OREANDA-NEWS. Polymetal International plc is pleased to announce the successful completion of the Feasibility Study for the Kyzyl gold project and the updated Ore Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates audited by Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. (RPA).

Total Probable Ore Reserves1 for the Bakyrchik deposit at Kyzyl in accordance with the JORC Code (2012) are estimated at 29.2 Mt at the average grade of 7.7 g/t Au with 7.3 Moz of contained gold. This represents an 8% increase as compared to the previous estimate of 6.7 Moz of gold at 7.5 g/t.

Mineral Resources1 (additional to Ore Reserves) are estimated at 14.2 Mt of ore at the average grade of 6.8 g/t Au containing 3.1 Moz of gold.

The Project FS confirmed the economic viability of Polymetal's development approach which incorporates a 1.8 Mtpa open pit to be mined for the first 10 years followed by 12 years of underground mining at 1.2 Mtpa. Ore will be processed by sulphide flotation with concentrate to be sold to third-party processors.

A 1.8 Mtpa flotation plant will produce 325 Koz of payable gold in concentrate per year on average from open pit mining followed by 270 Koz of gold in concentrate from underground mining. Metallurgical recovery is estimated at 91% with concentrate mass pull ratio of 6.5%. Concentrate grades averaging 108 g/t Au.

The average All-in Sustaining Cash Cost is US$ 630/oz of gold and the average Total Cash Cost is US$ 591/oz of gold.

Initial capital expenditures are estimated at USD 328 million. An additional USD 69 million will be invested in pre-production stripping in 2016-2017. Sustaining capital is estimated at USD 228 million over the life of mine. Underground mine start-up costs in 2024-2027 are estimated at USD 202 million.

Project IRR of 27% (after tax) and USD 538 million NPV at 10% discount rate were estimated at the gold price of USD 1,200/oz, RUB/USD exchange rate of 55 and Tenge/USD exchange rate of 180. The project economics are robust, with the project IRR for the stress scenario (gold price of USD 1,000/oz in accordance with the Company policy to stress the project at a 20% discount to spot price) estimated at 19%.

Polymetal is on track to start full-scale construction in Q2 2016. Processing will start in the H2 2018 with first full year of production in 2019.