Zgounder (Ag)
The Zgounder silver deposit is located in the central Anti-Atlas on the NW flank of the Siroua massif. The Zgounder deposit is Late Neoproterozoic in age and is mainly composed of a volcano sedimentary formation attributed to the Precambrian II (PII). The formation is intruded to the West by the Askaoun granodioritic massif (later Precambrian II-III). The geology of Zgounder is divided into three formations (Demange, 1997), two with a major clastic component intercalated with volcanics (identified as the ‘blue’ and ‘brown’ formations) overlain by an acid ignimbritic volcanic complex (the ‘black formation’).
Under care and maintenance since 1990, Zgounder has been Morocco’s second most important silver mine after Imiter, and shares several of its geological, structural and age characteristics. Zones north and east of the previous underground workings promise substantial new reserves that could be exploited by open pit mining.
• A project life of 10 years with the current resources up to 2027;
• ZMSM Internal Rate of Return of 134% pre-tax and 118% after tax;
• ZMSM pre-tax Net Present Value of US$215.1M (discounted at 6.5%) at variable silver price from US$17.50 to US$21.50 per ounce with yearly average of US$20.50 per ounce;
• ZMSM after-tax Net Present Value of US$200.2M (discounted at 6.5%) at variable silver price from USD$17.50 to USD21.5 USD per ounce with average of US$20.5 per ounce;
• The extraction of 3.974Mt at 292 g/t Ag for silver production of 33.682M ounces;
• Milling to increase to 500 tpd in 2018 then up to 2020 followed by a 2000 tpd in 2021;
• Production increase to 1.354M ounces per year up to 4.762M ounces of silver per year;
• Total operating cost of US $63.64 per tonne (averaged over the expected mine’s life);
• Capex and sustaining capital requirements of US $46.9M.
Note to Potential Investors: 43-101
The PEA is preliminary in nature, and includes Inferred Mineral Resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. Furthermore, there is no certainty that the PEA results will be realized.
Preliminary Economic Assessment – Technical Report March 16th, 2018
Preliminary Economic Assessment (March 2014)
Pre-Feasibility Study (May 2014)
The mine is approximately 260 kilometres east of the major port city of Agadir (pop. 575,320), within the Proterozoic Siroua Massif of the Anti-Atlas Range.
The Zgounder mine is accessible from Agadir by well maintained paved highways (N10 and P1706) running east for 205 kilometres to Taliouine in the Taroudant province. The majority of the final 61 kilometres to the mine are traveled on a normally well paved road to the village of Askaoun. The last five-kilometre stretch to the mine is accessible via a dirt road which could be easily be upgraded.
The exploitation licence covers 16 km².
The silver mineralization occurs in three, often superposed, genotypes: 1) Mm-thick beds of well-crystallized, finely disseminated pyrite associated with quartz and other sulphides found in chloritized and tuffaceous pelitic layers of the Brown Formation with low silver grades (5 to 25 g/t Ag) (Figure 5), 2) Native silver veinlets associated with proustite (Ag₃AsS₃), argentite (Ag₂S) and filling micro-fractures discordant with the stratitification and suggesting a stockwork-type mineralization and 3), Native silver dissemination with sulphide veinlets (sphalerite, galena, argentite and cinabar) in brecciated sandstone-shale layers and spotted by nodules and flakes of chlorite and/or carbonate microlithes. The paragenetic sequence shows two successive stages: an early Fe-As stage (silver-bearing pyrite and arsenopyrite), followed by an Ag-bearing polymetallic (Zn, Pb, Cu, Hg; sphalerite and chalcopyrite) stage. Native silver is by far the most common silver mineral and forms an amalgam with Hg. Tension gashes originally trapped the silver mineralization within a NNE-oriented shear zone affecting the Brown Formation shale-sandstone beds containing anomalous Ag values. These were then transposed by EW-oriented structures forming isolated Ag-mineralized lenses and fissures.