Chairman's Address and Presentation at Annual General Meeting of Shareholders
Perth, May 31, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - It is six months since the previous Image Resources NL (
ASX:IMA) (IMREF:OTCMKTS) Annual General Meeting, a result of a change of the Company's year-end accounting from June 30 to December 31. It has been a momentous 6 months in which the Image team has worked very hard to complete a feasibility study to bankable standard (BFS) for the development and production of the Boonanarring and Atlas high grade and zircon-rich projects in the North Perth Basin. The very strong results of that study were released to the market yesterday and mark an exciting transition for Image from evaluation stage to project finance and development.
Highlights of the financial results of the BFS include a project pre-tax NPV of $135m, an internal rate of return of 64%, capital payback in 1.8 years, and project start-up capital cost of $52m.
In addition to the very positive financial results, the BFS also highlighted many other positive aspects of the project;
- Only 6 months construction and plant already owned
- Fully developed infrastructure in place
- One of the lowest development capital mineral sand projects globally
- Development at a low point in the product price cycle into a rising market
- High sensitivity to rising zircon and titanium mineral prices, e.g. a 20% increase in mineral sand prices on the base case increases the project NPV to over $250m
- Offtake arrangement for 100% of the product on favourable terms
- Potential for long life project with other high-grade deposits along a 100km trend.
What this adds up to is a low cost, low risk project for rapid development.
The upside potential of the project is substantial through improving product prices and optimising a number of value-add opportunities. The greatest upside potential value lies within the additional deposits and mineralised zones identified along the 60-kilometre long corridor of the North Perth Basin that has been Image's exploration focus. A number of these are very high grade. They are capable of adding substantial profitability and supporting long-term production.
Patrick Mutz and his team at Image are to be congratulated on achieving such a high standard of design and analysis for the project development that completed the Bankable Feasibility Study in a short time and within budget. This team has the experience and capability to successfully bring the Boonanarring-Atlas Project through development and into production within tight schedules and budgets.
To view the release, please visit:
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/BC48BN26
To view the Annual General Meeting Presentation, please visit:
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/YGEQ355G
About Image Resources NL
Image Resources NL (ASX:IMA) is a mineral sands focused miner and supplier of critical minerals titanium dioxide, zircon and monazite containing rare earth elements for sale into global markets. The Company has a demonstrated track record of successful project development and operations at its Boonanarring project located 80km north of Perth in the infrastructure rich North Perth Basin.
Boonanarring was a high-grade, high-zircon, low capital cost mine development that was constructed on-time and on-budget in CY2018 and then ramped up to name plate capacity in the second month of operation and went on to operate profitably through Q3 2023. Debt for the project was paid off early in February 2021 and the Company paid dividends to shareholders in April 2021 and April 2022.
Image completed critical construction of the Atlas project in January 2025 and started commissioning and achieved first HMC production in February 2025 and will be ramping up production and revenue from Atlas in Q2 CY2025.
Chapter 1 operating strategy for Image involved the transition from advanced explorer to active miner in CY2018, operating a single mine and producing a single product (HMC) sold into a single jurisdiction (China). Chapter 2 strategy (post Atlas) will focus on the Company's growth and sustainability ambitions which includes the operation of multiple mines in parallel, producing multiple products (separating HMC), and selling into a global market.
The Company is also investigating a significant value adding step of upgrading its ilmenite to synthetic rutile using a lower GHG emissions, innovative process which Image has provisionally patented, and aims to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of this novel process in CY2025-26.
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