Overview
Stage | Preliminary Economic Assessment |
Mine Type | Open Pit & Underground |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
- Truck & Shovel / Loader
- Room-and-pillar
- Continuous
|
Mine Life | 10 years (as of Jan 1, 2016) |
Macusani Project is one of the world’s largest and lowest-cost uranium deposits. |
Source:
p. 46
Plateau Uranium Inc. (now Plateau Energy Metals Inc.) is a company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange that owns 99.5 % of a Peruvian company, Macusani Yellowcake SAC. The remaining 0.5 % is held by a Peruvian individual as recommended by the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM).
On May 11, 2021, American Lithium Corp. acquired all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Plateau Energy Metals Inc., resulting in Plateau becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Lithium.
Contractors
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Summary:
The style of mineralisation within fractured acidic pyroclastics is not a common form of uranium mineralisation. The main uranium mineral present is meta-autunite concentrated as disseminations and sometimes massively along fractures. Hence the exploration is based on ground radiometrics followed by evaluation drilling over the potential host rocks of the mineralisation.
The Andes represents a large anticlinorium complicated by a series of faults and intrusions, with the flanks of this superstructure are made up of the coastal Mesozoic and eastern Palaeozoic belts. The Andes represent the Late Tertiary and Quaternary rejuvenation by block faulting of an eroded early Tertiary folded mountain range which occupied the axis of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic geosynclines. Topographically the mountains consist of a central dissected plateau, the Intermontane Depressions and Altiplano enclosed by narrow ranges, the Western Cordillera and the Eastern Cordillera.
In the area of interest, late Tertiary tuffs, ignimbrites and associated sediments are preserved in a northwest-southeast trending graben. Much of the Early Tertiary and Mesozoic cover was eroded prior to deposition of the pyroclastics so they were deposited in part directly on the Palaeozoic rocks including Late Palaeozoic intrusives (Hercynian granites) and extrusives (Mitu volcanics).
The known uranium occurrences in the Macusani region identified by IUREP are associated with these Pliocene and ........
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Mining Methods
- Truck & Shovel / Loader
- Room-and-pillar
- Continuous
Summary:
A base case contains of 101 Mt of Mineral Resources that are projected to be extracted from open pits and 8.23 Mt from underground mining. The base case open pits are planned to extract 30 000 tpd of PEM through conventional drill/blast and truck/shovel methods. The base case includes a LOM average of 10.9 Mt/a at 289 ppm U3O8 for a total of 31 400 t of contained U3O8 metal and 61.0 M lbs of recovered U3O8.
The Colibri, Kihitian and Isivilla Complexes (Complex 2, 3, and 4 respectively) are planned to be recovered from open pit mining operations. Due to the orientation and topography of the Kihitian Complex, significant Mineral Resources are uneconomic to mine via the open pit method due to the excessive stripping costs and, as such, an underground operation is planned for mineralised material above cut-off.
The open pit fleet will move PEM to either the processing area or a mobile crusher, depending on proximity. An allowance has been included in the open pit fleet to haul underground PEM to a central crushing plant.
The Mineral Resources available for underground mining that forms the project LOM plan are contained within a portion of the Mineral Resource block model that is excluded from current economic open pit limits, but which is judged potentially mineable by underground methods. These Mineral Resources contain a significant quantity of Inferred material. For conceptual production, Inferred material has been included within the design ........
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Source:
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Flow Sheet:
Summary:
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Projected Production:
Commodity | Units | Avg. Annual | LOM |
Uranium
|
M lbs
| 6.1 | 61 |
All production numbers are expressed as U3O8.
Operational Metrics:
Metrics | |
Daily ore mining rate
| 30,000 t * |
Annual ore mining rate
| 10.9 Mt * |
Annual milling capacity
| 10.9 Mt * |
Stripping / waste ratio
| 2.1 * |
Waste tonnes, LOM
| 229 Mt * |
Ore tonnes mined, LOM
| 109 Mt * |
Total tonnes mined, LOM
| 338 Mt * |
* According to 2016 study.
Reserves at January 12, 2016:
Cut-off 75 U ppm
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Measured & Indicated
|
95.185 Mt
|
U3O8
|
210 g/t
|
51.94 M lbs
|
Inferred
|
130.02 Mt
|
U3O8
|
213 g/t
|
72.11 M lbs
|
Mine Management:
Job Title | Name | Profile | Ref. Date |
.......................
|
.......................
|
|
Jan 12, 2024
|
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Staff:
Total Workforce | Year |
|
2016
|
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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