Aurora Uranium
Project
The Company’s flagship project, the Aurora Uranium Project (AUP), is located in southeast Oregon in the United States.
AUP contains a well-defined, significant Uranium Mineral Resource in shallow volcanics, with high grade concentration at unconformity with overlying lake sediments. The AUP’s shallow, high-grade core (18Mt @ 485 ppm U3O8 for 19.2Mlb U3O8, 99.5% being in the JORC Measured and Indicated categories), is the key to the Project’s development strategy of a conventional open pit operation in Oregon with a processing plant located on Aurora owned private land in Nevada, close to an existing hydroelectricity supply.
Further details on the Mineral Resource Estimate can be found here.
In addition to the uranium at the deposit, multiple, thick intercepts of lithium mineralisation (20m @ 1044ppm Li, 15.5m @ 1308ppm Li) have also been identified in the lake sediments.
The Company believes there is potential for two geologically separate deposits to be delineated and developed, providing economies of scale.
The Li bearing sediments are similar to projects in the region, including Jindalee Resources’ McDermitt Li Project (Indicated & Inferred MRE 1.43Bt at 1,320ppm Li for 10.1Mt LCE).
AUP – Scoping Study
The Company released the Scoping Study on its flagship AUP on 15 May 2024. The completion of the Scoping Study is a significant milestone for 1AE and clearly shows a feasible pathway to developing the USA’s largest, measured uranium deposit.
The Scoping Study revealed a 2Mtpa Run-of-Mine (RoM) mining operation over a potential 11-year life of mine (LoM) at an average of RoM head grade of 380ppm U3O8., producing 1.15Mlbs per annum of U3O8 in a tier-1 jurisdiction. Using a spot price base case of US$90/lb, the AUP demonstrates strong cash flows and NPV, with significant leverage to higher forecast prices.
All costings and estimates are done in US dollars, unless otherwise stated. All estimates are within +/-35% confidence level as appropriate for a scoping study.
The contract resin treatment option was adopted as the base case due to the significantly reduced capital requirement for plant construction.
Further the Scoping Study outlined that there was no federal, state or local regulatory or permitting issues identified that would preclude Project approval.
Further details on the Scoping Study can be found here
Uranium is hosted within a volcanic-hosted deposit, discovered in 1979. Over 90,000m of drilling in 700 drillholes has been completed (replacement value $45m), plus extensive metallurgical testwork and studies.
The deposit is near surface with a flat-lying geometry amenable to very low strip ratio open-pit mining. Low-cost mining is possible due to free-dig lake sediment overburden.
The majority of uranium mineralisation is contained within fine fraction, amenable to low-cost scrubbing and screening upgrades.
The project is served by excellent infrastructure with sealed roads and nearby hydro power.
Next steps
Following the release of the Scoping Study, the Company’s next priority in the US is to advance the overall permitting process and undertake further drilling and metallurgical testwork at the AUP. These efforts aim to optimise the findings from the Scoping Study and move to a prefeasibility study level of accuracy.
Initial metallurgical testwork has identified opportunities for improving recoveries from the current base case of 69%. Previous tests by Placer have shown recoveries of up to 92% using pressure oxidation leaching. Achieving higher metal recovery rates will provide significant upside from the initial Scoping Study, enhancing the AUP’s overall viability and attractiveness to investors.
Lithium
A unique feature of AUP is the potential for the project to generate two income streams from commodities in different geological horizons. Whilst uranium mineralisation is generally hosted in the volcanics, there is the potential for the definition of lithium mineralisation in the overlying lake sediments.
A number of drillholes have been assayed for lithium, with results including 15.5m @ 1308ppm Li, 11m @ 1201ppm Li and 8.2m @ 1376ppm Li returned.
The region has previously been prospective for lithium, producing mineral resources for Lithium Americas at the Thacker Pass and Jindalee Resources at its McDermitt Project.
AUP – Right Place, Right Time
The AUP is located in Oregon, in a location that has significant infrastructure in place to facilitate development. With a growing nuclear industry in the US, a lack of US uranium production and a constrained global supply Aurora is well placed to become a reliable domestic supplier of choice.
