Name of the Project
Mulga Rock uranium project.

Location
The Mulga Rock Project (MRP) is located about 240 km east-north-east of Kalgoorlie, in Western Australia.

Client
Vimy Resources.

Project Description
MRP is the third-largest undeveloped uranium (U₃O₈) deposit in Australia, with a resource estimate of 65.6-million tonnes at 520 parts per million U₃O₈ for a contained 75-million pounds U₃O₈.

The project comprises two distinct mining centres – Mulga Rock East, which comprises Princess and the Ambassador deposits, and Mulga Rock West, which comprises the Emperor and Shogan deposits. Infill drilling is under way at Ambassador, Emperor and Shogun to further increase the confidence level of the current resource to support the definitive feasibility study (DFS).

The prefeasibility study results confirm the potential for the MRP to produce three-million pounds of uranium concentrate over a 17.1-year mine life, with an estimated total production of 50.4-million pounds of U₃O₈.

Mining will be by large-scale openpit.

Owing to the large lateral extent and horizontal geometry, Vimy is proposing to use conventional truck-and-shovel and highly mechanised strip mining techniques, similar to those used in mineral sands or coal mining. These mining methods will result in a smaller environmental footprint at any time and significant savings in rehabilitation costs.

The regular geometry of the operation, with a fixed distance to the waste dump, lends itself to a continuous mechanised waste haulage system.

Two mobile in-pit crushing and conveying systems have been selected, with a round pit conveying system suitable for establishment at the larger Ambassador and Emperor deposits to transport the waste from the advancing mining face to the waste dump areas. The conveyor system will be loaded by one of two diesel-electric shovels operating on separate benches.

The overburden in the Princess and Shogun deposits will be mined using conventional truck-and-shovel methods. Ore will be mined by a dedicated fleet of 90 t trucks and a 200 t class excavator.

The main process plant will receive beneficiated ore from the mine and then grind this feed to 80% passing 150 μm using a semiautogenous mill circuit.

The leach discharge will be pumped to a resin-in-pulp (RIP) circuit where the slurry will be contacted with an ion-exchange resin to recover the uranium present in solution.

The slurry from the uranium RIP circuit, barren of recoverable uranium, will be further processed to recover the base metals still in solution. The base-metal containing solution will be recovered using a counter current decantation circuit and the solids discharged to tails.

Jobs to be Created
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at a 10% discounted rate, of A$431-million and an internal rate of return of 25.1%.

Payback from start of production is 3.9 years at $65/lb U₃O₈.

Value
The cost of the project has been estimated at $362-million.

Duration
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Vimy Resources has received backing from the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to start preliminary work at its MRP.

The work involves an upgrade to the existing site access road to allow for heavy equipment to be brought to site, and the construction and development of the Kakarook North borefield to supply sufficient water once construction starts.

The EPA gave its approval in August for the development of the MRP, recommending 14 conditions and specified environmental management plans to ensure impacts to conservation significant flora, vegetation and terrestrial fauna were minimised.

Ministerial approval for the project is still being sought. “We intend to be shovel ready when the final approval from the Minister is published, so that the first shovel in the ground can be achieved straightaway,” Vimy CEO and MD Mike Young said in September.

“This consent enables us to process some secondary approvals in advance to support that readiness.”

The DFS is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Vimy Resources, tel +61 8 9389 2700 or email info@vimyresources.com.au.