There was a mysterious disappearance of uranium in South Australia last week.
Uranium mining hopeful PepinNini Minerals reported a new resource estimate on its Crocker Well project. And something was missing.
In 2005, a resource estimate on the Crocker Well project identified 12.65 million tons of uranium oxide, using a 300 ppm cutoff.
Last week's updated resource however, showed just 4.75 million tons using the 300 ppm cutoff.
Based on the findings, PepinNini and partner Sinosteel have decided to put the project on hold. This after the resource consultants said that the deposit is "small, with the currently definable resource not likely to support a mining operation at the current time."
What caused the resource downgrade? Management attributed the drop to new deposit modeling, taking into account only the part of the deposit that could be feasibly incorporated into the a mine plan.
This kind of disappointment on uranium projects is becoming more common. This week Aussie developer Toro Energy announced it will abandon a deal to acquire the 13.2 million-pound Napperby uranium project in the Northern Territory.
Toro's management said the numbers on Napperby just don't pass muster. The company will instead focus on exploration for higher-grade uranium deposits with more robust economics.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
