August 25, 2021
Global Atomic Corp. (TSX:GLO, Not Rated, David A. Talbot) announced that it has received formal notification from the Republic of Niger that the Government will not increase its ownership stake in the Dasa uranium project, effectively confirming the company’s 90% ownership and the Government’s 10% stake. While it was anticipated that the Government would not exercise its option to increase its ownership from 10% to 40%, the Republic of Niger is still expected to directly benefit from the project through its 10% interest, taxes, and royalties, and indirectly benefit through employment and in-country procurement of supplies and services. Dasa is a large, high-grade, low cost, and permitted uranium project that is expected to produce 4.4M lb U3O8 annually over a 12-year mine life from the Phase 1 mine plan alone. However, we note its current 113.3M lb (I+I) resource is capable of supporting a much longer mine life. Based on the 2020 PEA, Phase 1 provides attractive economics; at prices of US$35/lb U3O8, Dasa generates an NPV8% of US$210.7M and IRR of 26.6% with a capex of US$203M and average AISC of US$18.39/lb U3O8. A Phase 1 FS is currently pending, and we expect project economics could materially improve on the back of recent optimization work (read more). Read more
