p622 Jul 2009 08:37
Please note that above should not be taken as accurate valuation attempt of EXT future share price as it fails to consider properly discounted cash flows and NPV including tax implications.
Now, regarding my reservations on the Cigar Lake ever coming into full production. The main reasons for these doubts are (2007 mineweb report):
1) The soils and rocks above the orebody are highly permeable. The clay above the orebody is succeeded upwards by a highly heterogeneous, highly permeable zone from 20 m to 50 m thick consisting of variable soft to moderately indurate sandy clay, unconsolidated sand, and variably altered sandstone. The uranium deposit and above strata/overburden are highly fractured. This post-mineralization fracturing controls the hydraulic conductivity in above strata and, where it transects the otherwise impervious clay-stone core of the deposit, fracturing acts as conduits for water, sand, and soft clay. Hence, the primary geotechnical challenges from day one of constructing the mine have been control of groundwater, and ground support in areas of weak rock.
2) To address the support of the weak rock associated with the orebody and to minimize the potential for a large inrush of water while mining, the mine engineers have resorted to ground freezing. Whilst controlled ground freezing for mining and construction applications has been in use for over a century it still remains more of an art than a science.