GUE releases scoping study on large US uranium project
Today our uranium Investment Global Uranium and Enrichment (ASX: GUE) released a scoping study on its 52.2Mlb JORC resource in Colorado, USA.
Milestone complete, so let’s take a look:
✅ Project 1: ~52 Mlb Resource Scoping study at Tallahassee
The headline numbers were as follows:
(Source)
We think that’s a pretty good result assuming the uranium price reaches that high in the years to come.
We remain strongly bullish on uranium in the years ahead, particularly for projects located within US borders.
The uranium price is currently pushing higher and sits at US$70/lb:
(Source)
Other key highlights from the scoping include:
- 7-year mine life producing an average of 1.8 million lbs U3O8 per year
- Pre-tax NPV8 of $202.8 million and IRR of 93% at $90/lb U3O8 price
- Pre-production capital of US$76.0M (AU$119.3) and cash operating costs of US$58.65/lb U3O8 using contract ore processing.
- Total production of 12.9 million lbs U3O8 over life of mine
- Hydraulic borehole mining selected as optimal mining method
- High pressure slurry ablation to be used for beneficiation, producing average grade of 0.68% U3O8
In addition to this development stage uranium asset, GUE also has a promising uranium enrichment technology investment.
We covered the latest on the progress of that aspect of GUE’s operations in our most recent note:
What’s next for GUE?
🔄 Drilling & exploration plans for Pine Ridge
GUE has previously said that "preparations for initial drilling” at Pine Ridge were advanced.
Within the next few weeks we want to see GUE lay out a clear exploration plan and put some timelines around the drill program.
(Source)
🔄 Enrichment Technology (GUE owns 21.9% of private company Ubaryon)
We want to see the deal with Urenco be converted from a non-binding agreement into a binding agreement.
Other key milestones we are tracking:
🔄 Secure strategic/commercial partner for uranium enrichment technology
🔄 Further validation and extend the enrichment performance (show how well it works)
🔲 Achieve continuous operation at bench scale (scale up process)
🔄 Regulatory approvals
GUE’s other mining projects
GUE has a number of other North American uranium exploration & development assets.
Here is what we are looking out for across these projects:
🔄 Project 2: maiden JORC Resource at Maybell (coming months)
GUE completed its drill program in October last year, now it is preparing a maiden mineral resource estimate for Maybell in another part of Colorado.
Depending on the resource size and economics, next steps could potentially include additional drilling in 2025 and a scoping study to evaluate development options.
