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Australia

Mulga Rock Project

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Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StagePermitting
Commodities
  • Uranium
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotMulga Rock is an advanced Project with a revised DFS underway, to optimise project parameters to include base metal recovery optimisation work, detailed resource definition drilling and mining studies.

Mulga Rock is one of only four projects in Western Australia to receive State Ministerial approval to progress with the mining of uranium and it is currently the only one of those four likely to be developed in the near future.

In December 2021, the Western Australian Department of Water and Environment Regulation provided formal confirmation that “substantial commencement” had been achieved. This notification, together with several approvals and confirmations received in the preceding months, allows the Mulga Rock Project to advance to the next stage of development.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Deep Yellow Ltd. 100 % Indirect

Deposit type

  • Sediment-hosted

Summary:

The project consists of two separate mining areas over a total length of 30km with the individual deposits ranging in length from 1km to 8km. The Mulga Rock East mining centre comprises the Ambassador and Princess deposits and the Mulga Rock West mining centre comprises the Shogun and Emperor deposits.

The MRP is classed as a carbonaceous-sedimentary hosted, supergene enriched, uranium deposit. Mineralisation is hosted predominantly by unconsolidated Eocene sediments (39 Ma) which are rich in organic matter and comprise river and estuarinelake sediments. The organic matter originated primarily from land-based plant matter that washed into the channels and deposited into tributaries along the edge of an oxbow bend, forming peat.

The uranium mineralisation is hosted by the organic matter in the reduced sediments below the redox front. Most of the uranium is adsorbed onto organic matter in an ionic form (i.e. uranium metal). The remainder of the mineralisation comprises ultra-fine grained uraninite (UO2) and mixed uranium oxides. The individual uranium-rich units consist of stacked lenses that have strong lateral continuity, and are spatially associated with the redox front that coincides with the present-day water table.

Uranium mineralisation is hosted by flat-lying, carbonaceous clastic sediments which are in turn overlain by weathered, oxidised sediments that range in thickness from 19m to 62m of waste overburden.

Most of the uranium is contained in the top mineralised lens. The ore zones are up to 38m thick, inclusive of interburden, with Ambassador and Princess deposits averaging 4.5m in thickness, and up to 8m in thickness at Shogun and Emperor with an average of 2.3m.

Ambassador and Princess mineralisation is strongly polymetallic in nature, with the majority of base and other metals adsorbed on to organic matter, with sulphides and sulphates accounting for the remainder. None of the other metals occur in a form or concentration which allows for eventual economic extraction and are therefore not reported as a Mineral Resource under the JORC Code (2012).

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

For the purposes of the Refresh, the Mineral Resource Estimate, Ore Reserves, mine plan and schedule, technical design, and metallurgical flowsheet are unchanged from the 2018 DFS.
CommodityUnitsAvg. AnnualLOM
Uranium M lbs 3.447
All production numbers are expressed as U3O8.

Operational metrics

Metrics
Annual processing rate  ....  Subscribe
Stripping / waste ratio  ....  Subscribe
Waste tonnes, LOM  ....  Subscribe
Ore tonnes mined, LOM  ....  Subscribe
Total tonnes mined, LOM  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2020 study.

Production Costs

CommodityUnitsAverage
Cash costs U3O8 USD  ....  Subscribe
All-in sustaining costs (AISC) U3O8 USD  ....  Subscribe
Pre-tax break-even price U3O8 USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price U3O8 USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2020 study / presentation.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Total CapEx $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax NPV @ 8% $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscribe

Heavy Mobile Equipment

Fleet data has not been reported.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jan 8, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jan 8, 2024

Total WorkforceYear
...... Subscription required 2018

Aerial view:

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