PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A scoping study into ASX-listed Aura Energy’s Reguibat uranium project, in Mauritania, has delivered positive results.
Aura told shareholders on Wednesday that the scoping study confirmed that Reguibat could be a robust project with shallow mineralisation that could be upgraded through simple beneficiation to high-grade leach feed.
The study indicated that some 11-million pounds of uranium could be produced over an initial mine life of 15 years, using only 20% of the project’s known global mineral resource.
The project would require a capital investment of about $45-million and would have an operating cost of $30/lb uranium oxide (U3O8), and with a mine-life average production of 750 000 lb U3O8 could deliver a pre-tax cash flow of A$360-million.
The study was based on a Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource of 66-million tonnes, grading 334 parts per million for 49-million pounds of U3O8.
Aura noted that future studies on the Reguibat project would examine options to expand production to fully use the large resource, which would reduce the project’s cash costs, improve returns and maximise cash flow.
Additionally, extensive radiometric surveys have also allowed Aura to estimate an exploration target of an additional 50-million pounds U3O8, inferring a global mineral resource target of around 100-million pounds of uranium at Reguibat.