Deep Yellow plans to drill four more water production bores in the Tubas River tributary paleochannel for the Tumas project’s new water supply.
This program will start in mid-October 2024 and is expected to be completed by late November 2024.
Initially, Deep Yellow had planned to source water required for construction and dust suppression purposes during the development of the Tumas Project from a water supply bore field established ~20 km west of the proposed plant site.
In addition, NamWater has made a conditional offer of water supply to the project, and the necessary supply agreement can now be negotiated.
According to the September quarter report, a new supply point for electrical power supply was agreed upon with NamPower, subject to final documentation.
This revised supply point is approximately half the distance from the project area compared to the previous supply point.
Deep Yellow says it is a technically more robust point of supply, coming directly from the regional grid 220 kV ring main.
A final supply offer is expected from NamPower in the December 2024 quarter.
The report says the detailed engineering work for Tumas will continue in the December 2024 quarter.
The report says the Tumas Project execution cost and schedule control systems are well advanced and will be finalised in the December 2024 quarter.
Also to be finalised in the December 2024 quarter are the project execution cost and schedule control systems.
The next major milestone for the project is completing a revised capital cost and operating cost estimate to support a Final Investment Decision (FID).
This work will also incorporate a revised Ore Reserve Estimate (ORE) based on the recent infill drilling campaign results and upgraded MRE, plus a revision of the project financial analysis based on the revised ORE, optimised flowsheet, updated capital and operating cost estimates, and current uranium price models.
The work associated with the ORE update will also involve a final re-bidding of the mining contract for the project and an expected contract award soon after FID is achieved. Furthermore, preparation for the pre-production mining campaign, scheduled to commence during the coming calendar year, is also associated with this work program.
Early works for Tumas will commence in the December quarter, involving the establishment of
• temporary construction access road,
• site communications;
• construction offices,
• temporary power;
• security;
• construction water supply, and
• temporary power supply.
The Tumas Project, under license 237 within EPLs 3496 and 3497, is 100% owned by Deep Yellow’s Reptile Uranium Namibia. It has a 20-year license that expires in 2043.
