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Northcliff boosts Sisson tungsten project economics after new feasibility study
A C$6.9 billion post-tax NPV at an 8% discount rate and a 1.6-year payback underscore improved returns versus a 2013 plan, driven by higher tungsten prices and currency moves.
Northcliff Resources said its new feasibility study for the Sisson tungsten-molybdenum project in New Brunswick points to a much stronger economic outlook, with post-tax net present value rising to C$6.9 billion, using an 8% discount rate, against C$1.53 billion in initial capital.
The updated study estimates a 50% internal rate of return and a 1.6-year payback. The company compared that with its 2013 study, which projected a post-tax NPV of $418 million against C$579 million in initial capital, alongside a 16% return and a 4.5-year payback, citing higher metal prices, particularly for tungsten, and exchange-rate changes.
Northcliff attributed the shift partly to improvements in financial results since 2013, while also noting that increases in inflation and provincial tax rates raised capital, operating costs, and income taxes. The open-pit operation is planned to process 30,000 tonnes per day and produce an average 598,000 mtu of tungsten trioxide annually, plus 4.2 million lb. of molybdenum, with higher-grade output in the first five years lifting tungsten production to an average 767,000 mtu.
The mine, about 100 km northwest of Fredericton, was fast-tracked by Ottawa under its Major Projects Office in November as Canada seeks to rebuild domestic tungsten supply. Northcliff said Sisson could supply roughly a quarter of current tungsten mine production outside China, where the country dominates global supply, and it has secured major federal and provincial environmental approvals, plus funding including $15 million from the U.S. Department of Defense and C$8.2 million from Ottawa last year.