Project Location
Erongo Region, Republic of Namibia
Project Highlights- Deposit located 35 km along geological strike to Rössing (Rio Tinto Group) and 40 km north of Langer Heinrich (Paladin Resources)
- Snowden update report "considers that the Valencia Project represents an advanced staged uranium project that has potential for development as an economically viable mining operation"
- Deposit has not been fully delineated and additional areas are being explored
- Proposed production rate of 13 M t / yr ore
- Net Present Value (at 8% and pre-tax) increased to US$420 M
- CAPEX approximately US$223 M (to end of 2009)
- Top 5 global producer
- Production accounts for 7.5% of world supply
- > 140 M lbs produced since mine opened in 1976
- $400million capital expenditure recently announced to extend mine life by 12 years (source: rossing.com)
May 2009 NI 43-101 Technical Report prepared by Snowden Mining Industry Consultants (Pty) Limited describes the Valencia mineral reserve and mineral resource as follows:
Summary of Valencia uranium Reserve, January 2009
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| Summary of Valencia Uranium Deposit Mineral Resources, estimated at the anticipated SMU scale, as at January 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Click Here to Download: Valencia
Uranium Deposit Technical Report
Historical work on the project was conducted by Goldfields Namibia between 1973 and 1977 which included borehole drilling, chemical analysis, radiometric sorting tests on bulk ore samples in 1979 followed by two preliminary feasibility studies in 1981 and 1989. Due to low uranium prices at the time, Goldfield concluded the project was uneconomical.
The Valencia Uranium Deposit is 100% owned by Forsys. Snowden Mining
Industry Consultants in Johannesburg, South Africa, was retained to undertake a
review of the available geological information, complete a Mineral Resources
estimate, produce a resource statement and write a technical report to
National Instrument 43-101 standards. The report was dated June
2007 and delivered to the Company. The report also delivered an initial pit
design, identified waste and tailings disposal areas, site layout plan,
access routes and proposed initial extractive solutions.
Since the delivery of the Pre-Feasibility Report, Valencia has made significant progress towards achieving production in 2010. In August 2007, the Company hired Dr. Roger Laine as Chief Geologist of Forsys, in order to oversee the geological and exploration programs of all of the Company’s uranium properties, including the Valencia project.
In January 2008, under the direction of Dr. Laine, the Company commenced a 10,000 meter drilling program at Valencia in order to expand resources to the North, South and East as well as beyond the Main Zone pit floor. After receiving excellent results from the initial 3,850 meters, the program was expanded to 30,000 meters in June 2008. The Company is now anticipating delivering a revised resource and reserve calculation in September 2008 along with major components of the feasibility study.
As announced in our news release dated August 21, 2008, the Company received our Mining Licence No. 149 for the Valencia project. Granting of the Mining Licence is the most significant milestone in the development of Valencia, and is only the second Licence to be granted within the last few decades in Namibia