Name of the Project
Tiris uranium project.

Location
Mauritania.

Project Owner/s
The project is owned by uranium exploration company Aura Energy (85%) through its Mauritanian subsidiary Tiris Ressources, and the Mauritanian government (15%).

Project Description
In September 2024, Aura Energy reported in an update to the February 2024 front-end engineering design (FEED), a 44% increase in triuranium octoxide (U₃O₈) life-of-mine (LoM) production from 30.1-million pounds a year to 43.5-million pounds a year. This follows the upgrading of the project's mineral resource to 91.3-million pounds of U₃O₈.

The update also noted an increase in the project’s mine life from 17 years to 25 years.

The processing plant will average 1.8-million pounds a year of U3O8 from the two-million-pound-a-year-capacity U₃O₈ process plant.

Envisaged is a shallow free-dig openpit mining and beneficiation operation, with the operation delivering a high-grade leach feed averaging 2 217 parts per million (ppm) U₃O₈, an increase from 1 997 ppm U₃O₈ (over first five years) in the FEED. This remains overall about the same at 1 752 ppm U₃O₈ from 1 743 ppm U₃O₈ in the FEED at a very low average cost of $9.16/lb U₃O₈.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Aura reported in September 2024 that economics on the project had improved, with the net present value having increased by 29% to $499-million, compared with $388-million set out in the February FEED study. The after-tax internal rate of return is now estimated at 39%, compared with the 36% estimated in February.

Payback has decreased by 10% to 2.25 years.

Capital Expenditure
$230-million.

Planned Start/End Date
First production at the project is targeted for 2026/27.

Latest Developments
Aura Energy has reported that the Tiris project is advancing towards a final investment decision targeted for the end of 2026.

A bankable feasibility study is on track for completion in September 2026. The study will update the project’s economics following the selection of a revised processing flowsheet and will assess the current base case of a two-million-pound-a-year U₃O₈ operation, with an expansion to between 3.5-million and four-million pounds a year also under review.

Aura has also signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding with an undisclosed major international nuclear power company covering potential investment, offtake and technical collaboration. The agreement forms part of a broader funding pathway for Tiris, which includes potential strategic equity investment, senior project debt discussions with the US International Development Finance Corporation, new equity and quasi-equity funding, and a nonbinding, fully funded proposal from a major US investment fund.

The company has settled the project’s processing flowsheet, which pairs preleach centrifuge separation with post-leach ATA polymer dewatering and horizontal vacuum belt filtration.

The flowsheet uses commercially proven technologies and has been validated across the full range of Tiris ore types.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Wood (basic engineering and early works definition programme); ECG Engineering (power generation solution); Acclarium and RCS (dewatering flowsheet); and Clean TeQ Water (ATA polymer-based dewatering technology selected for the project).

Contact Details for Project Information
Aura Energy, tel +61 3 9101 8551 or email info@auraenergy.com.au.