Kharasan Mine
The Kharasan uranium project is an advanced development in situ recovery project located in the Zhanakorgan region of the Kyzylordinskaya Oblast, approximately 250 km northwest of Shymkent, Kazakhstan.
Kharasan is owned 100% by the Kyzylkum Joint Venture, in which Uranium One has a 30% interest. The balance of the interest in the Kyzylkum Joint Venture is owned by Kazatomprom (30%) and by a Japanese consortium (40%).
Pilot production from Kharasan began in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Mineral Reserves and Resources
As at March 20, 2006 Kharasan had the following resource estimate as provided by Scott Wilson RPA:
Table 1 – Kharasan Resource Estimate March 20, 2006
Resource Category |
Tonnage |
Grade |
Contained U |
Contained U3O8 |
|
Indicated |
791,000 |
0.201 |
1,590 |
4.1 |
|
Inferred |
9,160,000 |
0.095 |
8,700 |
22.6 |
Notes:
- Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
- RPA is of the opinion that the classification of indicated and inferred mineral resources as reported above meets the definitions as stated by NI 43-101 and defined by the CIM standards.
Geology and Mineralization
The Kharasan deposit is located in the northeastern part of the Syr Darya basin which is underlain and flanked by folded Proterozoic and early Paleozoic formations exposed at the northeast margin where the Karatau Mountains separate the Syr Darya basin from the parallel Chu-Sarysu basin which hosts the Akdala and South Inkai deposits.
Overlying the basement rocks are the Upper Cretaceous, Paleogene and Pliocene sediments. The sediments are comprised of grey to red fine-grained sands to gravels, and 10% to 20% clays as narrow beds. The late Cretaceous rocks have been subdivided into a number of mineralized horizons. The three main mineralized horizons are the Maastricht, Campan and Santon.
The Maastricht horizon occurring at 600 metres to 650 metres depth has an average thickness of mineralization of 3 metres with a width of about 150 metres and grades ranging from 0.07% U to 0.2% U. The Maastricht horizon contains about 60% of the stated mineral resources on the property.
The Campan horizon is 100 metres wide, 2 metres in thickness with an average grade of 0.1% U. This horizon contains about 20% of the total mineral resources on the property.
The Santon horizon has had limited exploration but it contains some of the mineral resources at grades ranging from 0.07% U to 0.2% U averaging 0.08% U.
The grades at the Kharasan deposit are unusually high for a typical roll front deposit with an average grade of the mineralized resource blocks as high as 0.25% U.
The main mineralization is pitchblende (40% to 50%) and coffinite (50% to 60%).
Development Plans
The Kyzylkum joint venture is currently constructing a 2,000 t U per year processing facility.
Well field acidification commenced in March 2008 and pilot production commenced in the fourth quarter of 2008. The project was officially opened by the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan on April 24, 2009.
Uranium processing facilities being constructed at Kharasan are similar to the ISR processing plant that has been constructed at the Akdala Uranium Mine.
