RARE EARTHS-URANIUM STUDY: New PEA for Eco Ridge property

ONTARIO – Toronto-based Pele Mountain Resources has received an updated preliminary economic assessment for its Eco Ridge rare earths and uranium project at Elliot Lake. With a $2.16-billion pre-tax cash flow, a $1.02-billion net present value (10%) and a 50% internal rate of return, the project has “excellent potential to become a profitable producer of rare earths and uranium oxide,” says the company.

The previous PEA was written in July 2011, and the recent one looked at increasing rare earths recoveries. The plan is to build a 9,000-t/d operation that would over its lifetime recover 97.2 million lb of total rare earth oxides and 27.5 million lb of U₃O₈. The majority - 85% - of the project revenue would come from heavy REO, neodymium oxide and uranium oxide.

Start-up capital expenditures are expected to be $563 million, and sustaining capital will be $104 million. An 11-year mine life is anticipated.

Additional details from the PEA are available at PeleMountain.com.