Uranium Equities

Currently, there is estimated to be more than US$1 billion in lost uranium per annum worldwide. The PhosEnergy Process provides the potential to utilise this untapped resource and to substantially reduce the capital and operating costs of the extraction of by-product uranium from phosphate streams when compared to existing technologies.

The PhosEnergy Process also improves the operability of the extraction process and reduces the production of radioactive process wastes when compared to the extraction processes historically applied. The PhosEnergy Process, based on results achieved to date, will be capable of exceeding the stringent environmental standards currently applied to both the broader uranium extraction industries and the phosphoric acid industry.

The estimated low operating costs indicate commercially robust production is achievable via the PhosEnergy Process in volatile market conditions. These estimated production costs will place the PhosEnergy Process in the lowest quartile of ‘new’ uranium production.

Based on results achieved to date, the application of the PhosEnergy Process provides the potential for Uranium Equities Limited to secure a significant position in the future production of uranium from phosphate operations on a worldwide basis.

A patented uranium recovery process

The PhosEnergy Process is a patented process developed by Uranium Equities Limited in association with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technical Organisation (ANSTO) for the recovery of uranium, as a by-product, in the manufacture of phosphate based fertilizers.

The PhosEnergy Process has been proven to pilot scale with results establishing a robust process capable of achieving high levels of uranium recovery at the lower end of the cost curve.

PhosEnergy applies conventional technologies in an innovative manner to achieve:

- Low operating cost,
- High uranium recovery, and
- Improved environmental outcomes,

without material impact to the phosphate process.

Near term production

Development of the PhosEnergy Process has progressed past pilot plant scale at a significant, USA based phosphoric acid facility with positive results.

The technology has since been further developed to a larger scale with the design, construction and commissioning of a world-class A$2.5 million demonstration plant to further prove the PhosEnergy process.

The Demonstration Plant, which has been constructed in Australia, is a completely mobile unit, complies with international standards, and can be quickly deployed to phosphoric acid plants anywhere in the world. 

This state-of-the-art plant is fully process controlled and data can be managed via the internet anywhere in the world, facilitating the gathering of the key data in order to test the efficacy of the PhosEnergy Process under industrial conditions.

The Demonstration Plant encompasses all of the key aspects of the PhosEnergy process within two 40-foot shipping containers.

Operating cost estimates indicate that, with contingency , the PhosEnergy Process is capable of producing uranium at operating costs in the order of US$20-$25/lb U₃O₈ with greater than 90% uranium recovery.

This cost structure places the PhosEnergy Process in the bottom half of the cost curve for all uranium production worldwide and in the first quartile of operating cost estimates for ’new’ uranium production coming online over the next 5 years. These costs are half the predicted operating costs associated with technologies used during the 1970s and 1980s in the recovery of uranium as a by-product from phosphate streams.

The development of the PhosEnergy Process has advanced to an exciting stage of near term production.

²  _{Operating cost contingency of 40% has been used. Cost estimates were for production in central Florida, USA.}