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PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL
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Frome Basin ISR
Uranium Mining Operations
Dr Andrea Marsland-Smith
Heathgate Resources Pty Ltd., Adelaide, South Australia
South Australia Exploration & Mining Conference Adelaide Convention Centre
8 December, 2017
TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE DRIVING CHANGE
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Heathgate & Quasar Resources Pty Ltd
ISR U producer in the Frome Basin for over 17 years
Heathgate owns Beverley & Beverley North mines
Quasar owns the Four Mile Mine (Heathgate operator)
Fly-in/out operation, 24/7
>$1.5B invested in SA, >$28.8M royalties, >$24M in Native Title contributions
Jobs for ~285 employees & contractors
20% of on-site non-professional employees are Adnyamathanha
Frome Basin
Lake Frome
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Beverley
• ~16 out of 24 Mlbs (in place resource) produced • Wellfields now in care & maintenance
(~2.5 Mlbs)
(~3 Mlbs)
(~18 Mlbs)
(~26 Mlbs)
(~12 Mlbs)
(~30 Mlbs)
Four Mile + Bev Nth
• ~13.5% of the in place resource produced since 2011
• Majority production from Four Mile since 2014
Booster Pump & Reagent dosing Facility
Upper Limb
Lower Limb
Redox FrontRoll Nose Protore
Roll-front in an open cut mine – Texas
TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE DRIVING CHANGE
Operations
Crystalline
Basement Frome Basin
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Operating History – 27 Years
1990
• Acquired Beverley project
(discovered in 1969)
1998
• Beverley EIS approved &
successful FLT
1999-2000
• Construction of processing
plant
2001
• Commercial production
commenced at Beverley
2004
• Discovery of Four Mile deposit
2009
•Discovery of Beverley
North deposits
2010-2011
•Construction of satellite plants & production from Beverley North
2013-2014
•Development & production of Four
Mile East
2015
•Full acquisition of Four Mile
project
2017
• FLT - Four Mile West
• Decision for full-scale mining at Four Mile West
BEV - 4 years to permit to production
BEV NTH - 1.5 years discovery to production
FOUR MILE – 13 years from discovery to production
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Operating History & The Future On track to produce a record 4Mlbs in 2017
• FME resource and recoverability as
expected
• Continued wellfield optimisation
FMW Field Leach Trial successful
• Resource upgrades with more drilling
• 4-5 times richer than FME
• Reduced permeability not an issue
• 10 years production possible
(1800 tonnes)
Milestone Decision for FMW Mine
• >$30M capital development
investment for 2018
• HGR strategy to leverage low operating costs in potential U price upside with development of high grade asset in FMW
Slight uplift in the U price at year end
• Nov 9, Cameco McArthur River and Key Lake operations suspended
Acquisition of additional projects
$25/lb
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Four Mile West – Field Leach Trial
View looking FMW FLT from the Northwest to Southeast
FMW FLT WELLHOUSE
FLT Pattern 1
FLT Pattern 2
12.2m
17.5m
17.1m
12.6m
• ~ 90% of production for 5% of flow capacity of current plants & infrastructure
• Leach trial commenced mid-Feb 2017 to determine future ISR development options
• Assessing observed data against modelled:
Permeability, flow rates
Contact of the ore
Breakthrough and leaching chemistries
Decline curve modelling and expected recoveries
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2018 – Infrastructure Changes/Expansion
Injection
Booster Beverley
FMW
FME
FMNE
FMN
5_IX
7_IX
3_IX 1_IX 3_IX3_IX
Pannikan
Pepegoona
Ferric Dosing &
Injection Booster
Beverley to
FMW Trunkline
11.5km
Beverley to
Pannikan
Road 15km
FMW to Beverley Trunkline Project
• 11.5 km new trunkline FMW to
Beverley Plant
• Associated Beverley Plant
modifications
• Construction proposed to
commence in March 2018.
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Example of Indirectly Heated Horizontal Rotary Calciner (Kiln).
Source: FEECO International
• Low Temp 150°C (UO4•2H2O product)
• Capacity 13,000 U3O8/day
• Annual Throughput 4.8 M lb U3O8/year
• In service since 2001 (16 years)
Existing Beverley Dryer – Bethlehem Porcupine
(Indirectly Heated with mixer & recycle)
• High Temp 750°C (U3O8 product)
• Capacity 14,000 to15,700 lb U3O8/day
• Annual Throughput 5 to 5.6 M lb U3O8/year
• Online by Q1 2019
• Estimate Cost $6.5M
EXISTING DRYER NEW DRYER (Calciner)
2018 – Infrastructure Changes/ExpansionDrying & Packing PlantExisting vs New (Calciner)
Future growth markets (India & China) require a high
temperature (U3O8) product vs Heathgate’s current low
temperature (UO4.2H2O)
product
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Power Generation
• Current Consumption ~3-4 MW
• Gas fired generators (offtake from Moomba line)
• Gas supply price is increasing & supply terms are becoming less
favourable
• $1M Gov grant awarded to SUNSHIFT HGR to install a 1MW modular
solar PV & battery at Beverley
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Environment
• Rationalisation of monitoring and licenses:
ISR is dynamic and so monitoring needs to be dynamic also
Focussing on important aspects using best practise maintains
environment protection without giving up on the level of protection.
Reduced labour with reduced monitoring, considerable savings realised.
Re-focus staff from excessive operational monitoring data collection to
proactive analysis (real time) and commence closure planning &
monitoring where appropriate.
• Closure planning
Beverley (+/- Beverley North) wellfields
In-field Natural Attenuation (NA) verification of models presented in
approval documents
North Beverley – partially decommissioned wellfield
Monitor Well Sampling
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Technology is the Cornerstone of the Company
Dedicated team focussing on the “value add” “Test fast, understand fast, embrace change”
Technical Excellence
Driving Change
Sensor development• In-line analysis • UAV sensors etc.
Improved data acquisition & communication
Remote process control & automation
Geological Data• APFN+ tools• CSIRO collaborations (geophysics)• High definition mineralogy • Downhole 4DT
Flow Modelling (wellfields) &3D Kinetic reactive transport models
• Fe-Flow • PHREEQC geochemical modelling• Column Leach Recovery Testing
(site facility)
Advanced Visualisation• Laser scanning• Erosion monitoring• Environmental Reporting• Design• VR/AR
Example output: FEFLOW 3D Concentration gradients and Flowlines