“The completion of the DeLamar prefeasibility study is a crowning achievement for the company, representing the culmination of two years of work by the Integra team and its various consultants,” Integra Resources President and CEO George Salamis said. “Following on from the success of the 2019 preliminary economic assessment, this PFS is a materially different and larger scale project, both in heap leaching and milling, relative to the PEA. Despite inflationary pressure currently overhanging the mining industry from a capital and operating cost perspective, the project continues to demonstrate strong positive economics and a high degree of optionality in terms of the scale, mining/ processing scope and capital cost of gold/ silver mines to be built at the project.”

The two-stage project contemplates a larger scale open-pit mining scenario that combines heap leaching and milling to achieve an average production level of 163,000 AuEq ounces per year (oz/y) for the first 8 years, a mine life of 16 years, life of mine site level AISC of $955/oz (co-product basis) and with a clear path to future non-oxide processing enhancements and resource growth upside.

The staged approach to development means the company starts production with heap leach only that can be developed with far lower capital and operating cost requirements, capable of producing an average of 136,000 AuEq oz/y at a site level AISC $813/oz.