Aura Energy Limited Tiris Feasibility Study Update
April 26 2017 - 2:29AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMAURA
26 APRIL 2017
AURA ENERGY LIMITED
("Aura" or the "Company")
TIRIS DEFINITIVE FEASIBILITY STUDY PROGRESSING STRONGLY
MINING LEASE APPLICATION UNDERWAY
KEY STUDY COMPONENTS ADVANCING WELL
Aura Energy Limited (AEE; ASX, AURA; AIM) is pleased to advise that the various
elements of the Tiris Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS") continue to progress
strongly, with activity in all the principal areas of the study.
Importantly Aura will shortly complete its submission for the Mining Lease
Application for all Mineral Resources associated with the Tiris Uranium
Project, with award of this Mining Lease a key project milestone.
Commenting on the Tiris DFS progress, Peter Reeve, Aura Energy's Executive
Chairman said "The considerable progress of Aura's Tiris Uranium Project DFS is
largely thanks to a very professional group of technical people and is made
easier by natural positive attributes the project carries. The studies continue
to highlight that Tiris is a very achievable low capital cost, low operating
cost project, which, subject to financing, could be coming into production
possibly well timed for a rising uranium price."
The DFS for the Tiris Uranium Project in Mauritania recommenced in late 2016
following a successful funding and listing of the company on the London AIM
market. The critical areas of the Tiris project study have been;
* The Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA)
* Preparation for the Mining Lease Application
* Resource validation mainly on Hippolyte
* Resource evaluation for the Resource upgrade to Measured and Indicated
category
* Detailed planning for the metallurgical test work
* Water Study including geophysics, reconnaissance and drilling of targets
* Negotiation of the Tiris Shareholders Agreement - 10% Government interest
The Environmental and Social Impact Assessment ("ESIA") has been a major area
of work and its main component parts have been;
* Scoping Report and Terms of Reference for the ESIA
* Review of Technical Studies
* Air quality, noise and vibration study
* Surface water and groundwater study
* Soils and geomorphology study
* Waste rock and tailings geochemical assessment
* Ecology and biodiversity study - Flora and Fauna
* Socio-economic study
* Archaeology and cultural heritage study
* Transportation route study
* Health impact assessment
* Management Plans
* Environmental and Social Monitoring and Management Plan (ESMMP)
* Rehabilitation and Conceptual Mine Closure Plan (RCMCP)
* Radiation Management Plan (RMP)
* Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP)
* Impact Assessment
* Community and Government consultation
* Assessment of Project alternatives
* Impact assessment
* Cumulative impact assessment
Much of this work is now complete with no major issues identified. An important
intermediate step was the acceptance by the Government and associated
Environmental Departments of Aura's EISA Terms of Reference. Public
Consultation Meetings are to be held in early May for completion of the
process.
The Mining Lease Application for all the key project areas is due to be
submitted in the coming weeks and all materials are in the process of being
finalised for this documentation.
As highlighted in a market release on the 19th April (Strong Hippolyte South
Uranium Survey) Aura has conducted important Hippolyte Resource Validation work
and enabled greater understanding of the mineralisation. This is a key step
towards the upgrade of the Tiris Resource.
The process of drilling, sampling and downhole gamma logging the Hippolyte
mineralisation to upgrade the Mineral Resource to the Measured and Indicated
category is expected to commence in the next 2 weeks, with the sourcing of a
specialist rig for triple tube drilling finally achieved. This will also
involve an additional series of disequilibrium measurements across the orebody.
Disequilibrium is an imbalance between the uranium content and the
radioactivity emitted by a given volume of mineralized rock. This imbalance is
caused by either differential mobilization of the more soluble uranium from the
deposition site, relative to its daughter isotopes, or by a lack of time for
the accumulation of the daughter isotopes to reach a state of equilibrium after
the uranium has been deposited. Hence in a geologically young environment, a
deficiency of daughters relative to uranium will cause an underestimation of
uranium content based on radiometric methods. This will be an important factor
in the final Mineral Resource estimate for Tiris.
As a prudent cost/capital efficiency measure Aura will progressively convert
the Tiris Resource to the Measured and Indicated category with an initial
target for approximately 5 years of production. This will be sufficient for the
DFS and the associated financial study. During operation, using cashflow it is
envisaged the remainder of the Mineral Resource will be converted to the
Measured and Indicated category.
The Metallurgical Test Work program will commence in June 2017 when sufficient
material has been generated from the planned drill campaign. The program which
will be conducted principally by ANSTO Laboratories and will focus on the
various mineralised domains to further assess;
1. Beneficiation response
2. Leaching response
3. Solid liquid separation and
4. Impurity issues, including effect of recirculating load on metal recovery.
This test work is a critical path item and is targeted for completion in
January 2018; however, it is expected to generate sufficient information to
allow the majority of engineering to be complete in 2017.
An extensive Tiris Project Water Study has been underway for over 3 months
including a program of water geophysics focussing principally on the basal
sedimentary units of the Taoudeni Basin to the south of the Tiris project area.
These basal units are known to host substantial water supplies elsewhere in the
region. A few favourable sites on Reguibat Shield rocks, closer to the project
site will also be tested in this program. The geophysics is now complete and
has been reviewed with site reconnaissance underway to assess the target sites
before final drill testing of the targets is undertaken. Drill testing is
expected before mid-year.
The negotiation of the Tiris Shareholders Agreement, which covers the 10%
Government interest in the Project, has been drafted and is currently under
negotiation with the Government. Finalisation of this agreement is required for
the Mining Lease application and is expected to be completed in May 2017.
Other areas that will be commenced following the submission of the Mining Lease
Application include;
* Mining Study
* Detailed Engineering included package cost estimates
* Infrastructure Study
These areas are expected to be completed before calendar year end.
Aura continues to target the end of 2017 for the completion of the majority of
the Tiris DFS; however, it envisages some elements of the Tiris DFS will still
be outstanding at this point. As such, the full DFS is likely to be completed
early in 2018. This slight delay is not expected to impact project
implementation and financing, as a number of parallel activities are planned to
be conducted near the end of the Tiris DFS.
For further information contact:
Aura Energy Limited Telephone: +61 (3) 9516 6500
Peter Reeve (Executive Chairman and Email: info@auraenergy.com.au
CEO)
WH Ireland Limited Telephone: +44 (0) 207 220 1666
Adrian Hadden
Katy Mitchell
James Bavister
Yellow Jersey PR Limited Telephone:
Felicity Winkles +44 (0) 7748 843 871
Joe Burgess +44 (0) 7769 325 254
END
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 26, 2017 02:29 ET (06:29 GMT)
Aura Energy (LSE:AURA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Aura Energy (LSE:AURA)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024