Name and Location
Etango uranium project, Erongo, Namibia.

Client
The project is 80%-owned by ASX- and TSX-listed Bannerman Resources. The company aims to proceed with the help of a development partner.

Project Description
The Etango project has Joint Ore Reserves Committee- and National Instrument 43-101-compliant ore reserves totalling 279.6-million tonnes at an average grade of 194 parts per million uranium oxide (U₃O₈) for 119.3-million pounds of contained U₃O₈.

A definitive feasibility study (DFS) has increased expected output at Etango by about 33%, after the plant size increased from 15-million tonnes to 20-million tonnes a year. Production is expected to be from seven- to nine-million pounds of U₃O₈ a year for the first five years and from six- to eight-million pounds of U₃O₈ a year, thereafter, for a minimum mine life of 16 years. This would place Etango among the world’s top ten uranium-only mining operations.

Envisioned is a conventional openpit mining operation, which will use 550 t hydraulic back-hoe excavators and 220 t diesel/electric haul trucks.

Drilling and blasting will be conducted on 12 m benches and mining on 4 m to 4.5 m flitches to minimise ore dilution. With this configuration, the mining rate is scheduled at a maximum of 100-million tonnes a year.

The DFS has also identified Etango mineralisation to be most suitable for heap leaching.

Further, significant upside exists at Etango through the potential conversion of existing inferred resources and through new drilling programmes currently under way for a targeted mine life of more than 20 years.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Value
Preproduction capital is estimated at $870-million.

Duration
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Bannerman has reported that the construction of its Etango heap-leach demonstration plant is on track for completion early in 2015.

The activities completed since awarding the contracts in September include the establishment of the site infrastructure, preparation of the foundation and the start of the civil construction of the 6-m-high concrete cribs and the reagent mixing area and the construction of the evaporation pond.

The company has also started the rehabilitation of the areas from where the ore and waste rock samples have been blasted and hauled.

“It is anticipated that the first test results will be available during the June 2015 quarter. The timing of the demonstration programme coincides well with the increase in the uranium price,” says Bannerman CEO Len Jubber in a statement.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Amec Minproc; Bateman Engineering; Metago Environmental Engineers; Coffey Mining; A Speiser Environmental Consultants and ERM.

On Budget and on Time?
Too early to state.

Contact Details for Project Information
Bannerman Resources (Namibia) GM Werner Ewald, tel +264 64 416 200, fax +264 64 416 240 or email admin@bannermanresources-na.com.