RE:Paladin's Michelin versus Fission's Triple R at PLSPaladin seems to have always envied the ath basin however there's always been the foreign ownership rule in their way .......Paladin is also a very proficient and well run operator when it comes to mining uranium..... Paladin cannot afford tr -R property by themselves .......Paladin successfully within the last year has reduced debt and now has their Chinese counterpart heavily invested in their flagship property Could the latest Canadian government blessing be a prelude to the partnership expansion of the Chinese and paladin whereby the chinese front all the doe and paladin operates it. And perhaps cameco has a minor stake in it as well. ??
quakes99 wrote: Dev makes a pretty strong point in his CEO Corner Blog with respect to timing of the approval for Paladin to proceed towards developing its Michelin deposits into a working mine. Paladin must be very confident that U3O8 prices are going to rise substantially higher in the next 5 years in order to create a profitable environment for taking Michelin into production. They were pushing hard for over a year in order to get that government approval for development as the majority owner. When you look at the resource they want to develop, and its very remote location and associated high costs, then one has to believe that Paladin is very confident of that U3O8 rise in demand and pricing up to that US$80/lb level that makes these kinds of projects profitable.
First of all you should read through the Michelin Project brochure at the link below:
Paladin's Michelin Project brochure
A number of significant issues jump out right away. The 140M lbs at an average grade of 0.10-.08% is actually split across 6 separate deposits spread out over a large area. According to Paladin's project plan, one-third of the resource will be open-pit mineable and two-thirds underground. There is no highway, no electrical power, no processing mill, not even basic roads to connect the development area with the nearest shipping point 140 km away in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Paladin is going to need to build all the infrastructure essentially from scratch in order to construct a mine, mill, and power/transportation. That is a very expensive proposition in such a remote area in Northern Canada.
Here's the Resource Estimate for Michelin and the other 5 nearby deposits:
Compare that to Fission's Triple R Resource Estimate for Patterson Lake South, which does not yet include the results from the just-completed Winter drill program.
Triple R has approximately
16 times higher average grade in an open-pit mineable resource that is
situated on a major highway with easy access to major shipping points nearby. Power systems were already in place to support the Cluff Lake Mill/Mine 75km to the north so access to the needed electrical power should be fairly straightforward. Significant services to support U3O8 mining exist all across the Athabasca Basin. PLS has an order of magnitude better resource and access to the needed infrastructure and power/transportation.
There is absolutely no question that Triple R will be hugely more economically viable and profitable no matter how you look at it. We have a very valuable diamond in the rough that holds so much more potential than any other defined U3O8 resource in Canada. It's no wonder that foreign companies and utilities will want to own it and secure the uranium supply and profits it can provide. If they share Paladin's belief that U3O8 prices will soon rise, then it will be no surprise when they start fighting over who gets to own this crown jewel of the Athabasca Basin.
Stay long and prosper!