ACG Metals Ltd has announced the completion of a scoping level study at the company’s Gediktepe mine in Türkiye. This will involve the construction of a new comminution and Sulphidisation, Acidification, Recycling, and Thickening (SART) plant that will process existing stockpiles and enriched ore, both of which would otherwise be classified as waste, to produce gold, silver, copper and zinc.
The Enriched Ore Treatment Project is expected to produce an additional 57,000 t CuEq, over 2026-2030 with no impact on the existing oxide plant or construction stage sulphide plant. The Enriched Ore Treatment Project is expected to deliver attractive economics and at a low capital cost to the company.
It is estimated to generate a total revenue of US$562 million, total EBITDA of US$465 million, and total free cash flow of US$317 million over the life of the project with production of 29,000 t copper, 71,000 oz gold, 1,894,000 oz silver and 7,000 t zinc through the life of the project.
The Enriched Ore Treatment Project is expected to be a two-phase project starting with Phase 1, which will process stockpiled ore from the original construction of the mine to produce gold and silver, targeting commercial production in Q4 2026 for immediate cash flow. Phase 2 will follow later, processing enriched ore to expand production to include copper and zinc, with commercial operations targeted by Q1 2029
The company has begun the permitting process for the Enriched Ore Treatment Project and it is currently expected that it will be received in 2026. While ACG Metals says it has sufficient internal cash resources to fully fund the Enriched Ore Treatment Project, the company has launched a capital raise “to give new and existing institutional and retail investors an opportunity to participate in the next stage of the company’s growth trajectory and to improve liquidity in the company.”
The net proceeds from the fundraise will part fund Phase 1 development capex and be utilised,
alongside internal cash resources, to fully fund the US$39 million Enriched Ore Treatment Project development.
Artem Volynets, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, commented: “ACG continues to deliver strong operational improvements, with the Enriched Ore Treatment Project representing one of our most significant advancements. This project, which enables the processing of material previously considered waste, showcases the ACG team’s exceptional technical capabilities. With a relatively small investment, we plan to achieve outstanding financial returns – generating free cash flow eight times the development capex required and adding more than $200 million to the company’s NAV. We are happy to share this massive value creation with new investors who align with our vision of building a leading copper producer.”
In November 2024, the company announced the Sulphide Expansion Project which will facilitate the mining and processing of sulphide ore in addition to the oxide ore currently being mined and processed at the Gediktepe mine. The processing of sulphide ore enables the company to transition into a long-life, low-cost copper producer. It has made good progress in respect of the project which remains well within its scheduled budget and milestones, with 58% of engineering design and draft, 56% of procurement and 27% of process plant construction completed. The project is expected to reach full commercial production by the end of H1 2026.
The company’s technical team has worked on a low-risk and low-cost plan to unlock value from the estimated 3.3 Mt of previously mined stockpiled ore and un-mined enriched ore that was marked as waste in the original mine plan. The Enriched Ore Treatment Project will use a proven technological solution to unlock this value. Through the SART process, cyanide is regenerated, enabling high-yield recovery of base and precious metals from complex ores unsuitable for flotation.
SART is a proven and reliable technology with the first commercial plant commissioned in 2007 to recover gold from copper enriched ores. The process has successfully added additional metal production streams, lowered costs and improved recoveries at those operations. There are over a dozen SART plants currently operating globally, operated by some of the largest mining companies in the world including Newmont Corporation at Yanacocha and Torex Gold Resources Inc. at El Limón Guajes.
The Company has begun the process of permitting the Enriched Ore Treatment Project and it is expected that full permitting will be received in 2026.
