Niger has approved GoviEx's mining permit application for the Madaouela 1 tenement area, the company announced today. The approval means that the project is now fully permitted for construction and production.

Exploration drilling at Madaouela (Image: GoviEx)

Canada-based GoviEx submitted its mining permit application in July 2015, having completed an environmental and social impact assessment for the project earlier in the year. Last week, the country's government issued the company with a permit to "exploit" uranium at Madouela in the Arlit region of northern Niger. According to documentation from Niger's Council of Ministers, the scope of GoviEx's licence application covers 243 square kilometres of the site funded by investments of $676 million.

GoviEx was awarded exploration permits for Madaouela 1 in 2006, and company chairman Govin Friedland said that the government's decision was the culmination of a decade of effort by the company and local stakeholders. "This decision of support is a stamp of approval for the quality of the work done to date by GoviEx, and the robustness of the Madaouela project," he said.

GoviEx's development plan for Madaouela envisages production of an average of 2.69 million pounds U3O8 (1035 tU) per year over a 21-year mine life from an open-pit mine using ablation technology to treat ore slurries before processing. It is based on measured and indicated mineral resources of 110 million pounds U3O8 (42 311 tU) plus 61 million pounds U3O8 (23 463 tU) of probable mineral reserves.