,” “would,” “may,” “could” or “should” occur. These forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to fluctuations in metal prices; uncertainties related to raising sufficient financing to fund the planned work in a timely manner and on acceptable terms; changes in planned work resulting from weather, logistical, technical or other factors; the possibility that results of work will not fulfill expectations and realize the perceived potential of the Company’s properties; risk of accidents, equipment breakdowns and labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties or interruptions; the possibility of cost overruns or unanticipated expenses in the work program; the risk of environmental contamination or damage resulting from Rokmaster’s operations and other risks and uncertainties. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

SOURCE Rokmaster Resources Corp.

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