Uranium developer Global Atomic to move forward with construction of its Dasa uranium project in Niger and lead the way in January, CEO says Etienne Romain said this week, announcing the results of its feasibility study.

The study confirmed that the Dasa project was economically attractive, even at a price of C $ 35 / lb of uranium oxide.

The decision to go ahead was based on the feasibility study, the strong uranium market and anticipated supply shortfalls, the company said.

The study focuses only on Phase 1, mainly comprised of the Flank Zone, and represents the first 12 years of the project and less than 20% of the Dasa mineralization, which has been delineated by 160,000m of drilling since 2010.

The study yielded a net present value (NPV) of C $ 157 million and an after-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 22.7%. This compares to the 2020 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) NPV of C $ 211 million and IRR of 26.6%.

The Dasa project is expected to produce 3.8 million pounds of uranium oxide, at an all-inclusive sustaining cost of $ 21.93 / lb.

“We are now ready to negotiate project financing, advance offtake negotiations with utilities, complete detailed engineering, and complete the bidding process for an EPCM contract to build and commission. service our processing plant by the end of 2024, ”said Roman.

The feasibility study estimated a down payment of 208 million dollars, in line with the estimate of the PEA.

“The mining industry has seen significant increases in input costs induced by the pandemic since the completion of the PEA in 2020. We are very pleased to have duplicated the investment costs of our previous PEA projects and thank METC Engineering, Bara Consulting, Insight R&D and Process Research Ortech for their excellent work in this regard. If the cost increases related to the pandemic return to historic levels, the economics of the project will be further improved, ”commented Roman.

Global Atomic also declared an initial mineral reserve of 4.3 million tonnes, grading 5,184 ppm uranium oxide.

In the meantime, the company has announced that it will raise C $ 25 million to continue exploration and development work at Dasa.

Global Atomic has entered into an agreement with Red Cloud Securities to act as lead manager and sole bookrunner to purchase for resale 6.25 million units at C $ 4 each on a “bought deal” basis in in a private placement for gross proceeds of C $ 25 million.