January 11, 2023 – Rupert Resources Ltd (“Rupert” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide a 2023 outlook and recap on key 2022 highlights for the Company’s 100% owned Rupert Lapland Project, (“the Project”) including our flagship Ikkari gold discovery and Pahtavaara mine and mill located in Northern Finland.
James Withall, Chief Executive of Rupert Resources said “We ended 2022 with several notable milestones including the announcement of PEA results for Ikkari, completion of a baseline sustainability report and graduation to the Toronto Stock Exchange. Exploration remains the key focus for us in the first quarter of 2023 remembering that the $1.6billion Ikkari Project is still only three years out from its discovery drill hole.”
Building on a compelling PEA for Ikkari
The independent Preliminary Economic Assessment technical report (“PEA”) for Ikkari is now available on Rupert Resources’s website here and has been filed on SEDAR. The PEA demonstrates an After-Tax Net Present Value (“NPV”) (5% discount) of $1.6 billion, an unlevered Internal Rate of Return (“IRR”) of 46% and payback after only two years, assuming a gold price of $1,650 per troy ounce (“oz”). A long project life in excess of 20 years is envisaged by the study recovering 4.25million ounces and with expected lowest quartile all-in sustaining cost (“AISC”) of $759/oz over LOM, and $596/oz during the Ikkari open-pit operation. (November 28, 2022 press release)
Numerous technical programs have commenced across multiple disciplines towards completion of a pre-feasibility study (“PFS”) within 12 to 18 months.
Near-term resource additions
The 2022/2023 drill program, that began August 2022, is planned to include 72,800m of drilling. Around 30,000m will be allocated to Ikkari infill and project drilling. This past year, Rupert continued to intersect broad intervals of consistent high-grade gold mineralisation, including Hole #121160 that returned a record 103 metres (m) of 8 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) from 155m in the central section of the resource, as well as a nearer surface interval of 2.5g/t Au over 80m from 48m. (February 1, 2022 press release). Rupert is particularly focused on near-term resource additions over the upcoming winter drilling season to ensure these can be included in future economic and environmental assessments and the eventual permitting application for the Project.
Continued focus on discovery
Exploration will remain a key focus going forwards. The mineralised limits of the Ikkari deposit are untested and the broader mineralising system that hosts surrounding discoveries has only been tested at shallow depths. The exploration team has six known targets to be tested and continues to generate new targets through the ongoing Base of Till and geophysical programs. More than 42,000m of drilling will be focused on Ikkari extension and satellites; and regional exploration across Rupert’s 714km2 land position targeting additional discoveries of scale. In the past year, Rupert discovered a new mineralised zone 500m north of Ikkari and 500m south of Heinä Central (August 17, 2022 press release). New drilling at Heinä South, 1km northwest of Ikkari, has yielded further bonanza gold in quartz-carbonate veins (March 16, 2022 press release). The planned exploration drilling will include testing deeper extensions at Ikkari as indicated by the first drill hole of the 2022/23 season which yielded 32.5m of 2.2g/t Au from 571m (500m vertical) extending mineralisation in the east by approximately 110m in the downdip direction (September 19, 2022 press release).
Advancing permitting and environmental work
Permitting, specifically the progression of the Environmental Impact Assessment Program works and Land Use Planning will be a significant focus in 2023. Rupert has expanded our environmental team to ensure the skills are in place internally alongside our EIA consultant Envineer and Land Use Planning consultant SWECO. The EIA Program was presented to the respective authorities on November 30, 2022 and formally started the environmental permitting process. Key stakeholders have been invited to participate in a steering committee that will begin meeting in 2023.
