Blue Sky and Corredor Americano seek to start uranium production in Argentina

Canada's Blue Sky Uranium and Argentina's Corredor Americano (COAM) sealed a preliminary agreement to jointly promote a uranium-vanadium project linked to the Ivana deposit in Río Negro province. 

COAM may obtain up to 50% participation in the joint company that would be formed with Minera Cielo Azul, owned by Blue Sky, in exchange for investing up to US$35 million, maintaining active exploration objectives in the area and prepare a feasibility study, a Blue Sky statement said.

Once the feasibility study is complete, COAM will be able to acquire an additional 1% if it finances the pre-production costs to develop Ivana and when production begins, it could reach 80% participation and Cielo Azul 20%.

A preliminary economic study carried out by Blue Sky, which belongs to exploration company Grosso Group, concluded that Ivana has a current net value after taxes (8%) of US$228mn, requires initial capital cost of US$159mn and could achieve annual production of 1.5Mlb of uranium oxide over an 11-year useful life.

The parties agreed to further analyze the terms of the deal for 90 days, including rights and obligations. The final deal requires the approval of the Toronto stock exchange and Blue Sky shareholders.

Currently, Argentina imports all the uranium used for nuclear development and in applications related to energy plants.

Pictured: Blue Sky uranium exploration.