Sheffield Resources (ASX:SFX) has released the PFS on its Thunderbird mineral sands project, something we had been looking forward to for quite a while.
Unfortunately the outcome is a bit disappointing as the capital expenditures are higher than expected (almost A$395M) and even though the company says the project will generate an annual EBITDA of A$148M in the first 10 years of the mine life, Sheffield hasn’t exactly been very conservative in the commodity prices it used to get to that EBITDA. It used a Zirconium price of US$1375/t and an ilmenite price of US$155/t, which is more than 30% higher than the current prices for both commodities.
This means that if the PFS would have been based on the spot price of Zircon and Ilmenite, the NPV and Internal Rate of Return would be much lower. Even though we do think the zircon and ilmenite prices will increase, we prefer to remain conservative in our calculations to make sure projects can generate robust returns, even if the price of both commodities doesn’t change.
> Click here to go to Sheffield’s website
Disclosure: The author holds no position in Sheffield Resources. Please see our disclaimer for current positions.
