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PERTH (miningweekly.com) – An updated preliminary economic assessment of the Temrezli project, in Turkey, has assigned a net present value of $186.5-million to the uranium project, up from the 2013 estimate of $173.9-million, ASX-listed project owner Anatolia Energy reported on Monday.
The Temrezli project was expected to produce more than 9.2-million pounds of uranium oxide (U3O8) over ten years at a production rate of one-million pounds a year of U3O8.
The project would require a capital investment of about $30.2-million, which remained relatively unchanged from the previous capital cost estimate of $30.6-million.
However, estimated free cash flow in the updated economics have increased from $288.9-million to $310.4-million, while the internal rate of return has also increased from 103% to 109%.
The updated economic estimates incorporated an updated mineral resource as well as a hydrological pump test, which improved the economics of the uranium project, confirming Temrezli as one of the lowest-cost uranium mines globally.
“Since first becoming involved in the Temrezli project, we have been aware of the outstanding attributes of this project, and the more work we do, the more confident we become that Temrezli will generate very significant free cash flow for Anatolia,” said MD Jim Graham.
He noted that the current programme of work had been successful in defining Anatolia’s path to production, with the company aiming to finalise its engineering and permitting over the remainder of 2014.
A feasibility study would also be completed, and a development decision was scheduled for the third quarter of this year.