Caerus announces agreement with Jubilee Metals

Highlights

• Option agreement is exclusive to Jubilee, whereby they have 6 months to assess the technical merits, development and economic prospects of Caerus' mining assets in Cyprus.
• The agreement allows Jubilee, at its sole discretion, to identify one or more of Caerus' assets to be converted into project(s) under a joint venture (JV) arrangement.
• Jubilee's recent record demonstrates a rapid-growth and diversified metals processing company with strong technical management and a proven ability to move projects forward at a fast pace.
• Caerus is a copper and gold development and exploration company focused on Cyprus, and the owner of substantial stockpiles of copper and gold-bearing remnant ore and mining residues at-surface.
• Caerus believes that the multiple large tonnage stockpiles of mining residues from the 16 former mines within its licence areas offer significant JV potential.
• Jubilee's current market capitalisation is approximately £400 million.

Strategy and assets

Jubilee Metals is a successful metals processing company with which it is opportune for Caerus to engage through the mutually beneficial option agreement recently announced. Whilst Caerus is still focused on its advanced exploration objective(s) of defining NI 43-101 compliant ore reserves from its core flagship properties of Kalavasos, Mathiatis and Mala, and the advanced assets of the recently acquired PR Ploutonic Resources Ltd., this agreement with Jubilee is a step towards achieving a parallel goal.

Alongside advanced exploration, Caerus has a second key objective, namely to pursue a 'waste to revenue' strategy and monetise the residual metals embedded in its substantial, 100% owned surface stockpiles of high-grade remnant ore as well as associated copper-and gold-bearing marginal ore, waste rock and tailings. The company's in-house and uncertified estimates are approximately 15 million t in all categories of material within its portfolio, not including the >3 million t within licences owned by PR Ploutonic Resources.

Option agreement

The main elements of the option agreement are as follows:

• Operational costs are to be met by Jubilee with no material cost to Caerus.
• 6-month duration providing a rapid turn-around of samples and progressive release and reporting of results.
• Jubilee has the exclusive option to elect to convert one or more projects to a JV under terms to be agreed.
• If a JV is agreed, Jubilee will design, finance and execute the construction of any processing plant and become its operator.
• Any JV will operate on a profit-sharing basis after recovery by Jubilee of its initial capital expenditure and other 'up-front' costs.

Option agreement rationale

This option agreement enables Caerus and Jubilee to engage in an agreed Work Programme to investigate and assess the remnant ore and multiple waste stockpiles from the 16 mines that operated historically on Caerus' concessions, including those of the recently acquired PR Ploutonic Resources Ltd. The targeted wastes were discarded in an era when metal market dynamics were very different from today, and there was no incentive to optimise recoveries from ore feeds, nor any commercial or environmental benefits from doing so. The dramatically changed commodity price environment for copper in today's world is driven mainly by the global decarbonisation of the transport and energy sectors. This creates an opportunity for Caerus to form a working relationship with Jubilee and utilise their skills and experience in materials reprocessing. These will form the foundation of the Work Programme under the agreement that will be delivered jointly with Caerus personnel.

The ultimate objective is to identify and define projects within the Caerus portfolio that can be 'scaled-up' and prioritised into one or more JVs targeting profitable production using modern designs and waste processing technologies guided and financed by Jubilee.

Martyn Churchouse, CEO of Caerus Mineral Resources, commented: "We are delighted to be able to engage with Jubilee at a time when the market demand for copper is so vibrant and is forecast to remain so for many years. We are fortunate to have within our wholly-owned tenements the mineralised waste from many of Cyprus' former copper mines. This enables us to pursue a dual strategy of exploring for new underground VMS resources whilst striving to become a producer by exploiting our stockpiles of copper and gold-bearing waste. Since Jubilee is a recognised market leader in the recovery of metals from a diverse range of waste and feedstocks, they are a natural partner with which to progress our revenue-generating ambitions."

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/exploration-development/04052021/caerus-announces-agreement-with-jubilee-metals/