Aura Energy has gained government certainty for the development of its large-scale Tiris uranium project in Mauritania.
Approval and execution of the mining conventions will provide the project tenure security and fiscal certainty for a least 30 years
Under the conventions, the Mauritian government provides the financial, fiscal and customs applicable to that allow operating activities to commence including accelerated depreciation, defined state participation, discounted company tax rate, reduced royalties and VAT exemption on a range of goods and services.
Critically, the agreement also allows the project to award contracts and export processed uranium.
What we see is the potential of the Tiris region in the uranium world,” Aura Chairman Phil Mitchell said.
“With the formalisation of our Mining Convention and our partnership with ANARPAM, we are keen to work with the Government of Mauritania to develop the Tiri resource.
“Our increased knowledge and our belief in the quality of the resource gained from the drilling program and the expansion studies, to be released imminently, we believe will allow us to develop a world-class uranium operation.”
About Aura Energy
Aura Energy is an Australian-based minerals company that has major uranium and polymetallic projects with large resources in Africa and Europe.
The Company is now focused on uranium production at the Tiris Project, a major greenfields uranium discovery in Mauritania, with Aura announcing a Resource Upgrade in August 2021 of 10% or 5.0 million lb U3O8 bringing the total JORC Resource to 56 Mlbs (at a 100 ppm U3O8 lower cut-off grade).
Aura also completed a capital estimate update for the Tiris Definitive Feasibility Study, to reflect current global pricing, with these 2021 figures reconfirming Tiris as one of the lowest capex, lowest operating cost uranium projects.
In October 2021, the Company entered a US$10m Offtake Financing Agreement with Curzon, which includes an additional up to US$10m facility, bringing the maximum available under the agreement to US$20m.
In 2023, Aura will continue to transition from a uranium explorer to a uranium producer, capitalising on the rapidly growing demand for nuclear power as the world shifts towards a decarbonised energy system.