Bannerman Energy, an Australian-listed uranium development company, has commenced Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) work for its Etango Uranium Project. The project, about 30 kilometres south-east of Swakopmund, possesses a world-class uranium mineral resource which the company describes as one of the world’s largest undeveloped uranium assets
“Our mining licence application was submitted in August 2022, and we are well underway with parallel offtake and project finance workstreams. All of this activity is driving towards a targeted positive Final Investment Decision on Etango-8, uranium market conditions permitting, during H2 CY2023,” reads a Bannerman statement.
Environmental permits are in place for development, and Etango has been strongly de-risked through extensive drilling, technical evaluation, and operation of a process demonstration plant facility.
Bannerman added that Etango has benefited from extensive exploration and feasibility activity over the past 15 years, including detailed feasibility work on a large-scale development which culminated in the 2012 Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS 2012) and 2015 DFS Optimisation Study (OS 2015).
“As part of these processes, we have obtained environmental permitting for the proposed Etango mine (2012) and all associated external infrastructure (2014). In 2015, we completed construction of the Etango Heap Leach Demonstration Plant, which ran as a pilot plant until 2020. The operation of the demonstration plant comprehensively de-risked the proposed heap leaching processing method for Etango, allowed optimisation of processing parameters, and generated a large database of processing data,” it continued.
Bannerman completed a Scoping Study on the development of Etango in August 2020. The Etango-8 Scoping Study was heavily informed by the detailed study work undertaken across all relevant disciplines as part of the DFS 2012 and the OS 2015, and operation of the Heap Leach Demonstration Plant.
The Scoping Study demonstrated that this accelerated, streamlined project is strongly amenable to development – both technically and economically.
In August 2021, the company completed a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) on Etango-8. The PFS confirmed the strong technical and economic viability of conventional open-pit mining and heap leach processing of the world-class Etango deposit.
In December 2022, Bannerman completed the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) on Etango-8.
“The DFS on Etango-8 is a study of world-class quality, with input from leading experts across each facet of mining uranium in Namibia. Critically, the DFS confirmed, to a definitive level, the robust overall viability of development and operation of the Etango-8 Project,” Bannerman stated.
They also confirmed that Etango does have environmental approvals for the proposed mine, based on a 12-year environmental baseline.