08:51 AM EDT, 08/20/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Oroco Resource ( ORRCF ) on Tuesday released the results of a preliminary economic assessment on the North and South zones of its Santo Tomas porphyry copper project in Mexico.

The study outlined a posttax net present value of US$1.48 billion based on an 8% discount rate, with a 22.2% internal rate of return and a 3.8-year payback period.

Oroco said the study is based on a staged open pit mine and processing plant with 60,000 tonnes per day (t/d) in production in the first year and expanding to 120,000 t/d in year 8 over a 22.6-year mine life.

Initial capital costs were estimated at US$1.10 billion.

"Upon careful analysis, a staged approach to the mine expansion and a focus on exploiting the higher-grade near surface material in the early years of mining has unlocked a considerable increase in value," CEO Richard Lock said. "Quite significantly, this work establishes Santo Tomas as one of the most capital efficient large-scale, low-cost copper projects in the world."

Oromo's share price increased 2.8% yesterday to $0.35.