Name of the Project
Muntanga uranium project.

Location
Siavonga and Chirundu districts, in the south-eastern region of Zambia.

Project Owner/s
Africa-focused uranium company GoviEx Uranium.

Project Description
Muntanga encompasses the Muntanga, Dibbwi and Chirundu mining licences. The Muntanga and Dibbwi mining licences comprise the Muntanga, Dibbwi and Dibbwi East deposits. The Chirundu mining licence contains the Njame and Gwabi deposits.

The project is based on standard truck-and-shovel openpit mining, with a planned steady-state rate of 3.5-million tonnes a year of ore feed supplied to the heap-leach facility. 

A total of 39.6-million tonnes of ore, at an average grade of 320 parts per million of triuranium octoxide (U₃O₈) and 144.1-million tonnes of waste will be mined over a 12-year life-of-mine. 

Ore and waste mining are planned to be undertaken using eight backhoe excavators with 5 m3 buckets, supported by about 49 haul trucks with 45 t payloads.

Initial ore production will start with the mining of the Muntanga deposit, owing to its low stripping ratio at 1.2:1, and continue simultaneously at the Dibbwi East deposit, which has a 4.2:1 strip ratio. Once mining at Muntanga is completed, Dibbwi East will serve as the sole source of ore feed.

The central processing plant has been designed to handle 3.5-million tonnes a year of run-of-mine material sourced from the Muntanga and Dibbwi East mining sites. The flowsheet encompasses primary, secondary and tertiary crushing stages, and aims for an 80% passing size, or P80, of 25 mm.

The project will not require any tailings storage.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
At a US price per pound of U₃O₈ of $90, the project has a net present value (NPV), at an 8% discount rate, of $243-million and an internal rate of return of 20.8%, with a payback of 3.8 years.

The project is highly leveraged to uranium prices, with an additional $45-million added to NPV for every $5/lb increase in U₃O₈ prices.

Capital Expenditure
Initial capital is estimated at $281.9-million.

Planned Start/End Date
The mine is expected to start production in 2028.

Latest Developments
GoviEx Uranium has appointed Deogratias M Bukunkwe as project and commissioning metallurgist to further advance the development of the project.
Bukunkwe, a Zambian national, brings more than 25 years of process startup and operations experience, including senior startup roles at the Kayelekera and Langer Heinrich uranium mines, leading the operational readiness at DRA Minopex, and most recently serving as commissioning manager on Freeport-McMoRan’s Grasberg gold and copper cleaner concentrator, in Indonesia.

Bukunkwe’s immediate focus will be to build the detailed precommissioning framework that positions the Muntanga project as “project-ready” for lender due diligence.
He will also be responsible for commissioning and management of the processing plant when it starts production, which the company anticipates could be in 2028, subject to project financing.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Ukwazi Transaction Advisory; SRK Consulting (UK); and SGS Bateman (feasibility study).

Contact Details for Project Information
GoviEx Uranium, tel +1 604 681 5529 or email info@goviex.com.