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The Bigrlyi Project comprises 10 granted exploration retention licenses located approximately 350 km northwest of Alice Springs. The project, which is a joint venture with Paladin Energy subsidiary Valhalla Uranium (42.06%) and Southern Cross Exploration (4.20%), has been subject to significant exploration activity since discovery in 1983, including over 850 drillholes, metallurgical testwork and mining studies.
The Bigrlyi Project is characterised by relatively high uranium grades (with vanadium credits) and excellent metallurgical recoveries. Base case acid leach tests recorded extraction rates of 98% uranium and 59% vanadium, with 94-95% of uranium extracted within 8 hours at optimum leach conditions (pH 1.8, 50ºC, ORP=450 mV, coarse grind size).
New resource estimates incorporating the results from an infill drilling program (83 holes) completed in December 2008 were announced to ASX on 15 May 2009. The resources were estimated by Hellman & Schofield Pty Ltd (“H&S”) using the ordinary kriging (OK) method and are summarised below: Indicated and Inferred Resources at 500ppm U3O8 cut off – OK Estimation Method
Tonnes are metric (2204.62 pounds); figures may not total due to rounding.
At a cut-off grade of 500ppm U3O8the Bigrlyi OK resource totals 20.6 million pounds (Mlb) of U3O8 and 38.6 Mlb of V2O5. Significantly 45% of the contained uranium metal (or 4.19 Kt U3O8) now reports to the Indicated Resource category, compared with 39% in the previous (March 2008) OK resource estimate. As part of a review of alternative development options Energy Metals requested H&S re-estimate the uranium resources at Bigrlyi using the multiple indicator kriging (MIK) method with estimates at the 500ppm U3O8 and 250ppm U3O8 cut-off grades summarised below: Indicated and Inferred Resources at 500ppm U3O8 cut off – MIK Estimation Method
Tonnes are metric (2204.62 pounds); figures may not total due to rounding.
Indicated and Inferred Resources at 250ppm U3O8 cut off – MIK Estimation Method
Tonnes are metric (2204.62 pounds); figures may not total due to rounding. At a cut-off grade of 500ppm U3O8 the MIK resource totals 22.7 Mlb of U3O8 whilst at the 250ppm cut-off the MIK resource increases to 29.4 Mlb of , with most of this resource within 200m of the surface and potentially amenable to open cut mining. At both the 500ppm and 250ppm cut-off grades approximately 55% of the contained uranium metal reports to the Indicated Resource category. Energy Metals considers that the MIK resource estimate better represents the resource amenable to open pit mining and potential leach processing. An independent review of the process and metallurgical components of the project highlighted several areas with the potential to improve project economics, including:
In July 2009, Paladin Energy completed a desk top review based on the May 2009 OK resource which indicated that a maximum of 14 Mlb of U3O8 would fall within conceptual open pit mining shells (maximum 200-220 depths) at the A4 and A15 deposits (cut off) grade of 250ppm U3O8). The desktop review suggests that further work to identify extensions to the existing resource and to assess the potential for underground mining is likely to be required prior to determining the optimal development strategy for the Bigrlyi Project. Subsequently the Bigrlyi partners approved extensional drilling programs designed to locate shallow uranium mineralisation between the A4 and A15 deposits and immediately west of A4, with drilling to commence in September 2009.
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