Aurora Energy Metals (ASX:1AE) expects its current metallurgical program to deliver “significant improvements” in uranium recovery rates for its namesake project in Oregon, US.
Non-executive Chairman Peter Lester tells Mining.com.au the work is pivotal in enhancing the overall economics of the Aurora Uranium Project (AUP), with the goal of improving the current recovery rate of 69%.
A Scoping Study released in mid-May indicated the AUP would have an 11-year life producing 1.15 million pounds each year.
A key area identified in the study was the potential for improvements in uranium recovery, with several opportunities for further testwork identified.
Previous testwork has shown higher recoveries of up to 92% using pressure oxidation leaching and up to 71% using whole ore atmospheric leaching.
“Before the end of the year, Aurora is looking to conclude its comprehensive metallurgical program, which is expected to yield significant improvements in uranium recovery rates,” Lester tells this news service.
“This program is crucial for refining the processing methods and determining the most cost-effective and efficient approach for the AUP.”
Aurora said in its June quarterly report that the Scoping Study highlighted the potential for the AUP to be a cost competitive, long-term domestic supplier of uranium to the US nuclear energy industry.
The completion of the testwork program is expected to deliver an optimised Scoping Study, incorporating revised recovery rates, by late 2024.
Lester says this will lay the groundwork for a Prefeasibility Study, which is slated to begin in early 2025.
Aurora says the AUP hosts the largest mineable, measured and indicated uranium resource in the US at 107.3 million tonnes @ 214 parts per million (ppm) for 50.6 million pounds.
The resource comprises a “shallow, high-grade core” of 18 million tonnes @ 485ppm for 19.2 million pounds of uranium.
The company’s strategy is centred on the near-surface, high-grade component of the resource which has 91% of the contained metal in the highest confidence measured category, and 99.5% in the measured and indicated categories.
Aurora Energy, which has a market capitalisation of $9.7 million, had $1.6 million in cash at the end of the June 2024 quarter.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Aurora Energy Metals
