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Namibia
Etango Project

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 Location:
40 km NE from Walvis Bay, Namibia

  Project Contacts:
45 Mandume Ya Ndemufayo Street Industrial Area
Swakopmund
Namibia
2854
Phone  ...  Subscription required
Fax+264-64-416-240
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WebsiteWeb
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Overview

StagePre-Feasibility
Mine TypeOpen Pit
Commodities
  • Uranium
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Processing
  • Sulfuric acid (reagent)
  • Calcining
  • Heap leach
  • Ion Exchange (IX)
Mine Life15 years (as of Jan 1, 2021)
In August 2021, Bannerman completed a Pre-Feasibility Study on an 8Mtpa development of Etango (Etango-8 Project). The Study has demonstrated that this accelerated, streamlined project is strongly amenable to development – both technically and economically. A Definitive- Feasibility Study on the Etango-8 Project is underway with targeted completion scheduled for 3Q CY2022.


Owners

Source: p. 3
CompanyInterestOwnership
Bannerman Energy Ltd. 95 % Indirect
The Etango Project is owned by Bannerman Energy Ltd, through its 95%-owned subsidiary Bannerman Mining Resources (Namibia) (Pty) Ltd.

Deposit Type

  • Intrusion related


Summary:

Primary uranium mineralisation in the Etango-8 Project area is related to uraniferous leucogranites, locally referred to as alaskites. The alaskites are often sheet-like, and occur both as cross-cutting dykes and as bedding and/or foliation-parallel sills, which can amalgamate to form larger, composite granite plutons or granite stockworks, made up of closely-spaced dykes and sills. These alaskite intrusions can be in the form of thin cm-wide stringers or thick bodies up to 200 m in width.

The alaskite bodies have intruded into the metasediments of the Nosib and Swakop Groups of the Damara Supergroup. These metasediments and alaskite intrusions flank the Palmenhorst Dome which is cored by Mesoproterozoic (1.7 2.0 Ga) gneisses, intrusive rocks and meta-sediments of the Abbabis Metamorphic Complex.

Uranium mineralisation in the Etango-8 Project area occurs almost exclusively in the alaskite intrusives. Minor uranium mineralisation is also found in the metasedimentary sequences close to the alaskite contacts, probably from metasomatic alteration and in minor thin alaskite stringers within the metasediments.

The dominant primary uranium mineral is uraninite (UO2), with minor primary uranothorite ((Th,U)SiO4) and some uranium in solid solution in thorite (ThO2). The uraninite is commonly associated with chloritised biotite in the alaskites and with ilmenite and magnetite within foliated alaskites. The primary uranium mineralisation occurs as microscopic disseminations throughout the alaskite, at crystal interfaces, and as inclusion within other minerals. Secondary uranium minerals such as coffinite (U(SiO4)(OH)4) and betauranophane (Ca(UO2)2(SiO3OH)2 5H2O) occur as replacements of the primary minerals or as coatings along fractures.

QEMSCAN analysis indicates that about 81% of the uranium present is in primary uraninite, while 13% is in secondary coffinite and 5% is in secondary betauranophane (Freemantle, 2009). The remaining 1% of the uranium occurs in various minor phases including brannerite, betafite and thorite. Very minor amounts of uranium are also present in solid solution in monazite, xenotime and zircon. A very minor amount of primary betafite (Ca,U)2(Ti,Nb,Ta)2O6(OH) is also present.


Mining Methods

  • Truck & Shovel / Loader


Summary:

The deposit is a large, shallow uranium deposit that is amenable to bulk open pit mining, followed by crushing, heap leaching, ion-exchange, nano-filtration and uranium recovery. The heap leaching operation can treat approximately 8Mtpa dry ROM feed material to produce on average 3.5 million pounds of triuranium octoxide (U3O8) per annum to be drummed and shipped.

For the purpose of the Etango-8 PFS, it was assumed that mining would take place by conventional open pit methods and that the whole mining operation, except for the mine technical services function, will be outsourced to a reputable mining contractor company. This includes drilling, blasting, loading and hauling of ore and waste.

Drilling and blasting would be performed on 12 m high benches. Waste benches will be excavated in a bulk mining fashion with shovels on a single 12 m bench while mineralised benches will be selectively loaded in three 4m flitches using backhoe excavators to minimise ore loss and dilution. The truck and shovel match on the ore and waste benches have been considered by the reputable mining contractor as follows:
• A 130-t hydraulic backhoe shovel would be employed for selective loading purposes;
• The waste benches would be mined in a bulk mining approach where a 250-t hydraulic face shovels will be utilised to load the full 12 m bench;
• In both cases 100-t capacity, off-highway rigid haul truck would be used and standard open-cut drilling and auxiliary equipment will be required.

Radiometric truck scanning (discrimination) and downhole gamma probing will be employed as the definitive grade control process as is common practise in large scale open pit uranium mines. The objective of the pit design process was to transform the pit shells obtained from the optimisation into a practical pit, with the inclusion of ramps, bench and berm configurations by taking all the required inputs into account. The practical pit design forms part of a critical input for the scheduling and reserving processes.

Etango-8 PFS ultimate pit design was designed with a dual pit access strategy along the eastern and western pit highwalls. The ultimate pit will be mined in eight pushbacks, which represent areas that the optimisation process considers to be of high value.


Crushing and Grinding
Flow Sheet: Source

Mass balance modelling for the comminution and agglomeration circuits included a combination of excel and supplier specific simulation software. This included Bruno, Metso’s comminution simulation software, to mimic the steady state solution based on the selected equipment configuration. The comminution circuit was also modelled utilising the appropriate Sandvik software allowing for preliminary comparative costing. Both the Sandvik and Metso circuits are constrained to 8 Mtpa capacity by the secondary crushers. Expansion above this would require a second production line. The selected primary gyratory crusher operates at 60% of capacity, so 13 Mtpa is possible through the selected unit.


Processing

  • Sulfuric acid (reagent)
  • Calcining
  • Heap leach
  • Ion Exchange (IX)

Flow Sheet: Subscription required

Summary:

The metallurgical process comprise of three stages of crushing, agglomeration, followed by sulfuric acid heap leaching on an industry standard on/off heap leach pad followed by ion-exchange and nano-filtration extraction and calcination.

Key metallurgical assumptions include:
- Plant throughput of 8 Mt per annum;
- Metallurgical Recovery of 87.8%;
- Total Sulphuric Acid consumption of 18.01 kg/t ore leached.

Heap Leach Pad
The stacking system comprises a fixed stacking feed conveyor with tripper along the length of the pad. A wing conveyor facilitates transfer of ore to a mobile stacking system consisting of 8 (maximum) grasshoppers and 2 stackers in line. The reclaim system is similar to the stacking system. A time in motion study confirms that two CAT 980 H Front End Loader’s (FEL’s) are required for reclaim of the leached ore. Seven (maximum) grasshopper conveyors are required – transferring the ripios to a heap leach reclaim conveyor, a fix ........

Recoveries & Grades:

CommodityParameterAvg. LOM
Uranium (U3O8) Recovery Rate, % 87.8
Uranium (U3O8) Head Grade, ppm 232

Projected Production:

CommodityUnitsAvg. AnnualLOM
Uranium (U3O8) M lbs 3.553
All production numbers are expressed as yellow cake.

Operational Metrics:

Metrics
Stripping / waste ratio  ......  Subscription required
Waste tonnes, LOM  ......  Subscription required
Ore tonnes mined, LOM  ......  Subscription required
Tonnes processed, LOM  ......  Subscription required
Annual processing rate  ......  Subscription required
Annual processing capacity  ......  Subscription required
Annual ore mining rate  ......  Subscription required
* According to 2021 study.
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Reserves at June 1, 2021:
The Mineral Resources and Reserves estimate has been reported above 100ppm U3O8 cut-off.

CategoryTonnage CommodityGradeContained Metal
Proven 16.2 Mt U3O8 232 ppm 8.3 M lbs
Probable 101.5 Mt U3O8 233 ppm 52 M lbs
Proven & Probable 117.6 Mt U3O8 232 ppm 60.3 M lbs
Measured 27.6 Mt U3O8 219 ppm 13.3 M lbs
Indicated 286.1 Mt U3O8 217 ppm 137.1 M lbs
Inferred 115 Mt U3O8 226 ppm 57.4 M lbs
Total Resource 428.7 Mt U3O8 220 ppm 207.8 M lbs

Commodity Production Costs:

CommodityUnitsAverage
Cash costs Uranium (U3O8) USD  ......  Subscription required *
Total cash costs Uranium (U3O8) USD  ......  Subscription required *
All-in sustaining costs (AISC) Uranium (U3O8) USD  ......  Subscription required *
Assumed price Uranium (U3O8) USD  ......  Subscription required *
* According to 2021 study / presentation.
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Operating Costs:

Units2021
OP mining costs ($/t mined) USD 2.45 *
OP mining costs ($/t milled) USD  ......  Subscription required
Processing costs ($/t milled) USD  ......  Subscription required
G&A ($/t milled) USD  ......  Subscription required
Total operating costs ($/t milled) USD  ......  Subscription required
* According to 2021 study.
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

2021 Study Costs and Valuation Metrics :

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Pre-Production capital costs $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Sustaining CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Closure costs $M USD  ......  Subscription required
OP OpEx $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Processing OpEx $M USD 911
G&A costs $M USD 122
Total OpEx $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Total Taxes $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Gross revenue (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Pre-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscription required
After-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Pre-tax NPV @ 8% $M USD  ......  Subscription required
After-tax NPV @ 10% $M USD  ......  Subscription required
After-tax NPV @ 8% $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Pre-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscription required
After-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscription required
Pre-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscription required
After-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscription required
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Proposed Heavy Mobile Equipment as of August 2, 2021:
HME TypeModelSizeQuantityLeased or
Contractor
Drill (blasthole) 165 mm Leased
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Leased
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Leased
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Leased
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Mine Management:

Job TitleNamePhoneEmailProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Dec 24, 2021
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Dec 24, 2021
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Staff:

Total WorkforceYear
Subscription required 2021

Corporate Filings & Presentations:

DocumentYear
................................... Subscription required 2021
................................... Subscription required 2021
................................... Subscription required 2021
................................... Subscription required 2021
Project Description 2015
Technical Report 2015
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Aerial view:

Subscription required - Subscription is required.

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