Blue Sky Uranium Announces a Positive Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Ivana Uranium-Vanadium Deposit, Amarillo Grande Project, Argentina
Date: Feb 29, 2019
February 27, 2019 (Source) — Blue Sky Uranium Corp. (TSX-V: BSK, FSE: MAL2;OTC: BKUCF), (“Blue Sky” or the “Company“) is pleased to announce the results of the first Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA“) for the Ivana Uranium-Vanadium deposit at the Company’s 100% owned Amarillo Grande Project in Rio Negro Province, Argentina. The PEA demonstrates robust economics for a surficial mining operation of the Ivana deposit, with 13 years of uranium and vanadium production.
PEA Highlights (All figures in US dollars)
- After-tax NPV8%: $135.2 million
- After-tax IRR: 29.3%
- After-tax Payback period: 2.4 years
- Pre-production Capital Cost: $128.05 million, includes $28.28 million contingency
- Life of mine (“LOM”) Sustaining Capital Cost: $35.46 million, includes $7.21 million contingency
- Average LOM Total Cash Cost net of credits: $16.24/lb U3O8
- Average LOM All-In Sustaining Costs (“AISC”) net of credits: $18.27/lb U3O8
PEA Key Assumptions & Inputs
- Uranium price: $50/lb U3O8
- Vanadium Price $15/lb V2O5
- Years of Construction: 2
- Years of Production: 13
- Strip Ratio: 1.1:1 (waste/ore)
- Dilution: 3%
- Peak Mining rate (waste + mill feed): 13,500 tonnes per day (“tpd”)
- Processing throughput: 6,400 tpd
- Process Plant Recoveries, Uranium: 84.6%
- Process Plant Recoveries, Vanadium: 52.5%
- Average Annual Production (LOM): 1.35 Mlbs/y U3O8
- LOM uranium production: 17.5 Mlbs U3O8
“This PEA demonstrates that the Ivana deposit is a leading new low-cost uranium-vanadium development project,” stated Nikolaos Cacos, Blue Sky President & CEO. “With the expansion upside at Ivana and the discovery potential for new uranium and vanadium resources throughout the district-scale property, we expect Amarillo Grande to continue to improve its value proposition.”
Additional exploration work and detailed engineering studies are expected to expand and upgrade mineral resources, and further optimize and enhance the economics of the Ivana uranium-vanadium deposit.
