MiningNews.net reported in June, 2021 that timing counts for a lot in the mining industry and Ross McElroy, president and CEO of Fission Uranium, has seen the stars rapidly align in the months since he took the helm in September 2020. As the uranium market positions for another up-cycle and money is flowing into the industry McElroy has steered Fission from an explorer to a development company, poised to advance the Triple R deposit at its project Patterson Lake South (PLS) project in the southwestern Athabasca Basin in Canada.
McElroy has built a team capable of permitting and building Triple R, including Mark Wittrup to head the regulatory and environmental permitting and Gary Haywood as VP project development. Wittrup brings over 40 years of experience in the uranium industry and environmental and regulatory work including playing a key role in the permitting process of Cameco's McArthur River mine across the other side of the Basin. Haywood is a professional mining engineer with over 35 years' experience including senior positions at underground uranium mining operations with Cameco at its Eagle Point and McArthur River operations.
"My first goal after becoming CEO in Sept 2020 was to build a team that can take the project through the next phases of development and we have successfully done that. We have the core team in place, and we have the funds to deliver on the plan we've outlined," said McElroy.
Fission raised C$34.5 million via a bought deal financing in May which brings the total raised in less than a year to almost $60 million which means the company is funded for the next two years, which will allow it to advance through the feasibility study and the EIS. "The market likes what we are doing. Our successful financings over the last eight months are a direct response to Fission becoming a developer, to our change of leadership and to the high caliber development team we've build. The next raise will be for funds to build the project," said McElroy.
Fission plans to commence the feasibility study field work beginning in June and continuing to March 2022 on its path becoming one of world's lowest cost uranium producers. The 2019 pre-feasibility study stated a bottom quartile production cost of $7.18 per pound, a three-year construction time and 25% post-tax internal rate of return from a resource of 2.2 million tonnes grading 2.10% U3O8 for 102.4 million pounds and an inferred resource of 1.2Mt grading 1.22% for 32.8Mlb following an initial capital cost of C$1.2 billion. The construction start is penciled in for 2026.
The near surface location of the deposit, starting just 50m below the surface, means Fission could enjoy significant technical and operating cost advantages over the established producers in the Basin, and therefore have a lower incentive price to trigger a construction decision. Cameco's Cigar Lake mine is at depths of more than 400m for example and its McArthur River deposit is 500-600m deep.
[Read on .... interesting information.]
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
