Name of the Project
Macusani Plateau uranium project.

Location
Puno province, Macusani region, Peru.

Client
Plateau Uranium.

Project Description
The project comprises the Kihitian, Isivilla and Corani complexes, Colibri 2 and 3/Tupuramani, and Corachapi, which have total measured and indicated resources of 95.20-million tonnes grading 248 parts per million (ppm) uranium (U₃O₈). Inferred resources are estimated at 130-million tonnes grading 251 ppm U₃O₈.

The updated preliminary economic assessment completed in January envisages the construction of a conventional openpit mining operation and a centralised processing facility operating over ten years, and a throughput of about 30 000 t/d.

Heap-leach processing is planned to be used to extract uranium into a weak acidic aqueous leach solution, with uranium recovery through exchange (IX) and a solvent extraction (SX) acid recovery circuit.

The proposed mine plans include predominantly openpit mining, with underground mining proposed for some of the deeper high-grade portions of the Kihitian complex to be accessed from the pit bottom. The conventional openpit mine design will produce 30 000 t/d and will be augmented with additional feed from the underground mine design that will produce 2 700 t/d through room-and-pillar mining methods, extracted by a continuous miner and conveyors accessed from the pit bottom. The mining methods proposed will use industry-standard mining fleet equipment and technologies.

The proposed method of recovery includes crushing and stacking mineralised material onto a heap-leach pad, which is irrigated with an acidic solution to dissolve the uranium. The leach solution will then pass through IX columns to recover the dissolved uranium and SX to recover uranium from the IX eluate to reduce acid consumption.

The SX product solution will pass through precipitation to yield a yellowcake precipitate, which is thickened, filtered, dried and packaged for dispatch. Interpretation of metallurgical testwork results estimate sulphuric acid consumption at 9 kg/t and an estimated 88% processing recovery rate, resulting in an average estimated production of 6.09-million pounds a year of uranium. The nominated process method uses industry-standard equipment and extraction technologies.

Jobs to be Created
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $852.7-million and an internal rate of return of 47.6%, with a payback of 1.69 years.

Value
Initial capital expenditure has been estimated at $299.80-million, including $50.10-million in contingencies, to build the mine and a 10.90-million-tonne-a-year heap-leach process plant using standard, off-the-shelf equipment and technology.

Duration
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Plateau Uranium has announced the acceptance and approval by affected Andean communities and the Peruvian Environmental Authority of its environmental baseline study lodged in September 2016. The study represents the initial step towards production permitting and a full environmental-impact assessment study.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Plateau Uranium, tel +1 416 628 9600, fax +1 416 360 3415 or email info@plateauuranium.com.