Candente Copper Corp.: Canariaco Norte Pre-Feasibility Study UpdateVANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Nov. 29, 2010 (Marketwire) -- Candente Copper Corp. (TSX:DNT)(BVLAC:DNT) ("Candente") is pleased to provide a progress update on the Canariaco Norte Copper Project Pre-Feasibility Study being prepared by AMEC Americas Limited ("AMEC"). The processing rate for the project has now been increased to 95,000 tonnes per day ("tpd"). Completion of a Pre-Feasibility Progress Report is scheduled for January 2011.
The increase to 95,000 tpd is the second increase in processing rate achieved during the Pre-Feasibility level design of the Canariaco Norte project. The processing rate has now increased by 26% from the 75,000 tpd rate proposed in the Preliminary Economic Assessment completed in 2008. This latest increase is a result of the significant increase in the mineral resource estimate completed by AMEC and reported by Candente on November 1, 2010 (see Candente Copper NR 010).
Importantly, this increase in production rate will incur minimal additional capital costs to the project, as the primary crushing and grinding circuits will remain essentially unchanged from the previous 85,000 tpd circuit. This is based on recently completed metallurgical test work which confirmed that target copper recovery can be achieved at a coarser final grind prior to the copper flotation stage, thereby allowing the increased processing rate. This increase in processing rate will result in higher levels of annual copper, gold, and silver production. The resulting increase in metal production totals are still under assessment, pending completion of the mine design.
The increase in processing rate requires development of a new 95,000 tpd mine plan and revisions to several aspects of the project engineering. Given this change in scope, a Pre-Feasibility Progress Report is scheduled for January 2011. The Pre-Feasibility Progress Report will include project costing and financial analysis with estimated cash flows, IRRs, and NPVs based on the proposed scope of development.
"We continue to be extremely pleased with the progress of the Canariaco Norte Pre-Feasibility program, and firmly believe the Pre-Feasibility Progress Report will demonstrate significant improvements to the scope of project development," commented Sean Waller, P.Eng., President of Candente Copper.
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