AMN - NAMIBIA: Optimisation advances at Etango

Bannerman Resources has further advanced key optimisation opportunities at its Etango Uranium Project in Namibia. This comes at a time when the uranium market has experienced extensive supply disruption, presenting Bannerman with opportunities.

The company has successfully completed membrane study test-work for Etango which confirmed substantial economic and operational advantages, including over 80% acid recovery from the concentrated eluate stream of the IX plant.

The excellent results confirm that the optimised flowsheet consists of ion-exchange followed by iron reduction before nano-filtration. The design of the nano-filtration plant is now complete to definitive level.

Etango project optimisation continues to focus on the evaluation of project scaling and scope opportunities under various development parameters and market conditions.

The current uranium market is driven by extensive production disruption from COVID-19. The world's largest producer, Kazatomprom, advised that all Kazakh production is disrupted for an expected three month period while the world's largest uranium mine, Cigar Lake in Canada, has been placed into care and maintenance for an 'indeterminate period' by Cameco and there is production disruption at the Husab and Rossing mines in Namibia.

The U3O8 spot price has risen more than 35% in six weeks to be the best performing mineral commodity in 2020.

Bannerman finished the March quarter with a strong cash balance of A$4.6 million while management and board pay reductions were implemented from April 1, 2020.

Bannerman's chief executive officer Brandon Munro said: "Uranium supply and demand dynamics have been highlighted by COVID-19 driven supply disruption in the largest four uranium-producing nations globally. This has widened the 2020 forecast structural deficit and launched the U3O8 spot price into a commodity sector-leading trajectory.

"Bannerman has focused on fiscal discipline and project improvement, ensuring that our large-scale, advanced Etango uranium project is ideally positioned as the market continues to improve."

Bannerman Resources is an ASX and NSX listed exploration and development company with uranium interests in Namibia, a southern African country which is a premier uranium mining jurisdiction.

Bannerman's principal asset is its 95%-owned Etango Project situated near CNNC's Rossing uranium mine, Paladin's Langer Heinrich uranium mine and CGNPC's Husab uranium mine.

A definitive feasibility study has confirmed the viability of a large open pit and heap leach operation at one of the world's largest undeveloped uranium deposits. From 2015 to 2017, Bannerman conducted a large-scale heap leach demonstration program to provide further assurance to financing parties, generate process information for the detailed engineering design phase and build and enhance internal capability.

www.bannermanresources.com