Addressing Low OPEX Of US$6.77/lbs
Increased Indicated Resources And Decreased Initial CAPEX
HONG KONG – (ACN Newswire) – CGN Mining Company Limited (the “Company”) is one of the listed arms of CGN Group, which is the 3rd largest nuclear power group in the world. The Company is positioned as the unique investment and financing platform for the development of overseas uranium resources of CGN Group. As the largest uranium group listed in Hong Kong, the Company is mainly engaged in developing and trading of natural uranium resources used by nuclear energy enterprises.
As of 31 December 2018, the Company’s assets include 19.90% equity in Fission Uranium Corp. (“Fission”) of Canada. In year 2018, the winter and summer exploration for the Patterson Lake South (“PLS”) Project of Fission was completed and the overall exploration results were good. A uranium mineralization section with high grade and large thickness was found in all resource exploration upgrade boreholes, which helped the partial resource level of the PLS Project to be upgraded from the inferred level to the indicated level.
On 16 April 2019, Fission announced the results of a Pre-feasibility Study Report (“PFS Report”) of Mineral Reserves for the PLS property in Canada’s Athabasca Basin region. Particular highlights include the low operating costs (“OPEX”), the high internal rate of return and broad growth potential. The PFS Report also focuses on the production situation from the R00E and R780E zones.
The PFS Report shows OPEX of the PLS Project, at the amount of US$6.77/lb, which is substantially lower than the 2015 PEA technical report with estimated costs of US$12.38/lb. The decreased initial CAPEX is of C$1.49B and sustaining capital (including reclamation and closure) is of total C$214M. The PFS Report shows mineral reserves of PLS Project is 90.5 million lbs U3O8, and the average production is 15 million lbs U3O8 per year over the first five years. The Indicated Mineral Resources is 103.77 million lbs U3O8, an increase of 18% compared to the estimate reported on February 20, 2018.
The strike of the high-grade mineralized Patterson Lake tread lies in an east-west direction, from west to east, the high grade zones discovered include R1515W, R840W, R00E, R780E and R1620E. At present, the PLS Project’s Mineral Reserves are based on the estimate of two Indicated Resources of the R780E and R00E zones. There are also three mineralized zones along strike, includes R1515W, R840W and R1620E. The future plan of Fission is to add more exploration investment into these three areas and upgrade the indicated resources from the inferred level to the indicated level gradually.
The total length of PLS Project’s mineral resources is 3.17 km, which is the longest high-grade uranium metallogenic belt discovered in Saskatchewan, Canada, and also one of the biggest untapped high-grade uranium mines in the world. The publicity of prefeasibility study presents a very strong base case for production at PLS and further improves the potential economics and de-risks the project. Moving forward, Fission has the potential to add resources to the R00E and R780E zones and the other three known mineralized zones, continuous exploration investment in the future will assist to prolong the mine life and enhance the project economics.