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Old 02-16-2012, 01:39 AM
Sparty Sparty is online now
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Default Aura Energy (ASX:AEE) confirmed as world's 3rd largest undeveloped uranium resource

The chart below shows
the world's top 10 undeveloped uranium resources by size.


As regards the Haggan Alum Shale's mineralogy/processing: A comparable bio-leach project in Finland has produced 0.8mlbs per annum from a 17ppm U3O8 ore body that is similar to AEE's 160ppm ore body. (With the co-credits nickel, zinc and molybdenum the equivalent uranium grade is ~280ppm)

AEE's second phase bio-heap leaching has been quite successful with 90% uranium recovery, 90% zinc, 55% nickel and 45% molybdenum. The chemistry of the bio-leach process in itself is very interesting and well worth a read

AEE also have a large land position (11,00km2) in Mauritania and have published a Jorc compliant resource of 50 Mlbs of uranium at average grade of 330ppm U3O8.

Finally the recently published scoping study results are summarised below:
Haggan Project Scoping Study

Aura Energy has announced a major milestone by validating economic viability of its giant Haggan uranium deposit in central Sweden with excellent results from a scoping study. These results give the green light for Aura to move into pre-feasibility in 2012.

Aura's news is timely after several uranium announcements including China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp declaring its offer for Kalahari Minerals and readying itself for a takeover bid for huge uranium mine owner Extract Resources. Canada?s Cameco Corp has also announced plans to double its uranium production to 40 million pounds a year by 2018 to accommodate extra demand from China and India.

Following are some key highlights from Aura's scoping study:

  • Net Present Value (NPV) - US$1,090M (pre-tax, 10% discount rate)
  • Internal Rate of Return (IRR) 47%
  • Total life of mine capital costs of US$769 million, including sustaining capital
  • Payback in approximately 4.3 years, or less than a fifth of current project life
  • Operating costs of US$36/lb uranium net of by-products
  • Initial pit shells contain >741 million tonnes of mineralisation, with much of the Project undrilled
  • Nominal 30 Mtpa operation with a 25 year initial mine life
  • Low mining costs with strip ration of 0.75:1
  • Target initial production of 6.6 Mlbs (2995t) uranium, 14.8 Mlbs nickel and 3.6 Mlbs molybdenum
  • Uses low risk bio-heap leach technology used extensively in the copper industry in Chile

Aura has the largest uranium resources of any ASX-listed uranium company, exceeding even ERA (619Mlbs) and Paladin Energy (503Mlbs); only BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have larger uranium resources. A project of the dimensions defined in the scoping study would be in the top 10 uranium producing operations in the world, and in the lower part of the cost curve. Read more

 

Disclaimer: The author of this post, may or may not be a shareholder of any of the companies mentioned in this column. No company mentioned has sponsored or paid for this content. Comments on this forum should never be taken as investment advice.

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