PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A prefeasibility study (PFS) into the Etango-8 uranium project, in Namibia, has confirmed the technical and economic viability of an eight-million-tonne-a-year operation.
ASX-listed Bannerman Resources on Monday announced that the project would require a capital investment of $274-million to support production of 3.5-million pounds a year of uranium oxide (U3O8) over a mine life of 15 years.
The PFS estimated a life-of-mine production of some 52.9-million pounds U3O8, based on a maiden ore reserve of 117.6-million tonnes, at 232 parts per million, for 60.3-million pounds of U3O8.
The PFS estimated that the project would have a post-tax net present value of $222-million, a post-tax internal rate of return of 20.3% and a post-tax payback of 3.8 years, with cash flow forecast at $642-million.
The PFS is based on a contract mining operation, with mining costs estimated at $2.45/t of material mined, based on indicative quotes sourced from regional mining contractors. Total operating costs for the Etango-8 project have been estimated at $16.80/t of ore, or some $37.35/lb.
“I am extremely pleased with the outcomes of the Etango-8 PFS. The underlying robustness of this streamlined development approach to the world-class Etango resource has now been confirmed to a PFS level of accuracy,” said Bannerman CEO Brandon Munro.
“We now look forward to the completion of a definitive feasibility study for Etango-8 in the September 2022 quarter. This process will again benefit from the fact that Etango has already been the subject of a definitive level of feasibility study, at a larger scale, in recent years.”