Name and Location
Letlhakane uranium project, Botswana.

Client
A-Cap Resources.

Project Description
The Letlhakane uranium project is one of the largest undeveloped uranium deposits in the world.

The process plant will target production of up to 3.75-million pounds a year of uranium over the first five years.

The technical study completed on the project proposes that the primary, oxide and secondary mudstone uranium mineralisations be treated by acid heap leaching to recover uranium using a combined solvent extraction/ion exchange (SX/IX) circuit, with ultimate production of uranium dioxide filter cake using the indirect uranium precipitation process through sodium diuranate precipitation.

The study focuses on treating nine-million tonnes of mineralisation a year through crushing, agglomerating, stacking and sulphuric acid leaching on one of two permanent leach pads, each with a capacity of 79-million tonnes.

Leached material will be left in place and each lift sealed with a geomembrane liner.

The design capacity of the processing plant is 3.75-million pounds a year uranium equivalent to allow for peaks in production, with average production estimated at 2.4-million pounds a year. The acid leach project is expected to operate for 18 years, based on the current in-pit resources of oxide, primary and secondary mineralisation.

The continuous surface miners will produce primary crushed material, which feed a closed screening and secondary crushing circuit, with <19 mm product feeding the agglomeration drums, where polymer and acid will be added before the agglomerates are stacked by a grasshopper conveying system.

A two-stage acid leach has been found to be the optimum process, where the Stage 1 leach is at a higher acid level, allowing for fast kinetics and the early recovery of the bulk of the uranium during the first stage. Leaching will be undertaken in multiple stages using intermediate and raffinate solutions to limit the volume of pregnant leach solution feeding the SX plant.

Uranium will be recovered from the SX strip solution using continuous IX, followed by purification and precipitation as sodium diuranate using hydrogen peroxide, before final precipitation of uranium concentrate and drying.

SX/IX testwork has demonstrated that the leachate can be processed by SX, followed by IX and then refining, to yield a high-purity saleable uranium oxide concentrate product.

The aim is to bring the project into early production to take advantage of a forecast upturn in the uranium market.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $383-million, and internal rate of return of 29%.

Value
Initial capital expenditure for construction is estimated at $351-million.

Duration
Letlhakane is one of only four undeveloped uranium projects capable of production within five years.

Latest Developments
The Botswana government has approved the environmental-impact statement for the Letlhakane project.

The approval is an important requirement for securing a mining licence for what will be Botswana’s first uranium mine.

A-Cap submitted an application for a mining licence in August last year.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
A-Cap Resources, tel +61 8 9278 2614, fax +61 8 9278 2617 or email info@a-cap.com.au.