Cauldron Energy Partners with Uzbek Giant Navoiyuran to Advance Yanrey Uranium Project

Cauldron Energy (ASX: CXU) is joining forces with global uranium powerhouse Navoiyuran to progress development of its Yanrey project near Onslow in Western Australia.

Navoiyuran is Uzbekistan’s national uranium company and the world’s second largest in-situ recovery (ISR) uranium producer, with a total of 42 different uranium deposits in its portfolio.

Under a memorandum of understanding (MoU), the two companies will potentially work together on future funding for Yanrey—which contains at least 85 million pounds of uranium oxide and is host to five known uranium deposits.

Technical Due Diligence

Navoiyuran – which conducted technical due diligence on Yanrey prior to executing the MoU – has a mandate from the Uzbekisatan government to deploy its uranium knowledge and expertise around the globe.

It currently has international agreements with leading uranium industry players such as French company Orano, Japan’s Itochu, and the China National Uranium Corporation.

The Cauldron collaboration is the company’s first in Australia, and will cover areas such as technical assistance in both design and operations, assistance with government advocacy, and specialist ISR know-how and technical input into studies.

Transformational Relationship

Chief executive officer Jonathan Fisher said the new relationship was a transformational one for Cauldron.

“Attracting the interest of the entity that literally invented ISR mining for uranium, and is the worlds second largest ISR producer behind Kazatomprom, demonstrates the quality and tier potential of the Yanrey project and its surrounding region,” he said.

Australian science body CSIRO conducted studies in 2017 that confirmed the amenability of the Bennet Well deposit – the largest of Yanrey’s five uranium deposits – to ISR mining, a process that can present a number of operational challenges.

“By ensuring we have access to the technical expertise of Navoiyuran, Cauldron can push forward with project development confident in our technical capabilities to deliver a world-class project,” Mr Fisher added.

Numerous Untested Targets

Cauldron is confident it can expand the already significant uranium body at Yanrey, with more than 20 largely untested targets it considers highly likely to contain significant additional uranium mineralisation.

Mr Fisher said that attracting a major player like Navoiyuran shows that there are large, industry leading players interested in WA, where state government policy has prohibited new uranium mining proposals since 2017.

“This helps justify to the WA government that a change in policy is warranted and I look forward to discussing this arrangement with relevant WA government representatives in due course.”