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Malawi
Kayelekera Mine

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 Location:
25 km W from Karonga, Malawi

  Project Contacts:
Emerald House, 1202 Hay Street
PO BOX 749 West Perth WA 6872
West Perth
Western Australia, Austria
6005
Phone  ...  Subscription required
EmailEmail
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  • Overview
  • Owners
  • Geology
  • Mining
  • Processing
  • Production
  • Reserves
  • Costs & Financials
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Overview

StageRestarting
Mine TypeOpen Pit
Commodities
  • Uranium
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Production Start...
Mine Life9.5 years (as of Jan 1, 2022)
The Kayelekera Uranium Project is the fourth largest uranium asset globally by historical annual production currently on care and maintenance. The Project produced ~11MIbs U3O8 equivalent over five-years between 2009-2014, before the asset was shutdown to preserve its longevity due to a sustained low uranium price.

The Project already has a mining licence and its environmental permits, access to a skilled local workforce who worked at the asset previously, as well as strong government support (who are also 15% owners of the Project).


Owners

Source: p. 5
CompanyInterestOwnership
Government of the Republic of Malawi 15 % Indirect
Lotus Resources Ltd. 85 % Indirect
Lotus Resources owns 85% of the Project with the remaining 15% held by the Government of Malawi.

Contractors

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Deposit Type

  • Sandstone hosted


Summary:

Kayelekera is a sandstone-hosted uranium deposit associated with the Permian Karoo sediments and is hosted by the Kayelekera member of the North Rukuru sediments of the Karoo. The mineralisation at Kayelekera is hosted in several arkose units where they are adjacent to the Eastern Boundary Fault zone. The mineralisation forms more or less tabular bodies restricted to the arkoses, except adjacent to the NS strand of the Eastern Boundary fault at the eastern extremity of the pit. Here, mineralisation also occurs in mudstones in the immediate vicinity of the fault. The highest grades correspond to the intersection of the eastern and Champhanji faults. Mineralisation grade and tonnage declines with lateral distance from these faults. The lowest level of known mineralisation is currently at a depth of approximately 160m below surface.

Kayelekera is situated close to a major tectonic boundary between the Ubendian and the Irumide domains. The Ubendian domain consists of medium to high-grade metamorphic rocks and intrusions cut by major NW-SE dextral shear zones and post-tectonic granitoid intrusions dated at 1.86Ga (Lenoir et al., 1995). These shear zones may well have been reactivated during and after deposition of the Karoo sequence, since many major brittle faults that offset the Karoo-aged rocks have the same orientation.

Mineralisation at Kayelekera is hosted in several arkose units where they are adjacent to the Eastern Boundary Fault zone. The mineralis ........


Mining Methods

  • Truck & Shovel / Loader


Summary:

Orelogy was commissioned by Lotus to conduct the design and scheduling work for the open pit mining component of the Restart DFS.

The mining operation extends over a 6-year mining period followed by a further 4 years of stockpile rehandle. Mining will be undertaken by an independent mining contractor using a multi-stage approach to focus on value maximisation and minimising waste development in the early years, whilst ensuring ore continuity can be maintained over the life of the project.

Mining Method
Conventional open pit mining has been adopted as the preferred mining method as:
- The ore presents as a series of horizontally stacked arkose layers separated by mudstone layers all of which are close to the surface.
- There is space to construct waste dumps to the west of the open pit development.
- It has already been successfully demonstrated with operations running from 2009 to 2014.
- It is expected, with a high chance of success, to generate the best value.

The operation is currently planned in four stages over the 6-year mine life. Open pit mining will be undertaken using:
- A fleet of 75 t class excavators and 60 t class rigid dump trucks supported by an appropriate ancillary fleet will be used to mine approximately 7 Mtpa. This equipment matches the scale of the operation and the mining environment, characterised by predominantly oxide/transitional materials. Bench heights are 10.0m hi ........


Crushing and Grinding
Source: Subscription required


Processing

Flow Sheet: Subscription required

Summary:

- subscription is required.


Projected Production:

CommodityUnitsAvg. AnnualLOM
U3O8 M lbs 219
All production numbers are expressed as yellow cake.

Operational Metrics:

Metrics
Stripping / waste ratio  ......  Subscription required
Annual mining capacity  ......  Subscription required
Waste tonnes, LOM  ......  Subscription required
Ore tonnes mined, LOM  ......  Subscription required
Total tonnes mined, LOM  ......  Subscription required
Tonnes processed, LOM  ......  Subscription required
Annual processing rate  ......  Subscription required
* According to 2022 study.
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Reserves at June 9, 2022:
Proved Ore Reserves are inclusive of RoM stockpiles and are based on a 200ppm cut-off grade for arkose and a 390ppm cut- off grade for mudstone.
Mineral Resources for Kayelekera only as at 9 June 2022 and reported above a 200ppm U3O8 lower cut-off for in-situ material and for the medium-grade stockpiles.

CategoryOreTypeTonnage CommodityGradeContained Metal
Proven Stockpiles 1.6 Mt U3O8 760 ppm 2.6 M lbs
Proven In-Situ (OP) 0.6 Mt U3O8 902 ppm 1.2 M lbs
Probable In-Situ (OP) 13.7 Mt U3O8 637 ppm 19.2 M lbs
Proven & Probable Total 15.9 Mt U3O8 660 ppm 1.2 M lbs
Measured Stockpiles 1.6 Mt U3O8 760 ppm 2.6 M lbs
Measured In-Situ (OP) 0.9 Mt U3O8 830 ppm 1.6 M lbs
Indicated In-Situ (OP) 29.3 Mt U3O8 510 ppm 33.2 M lbs
Inferred Stockpiles 2.4 Mt U3O8 290 ppm 1.5 M lbs
Inferred In-Situ (OP) 8.3 Mt U3O8 410 ppm 7.4 M lbs
Total Resource Total 42.5 Mt U3O8 500 ppm 46.3 M lbs

Commodity Production Costs:

CommodityUnitsAverage
Cash costs U3O8 USD  ......  Subscription required&nbs
All-in sustaining costs (AISC) U3O8 USD  ......  Subscription required&nbs
* According to 2022 study / presentation.
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Operating Costs:

Units2022
OP mining costs ($/t mined) USD 3.04 *
OP mining costs ($/t milled) USD  ......  Subscription required
Processing costs ($/t milled) USD  ......  Subscription required
* According to 2022 study.
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

2022 Study Costs and Valuation Metrics :

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Pre-Production capital costs $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Initial CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Sustaining CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Closure costs $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Subscription required - Subscription is required.


Proposed Heavy Mobile Equipment as of August 11, 2022:
HME TypeSizeLeased or
Contractor
Excavator 75 t Leased
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Leased
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Mine Management:

Job TitleNamePhoneProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 14, 2022
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Aug 11, 2022
Subscription required - Subscription is required.


Corporate Filings & Presentations:

DocumentYear
Corporate Presentation 2022
Feasibility Study Report 2022
................................... Subscription required 2021
................................... Subscription required 2021
................................... Subscription required 2021
................................... Subscription required 2021
................................... Subscription required 2020
................................... Subscription required 2020
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