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FENIX

Owner: Rio2 Ltd “It is important to get into production as quickly as possible,” Baker
Location: Maricunga Belt, northern Chile said.
Reserves: 116mt @ 0.49 g/t gold for 1.828 moz The rapid development pathway is possible because of the unique
Resources: 410.7mt @ 0.38 g/t gold for 4.985 moz
(measured-indicated); 136.6mt @ geological and metallurgical aspects of Fenix compared to other
0.32 g/t gold for 1.388 moz (inferred) gold operations in a country which also hosts Gold Fields Ltd,
Project status: Pre-construction Yamana Gold Inc and Kinross Gold Inc.
“The difference between this project and all the others in the
Maricunga is that it is 100% oxide,” Baker said. “It is still oxide all
io2 Ltd is on the verge of construction at its Fenix project in Chile
the way down to the bottom of the $US1,500/oz pit shell and the
R with funding secured and only environmental approval standing
deepest hole is 600m below surface and is still in oxide.”
in the way of a start.
Baker said that while other Maricunga projects were forced to deal
Fenix – at the northern end of the Maricunga belt – was discovered
with challenges around water, metallurgy, tailings disposal and
in 2007 based on a regional geochemical survey.
capex Rio2 faced no such problems, allowing for a low-capex start-
Some 115,000m of RC and diamond holes have been drilled
up plan.
since then, building up a reserve of 1.8 moz gold @ 0.49 g/t and a
The company will initially access water from a nearby water
resource of 5 moz gold @ 0.32 g/t.
retreatment facility and recent ROM leach testing indicated
Having acquired the project in 2018, Rio2 completed a PFS on
secondary crushing wouldn’t be required.
Fenix in 2019, identifying an open pit mine and heap leach process
“There has been a lot of met done in the past on double and triple-
could produce 85,000 ozpa over an initial 16 year mine life. Capex
stage crushing, so we put together a trial heap at altitude using
was estimated at $US111 million with AISC of $US997 million.
water from the water retreatment facility,” Baker said.
Speaking at the Gold Forum Americas conference in September,
A flexible financing package has also been arranged. BNP
Rio2 chief executive Alex Black said the company was aiming for
Paribas will provide a senior debt facility of $US50-60 million which
a staged development approach which would see first production
is accompanied by a $US50 million gold stream with Wheaton
in Q4 2022.
Precious Metals Inc and a recent $C35.1 million equity raising.
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