Name of the Project
Tiris uranium project.

Location
Sahara Desert, in north-east Mauritania.

Project Owner/s
The project is owned by Tiris Resources (85%), a subsidiary of Aura Energy, and the Mauritanian government, through its agency Societe Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbons et de Patrimone Minier (15%).

Project Description
Tiris is the first major calcrete uranium discovery in the region.

A definitive feasibility study (DFS) has confirmed the uranium project as a low capital- and operating-cost development opportunity.

Average uranium oxide production is estimated at 823 000 lb, with life-of-mine (LoM) production estimated at 12.35-million pounds of uranium oxide.

The beneficiation plant ore throughput rate is estimated at 1.25-million tonnes a year and that of the process plant at 160 000 t/y.

The LoM has been estimated at 15 years.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an after-tax net present value, including royalties and tax, at an 8% discount rate, of $89.9-million and an internal rate of return of 26%, including royalties and tax, with a project payback from startup of 3.25 years.

Capital Expenditure
An updated capital cost estimate for the Tiris uranium project, in Mauritania, has increased the projected cost by 10.4%.

The project is expected to require a capital investment of $74.8-million, compared with the $62.9-million estimated in the 2019 DFS.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
A newly appointed board of directors is advancing the Tiris project with gusto. The new board was appointed in December, with members strategically chosen to focus on production.

The company has identified significant opportunities to expand the Tiris resource and will, therefore, progress the work immediately.

In light of such positive market conditions, the project has benefitted from having much of the groundwork already undertaken to enable it to progress.

Efforts to advance the Tiris project include restating the capital estimate in line with 2021 figures for the 2019 Tiris DFS, reconfirming Tiris as a low capital expenditure (capex), low operating cost uranium project, with current and accurate estimates on input and operating costs.

In 2022, the company will focus on preparing for the final project financing. This will include the engagement of an engineering consultant to advance engineering design and procurement, and to prepare the project for construction.

Further cost reductions will also be pursued, with a resource estimate under way to include vanadium by-product recovery in the Tiris processing circuit.

Moreover, planned resource expansion programmes and project development activities are expected to add further value to the Tiris project.

Aura will prepare to raise funds through a combination of debt, equity and offtake agreements to advance the project into construction, complementing the existing $10-million offtake financing agreement with mineral trading company Curzon Resources, which includes an additional facility of up to $10-million, bringing the maximum financing available under the agreement to $20-million.

Chairperson Phil Mitchell has said that the potential to expand the resource at Tiris is “significant”.

Aura announced a resource upgrade of 10% or five-million pounds of uranium oxide (U3O8) in 2021 – bringing the total Joint Ore Resource Committee-compliant resource to 56-million pounds at a 100 parts per million of uranium8 lower cut-off grade.

This followed a new resource estimate on the Sadi South zone to incorporate drill holes not included in earlier resource estimates.

The 2022 resource upgrade programme will include further drilling, seeking to upgrade more of the 56-million-pound resource from inferred to measured and indicated, and to identify further exploration targets within the tenure.

Aura is aspiring to expand the resource so that it supports the expansion of Tiris to ultimately produce three- to five-million pounds a year of uranium oxide.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Minecore (engineering consultant); Simulus Group (leaching/ion-exchange engineering consultant); Adelaide Control Engineering (uranium processing engineering consultant); Mining Plus (mine design consultant); General Studies and Achievements in Africa (geotechnical consultant): PhotoSat (satellite surveying); H&S Consultants (resource estimation); 3D Exploration (grade determination by gamma logging); Poseidon Geophysics (downhole gamma logging); Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation (metallurgical testwork, steady-state simulation, uranium disequilibrium); Australian MinMet Metallurgical Laboratories (metallurgical testwork); CSIRO Minerals, University of SA, Pontifex Associates (mineralogy); Activation Laboratories (uranium determination); Geoterra (hydrogeological consulting); SES (water geophysics); ALS Global (chemical analysis); Wallis Drilling (air-core drilling); Capital Drilling (diamond drilling); Earth Systems (environmental- and social impact assessment consultants); METS Engineering (operating cost review); and Golders Associates (groundwater supply review).

Contact Details for Project Information
Aura Energy, tel +61 3 9516 6500 or email info@auraenergy.com.au.