Western Copper Gets Go Ahead At Carmacks

VANCOUVER — The Yukon government has approved the mining licence for Western Copper’s (WRN-T, WCPCF-O) Carmacks copper project.

The licence allows Western Copper to build and operate a mine at the project, 192 km north of Whitehorse, Yukon.

On news of the approval, Western Copper’s share price held steady at 54¢.

At this point, the company has not made a production decision and still needs to arrange funding before it could begin construction.

A 2007 feasibility study pegged capital costs at Carmacks at $152 million. The mine would take 20 months to build, run for over six years and produce 32 million lbs. of copper per year.

Carmacks’ proven and probable reserves stand at 10.6 million tonnes grading 1.055% copper, 0.48 gram gold per tonne and 4.62 grams silver.

Based on a copper price of US$2.32, the project returned a pretax internal rate of return of 21% and had a net present value of $152 million.

The payback period was estimated at 3.6 years.

Western Copper says it is currently reviewing the feasibility study to see if it can shave down any costs; it is also looking into potential sources of funding.

Western Copper president and CEO Dale Corman says a production decision is dependent on both “favourable” financing terms and the price of copper.

As of Dec. 31, 2008, Western Copper had $12.4 million in working capital. The company has 72.8 million shares outstanding.