Name of the Project
Toliara mineral sands project – monazite project.

Location
The Ranobe deposit, 45 km north of Toliara on a 125.4 km2 mining lease, in Madagascar.

Project Owner/s
Energy Fuels acquired Base Resources in November 2024.

Project Description
The Toliara project is underpinned by the large, high-grade, ilmenite-, zircon- and monazite-rich, Ranobe deposit, and is considered by Base Resources to be one of the best mineral sands development projects in the world.

The Toliara mineral sands definitive feasibility study 2 (DFS2), released in December 2021, estimates mining rates at 13-million tonnes a year in Stage 1, increasing to 25-million tonnes a year following the implementation of Stage 2 in Year 5 over a 38-year mine life.

Monazite was treated as a waste stream in DFS2 and was returned to the mining pit void with all other tailings.

Capitalising on what is essentially a waste stream will make the Toliara project one of the largest and most cost-competitive sources of rare-earth oxides worldwide.

The monazite prefeasibility study (PFS), released in December 2023, shows that tails from the mineral sands processing, planned under the Toliara mineral sands project, can be easily upgraded to a monazite product with modest additional capital expenditure.

Average monazite production is estimated at 21 800 t/y for 2 800 t of neodymium/praesidium over a 38-year mine life.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The DFS2 calculates an after-tax net present value (NPV), at a 10% discount rate, of $1.01-billion and an internal rate of return (IRR) 23.8%, with a payback of 4.5 years.

The monazite PFS estimates an after-tax NPV, at an 8% discount rate of $999-million and an IRR of 78.6%, with a payback of one year.

Based on the combined outcomes of DFS2 and the Monazite PFS, Toliara has an overall after-tax NPV, at a 10% discount rate, of $2.01-billion and an IRR of 32.4%, with a payback of 3.6 years.

Capital Expenditure
The DFS2 estimates capital expenditure (capex) for Stage 1 at $520-million and Stage 2 at $137-million.

Capex in the monazite PFS (Stage 1) is estimated at $71-million.

The combined DFS2 and monazite PFS have an estimated capex of $591-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Energy Fuels is targeting a financial investment decision (FID) in early 2026.

Latest Developments
The Madagascar government has lifted the suspension, imposed in November 2019, on the project following US-based group Energy Fuels’ acquisition of Base Resources last month.

Energy Fuels can now resume development activities on the Toliara project.

The company will now re-establish community and social programmes; advance technical activities, such as mine planning and engineering; and expand the critical mineral resource base, Energy Fuels president and CEO Mark Chalmers has said.

In 2019, development activities were suspended, pending the negotiation of fiscal and other terms applicable to the project.

While the project is progressing towards an FID, the company will continue working with government to formalise the fiscal and other terms applicable to the project, including the addition of rare-earth element production to the existing mining permit, through a memorandum of understanding, an investment agreement, amendments to existing laws and other mechanisms as appropriate.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Mineral Technologies (engineering development and capital cost estimate for the monazite concentrator plant; Lycopodium (export facility onshore infrastructure, consolidated capital cost estimate and schedule); PRDW (engineering development and cost estimate for modifications to the offshore component of the export facility to accommodate container transport and shiploading; Ibis Consulting (preliminary assessment of the environmental and social risks, impacts and opportunities of the monazite project); and Met Chem Consulting, reviewing of the monazite concentrator plant process deliverables – flowsheets, mass and water balance).

Contact Details for Project Information
Base Resources, tel +261 20 94 448 87 or email reception@basetoliara.mg.
Energy Fuels, tel +1 303 974 2140 or email info@energyfuels.com.