JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Uranium producer Energy Resources Australia's (ERA's) underground uranium project in the Northern Territory – Ranger 3 Deeps – took one step forward on Friday as the company lodged the draft environmental-impact statement (EIS) with authorities.

The draft EIS assessed the environmental and social impact of the project and outlined the proposed safeguards and mitigation measures to manage potential impacts from underground development.

The underground project would have a significantly smaller environmental footprint than the previous opencut mines on the Ranger project area.

ERA said that the prefeasibility study (PFS) to determine the viability of the project remained on track for completion by the end of this year. The ERA board would consider the development of the mine in the first quarter of 2015 and a positive development decision would result in first production from the mine in late 2015.

Besides determining the economic viability of the mine, the A$57-million PFS would also optimise mining methods and confirm metallurgical performance and production rates. 

The company also invested A$120-million on an exploration decline to define the Ranger 3 Deeps resource.

In June 2014, ERA  lowered the resource estimate at Ranger 3 Deeps to 11.9-million tonnes, grading 0.274% uranium oxide (U₃O₈), for 32 620 t of contained U₃O₈. This compared with the previous estimate of 10.14-million tonnes, at 33% U₃O₈, for 33 297 t of U₃O₈.

The key change to the previously reported estimate was the reclassification of indicated resource to a distribution of measured, indicated and inferred resource. The new resource was estimated at 8 448 t of measured resource, 14 276 t of indicated resource and 9 896 t of inferred resource.

The final mineral resource estimate for the Ranger 3 Deeps project was scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of this year, following the completion of the underground drilling programme.

Uranium has been mined at Ranger for three decades. The mine is one of only three mines in the world that produce in excess of 110 000 t of U₃O₈.