2019-08-14 ISR Uranium Mining Frome Basin South Australia Dr Andrea Marsland-Smith 1 Operations Manager T ECHNICAL E XCELLENCE D RIVING C HANGE PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL
Agenda Introductions • Heathgate Resources - Overview of market, company & U mining operations (Dr Andrea Marsland-Smith, HGR) • Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Nuclear Power (Dr Ben Heard, Frazer Nash Consultancy) • Field Visit – Wellfield and Processing Plant • Q&A • T ECHNICAL E XCELLENCE D RIVING C HANGE 2
2019-08-14 Heathgate Resources Pty Ltd – GA Subsidiary Predator Aircraft Uranium Mining Aircraft Launch & Recovery Laser Technology Uranium conversion Blitzer Railgun Advanced Sensors DII-D – Advanced Fusion Radiation Monitoring Systems Nuclear Fuels & Materials Inertial Fusion Technology GA and Affiliated Companies > 12,000 employees worldwide 3 T ECHNICAL E XCELLENCE D RIVING C HANGE PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL
HGR Operations ISR U producer in the Frome Basin for over 17 years o Heathgate (HGR) owns Beverley & Beverley North mines o Quasar (affiliated company) owns the Four Mile Mine (HGR operator) Tenement Map o Fly-in/out operation, 24/7 o ~285 employees & contractors o 20% of on-site non-professional employees are Adnyamathanha Four Mile Beverley • 10 exploration licences • 3 mining leases • Central processing facility and 2 remote satellites T ECHNICAL E XCELLENCE D RIVING C HANGE 4
Australia’s uranium resources Uranium resources by state 80% South Australia 10% Northern Territory 6% Western Australia 3% Queensland SA Beverley/Four Mile 1% NSW NSW 0 4 U (ppm) Beverley/Four Mile Deposits Source: World Nuclear Association T ECHNICAL E XCELLENCE D RIVING C HANGE 5
Australian Uranium Production 2006-2018 Tonnes 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 Ranger Olympic Dam Beverley Four Mile Honeymoon Source: World Nuclear Association 6
Market vs Mining Method Source: Ux Consulting Company, LLC Upside Factors Downside Factors Full-Cost Production Curve by Mine Type 2018 Major Western Capacity • Kazakh Production Growth • Idled; Producer Buying US/EU NPP Closures • Japan Demand Returns • Government Inventories • China, India Growth • US/EU NPP Life Extensions • Wild Cards Longevity of Low-Cost Kazakh • Production US Trade Review / Politics • 3 rd Party Entrants / Funds •
Operations 355,000mE 360,000mE 365,000mE 370,000mE N Legend: 6,670,000mN Outline of known orebodies Mineral Lease (ML) Boundary Powerline 2.5km Powerline Access Route Proposed trunkline (FMW-FME) Pepegoona Deposit (Mined out) Existing trunkline (FME-Pannikan) Four Mile Northeast Arkaroola Protection Area (APA) Pannikan Deposit (Mined out) Pipeline Four Mile 6,650,000mN East Deposit Booster Pump Station and Reagent Storage Beverley North ML Beverley ML Four Mile West Deposit Sedimentary Basin Powerline Access Route 6,660,000mN Beverley Deposit Camp (Mined out) Four Mile ML Crystalline Beverley Plant Basement (Hard Rock) T ECHNICAL E XCELLENCE D RIVING C HANGE 8
ISR – The Process The reservoir (wellfield) determines production • ISR is a chemical process • Infrastructure is tailored to what each wellfield requires • − Flow rates = Pumps − Clays/fines = Filtration − Geochemistry = Injection Reagents T ECHNICAL E XCELLENCE D RIVING C HANGE 9
Legislative Framework – South Australia Prescriptive ML COMMONWEALTH SA STATE Conditions/Regulatory Oversight 2000 Environment Protection & Aboriginal Export Permit & Biodiversity Control Heritage Act Safeguards and Security Act DEM DoIIS. ASNO, IAEA DoEE WHS Act (U Projects only) Natural Resource SafeWork SA Management Mining Act Act DEWNR • Triggered if project will impact a “Matter of National DEM Radiation Native Environmental Significance Protection & Vegetation (MNES) – i.e. requires Control Act Act Commonwealth Approval. Environmental EPA-RPB DEWNR Protection DEM Act • U projects automatically trigger this requirement EPA 2019 Outcomes Focussed ML Conditions/Regulatory Oversight T ECHNICAL E XCELLENCE D RIVING C HANGE 10
Radiation Matters • The unit of radiation is Sievert (Sv) 1 Sv = 1000 mSv 1 mSv = 1000 µSv • The annual radiation dose limit to an employee working in a radiation facility is 20 mSv • Average radiation dose received by a Beverley Mine worker is < 1 mSv • In comparison, the radiation dose that may lead to health effects in humans are: – 1000 mSv to cause cancer in future – 10,000 mSv to cause death in a few days T ECHNICAL E XCELLENCE D RIVING C HANGE 11 PROPRIETARY & CONFIDENTIAL
Thankyou T ECHNICAL E XCELLENCE D RIVING C HANGE
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