Metro Mining to expand capacity to 7 million tonnes

2022-07-19

Jul. 19, 2022 - Metro Mining Limited (Metro) is pleased to announce that the Metro Board of Directors has approved a Final Investment Decision (FID), subject to financing - to expand the capacity of the Bauxite Hills Mine to 7.0 Million Wet Metric Tonnes per annum (“M WMT pa”). The approval for the expansion is underpinned by securing additional binding offtake with Xinfa Aluminium Group for 5M WMT in 2023 and 6M WMT in 2024. There are no further traditional owner, environmental or regulatory approvals required as Metro already has approval to mine up to 10.0 M WMT pa. All regulatory approvals are in place with intention to execute the expansion by Q4 2023.

The economics of the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) have been run at a production/sales rate of 6.0 M WMT pa over a 15-year mine life, delivering strong returns with an NPV (10%) of $372 M, IRR 78%, payback in 2 years and average Site EBITDA margin of $83 M. The expansion capital of $28.3 M, takes productive capacity to 7.0 M WMT pa which, given the strong market outlook, provides flexibility to support upside spot demand as required and, at the same time, reducing implementation risk.