Location and Access

The Ivana group of tenures is situated north of Valcheta City in Rio Negro Province. It is the southernmost property along the 145 kilometre NW-SE trend of the Amarillo Grande Project. The project has year-round access through a well-maintained gravel road network, in an area of very low population density. The project is in a semi-arid topographical depression, close to 100m below the elevation of Valcheta City, with low rainfall, and within a closed hydrologic system.

Path to Production

Ivana was the third discovery area in the Amarillo Grande district, on licenses acquired to cover several anomalies identified by the 2010 airborne radiometric and magnetic surveys. 

A follow-up ground radiometric survey confirmed a >25 kilometre-long anomaly caused by uranium mineralization at or near surface. Subsequent field programs included prospecting, geological mapping, sampling/testing of hand pits, auger & shallow rotary drill holes, and diamond drilling.  This work contributed to the identification of multiple targets across more than 10 kilometres, and the delineation of the Ivana uranium-vanadium deposit (“the Deposit”).  The Deposit now hosts the largest NI 43-101 compliant uranium mineral resource estimate in Argentina, for which a Preliminary Economic Assessment has been completed, with positive results (see below). 

In late 2024, Blue Sky announced an earn-in joint venture agreement with Abatare Spain, S.L.U. (“COAM”) part of the Corporación América Group to advance the Deposit and explore some of the surrounding targets. This work is underway through a new joint venture operating company (“JVCO”). Under the terms of the agreement, COAM has been granted a right to acquire a 49.9% indirect equity interest by funding cumulative expenditures of US$35 million. Furthermore, upon completion of a feasibility study, COAM has a right to acquire up to an 80% equity interest in JVCO by funding the costs and expenditures to develop and construct the project to commercial production.

A two-phase drilling campaign is now underway. The first phase will focus on infill drilling at the Ivana Deposit to support a prefeasibility/feasibility study, while the subsequent second phase will test satellite targets for additional mineralization.

Please refer to the most recent News Releases and Presentation for details of the on-going program.

Figure 1. Ivana Deposit and Targets

Resources and Economics

Since announcing its first resource estimate on March 5^th, 2018 the Company has continued intensive exploration efforts while also completing mineralogical, metallurgical and process test work, collecting baseline environmental data and conducting community relations work. This work was incorporated into an updated mineral resource estimate and Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) for Ivana, as announced on February 22^nd, 2024.

Highlights of the PEA include:

PEA Highlights (All figures in US dollars)

• After-tax NPV 8%: $227.7 million
• After-tax IRR: 38.9%
• After-tax Payback period: 1.9 years
• Pre-production Capital Cost: $159.7 million, includes $35.4 million contingency
• Life of mine (“LOM”) Sustaining Capital Cost: $27.3 million, includes $5.4 million contingency
• Average LOM Total Cash Cost net of credits: $23.29/lb U₃O₈ 
• Average LOM All-In Sustaining Costs (“AISC”) net of credits: $24.95/lb U₃O₈

PEA Key Assumptions & Inputs

• Uranium price: $75/lb U₃O₈
• Vanadium Price $7.5/lb V₂O₅
• Years of Construction: 2
• Years of Production: 11
• Strip Ratio: 1.5:1 (waste/ore)
• Dilution: 3%
• Average Mining rate (waste + mill feed): 5.10 Mtpa
• Processing throughput: 2.17 Mtpa
• Process Plant Recoveries (Net), Uranium: 84.6%
• Process Plant Recoveries (Net), Vanadium: 52.5%
• Average Annual Production (LOM): 1.5 Mlbs/y U₃O₈
• LOM uranium production: 16.5 Mlbs U₃O₈

The PEA is preliminary in nature and is intended to provide an initial assessment of the project’s economic potential and development options. The PEA mine schedule and economic assessment includes numerous assumptions and is based on both Indicated and Inferred mineral resources. Inferred resources are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the PEA results will be realized. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. Additional exploration will be required to potentially upgrade the classification of the inferred mineral resources to be considered in future advanced studies.

Table 1. Mineral Resource Statement for the Ivana Deposit, Amarillo Grande Project, February 22, 2024. Davis & Lomas.

Notes to Table 1:

1. The effective date of the Mineral Resource is October 14, 2023.  The QPs for the Mineral Resource estimate are Susan Lomas, P.Geo. of Lions Gate Geological Consulting (LGGC) and Dr. Bruce Davis FAusIMM.

2. CIM Definition Standards were used for Mineral Resource classification and in accordance with CIM MRMR Best Practice Guidelines. Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.

3. Extreme High-grade samples were capped to lower grades (Upper U 1000 ppm, V 400 ppm, Lower U 3000 ppm, V 1000 ppm) and then restricted using an outlier strategy where Upper composites were limited to U 400 ppm and V 300 ppm over 100 m and Lower composites were limited to U 2000 ppm and V 600 ppm over 100 m. Mineral grades were estimated into a 50x50x2 m block model using krige method.

4. Mineral Resources were tabulated within a resource limiting pitshell using $US 75/lb U price, recovery of 84.6% U; open pit mining cost of $1.50/t mineralization mined; processing and G&A cost of $6.30/t processed; pit slope of 32°. Bulk density value of 2.1 g/cm3was used for mineralized material.

5. The resource was estimated within distinct zones of elevated uranium concentration occurring within the host sediments. Vanadium is associated with uranium and is estimated within the same zones. There is no indication that Vanadium occurs outside of the elevated uranium zones in the Ivana deposit area in sufficient concentrations to justify developing estimation domains focused on Vanadium.

The reader is cautioned that Resources in the Inferred category have a lower level of confidence than that applying to Indicated resources and, although there is sufficient evidence to imply geologic grade and continuity, these characteristics cannot be verified based on the current data. It is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated mineral resources with continued exploration.

Mineral Resources, which are not Mineral Reserves, do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the Mineral Resource will be converted into a Mineral Reserve upon application of modifying factors. Additional exploration will be required to potentially upgrade the classification of the Inferred Mineral Resources to be considered in future advanced studies.

Additional exploration work and detailed engineering studies are expected to further optimize and enhance the economics of the Ivana uranium-vanadium deposit. Blue Sky is continuing exploration proximal to the Ivana deposit and throughout the Amarillo Grande project.

Geology & Mineralization

The Ivana prospect area is underlain by continental epiclastic and pyroclastic rocks of the Upper Oligocene-Middle Miocene Chichinales Formation that were deposited unconformably over the rocks of the North Patagonian Massif, or over a marine sequence of Arroyo Barbudo Formation and a red bed section of the Cretaceous Neuquén Group. The uranium-vanadium mineralized horizons are hosted mostly in medium to coarse poorly consolidated sandstones, minor conglomerates, and mudstones of the lower Chichinales Formation; in weathered basement in fractures and secondary porosity; and in the regolith debris at the basement unconformity.

Mineralization in the Ivana deposit is characterized by mineral assemblages representative of both oxide and primary endmembers, occurring together in varying proportions. Oxide mineralization is composed predominately of carnotite, with minor β-coffinite, liebigite, tyuyamunite and variable limonitic iron oxides coating pebbles and sand grains, and disseminated in fine-grained poorly-consolidated sedimentary rocks. Primary style mineralization is composed predominately by β-coffinite, with minor carnotite, tyuyamunite, liebigite and pyrite hosted within carbonaceous gray-colored poorly-consolidated sedimentary rocks. A variant of the primary mineralization is dark brown to black in color from impregnation by vitreous "non-woody" carbonaceous organic matter.

The Ivana uranium-vanadium deposit has some similarities to the surficial uranium deposits of Australia and Namibia in the oxide uranium vanadium mineralization, however, lacks the well-developed calcrete layers generally associated with surficial uranium deposits in semi-arid to arid climates. The primary uranium mineralization at Ivana has considerable similarities to sandstone-hosted uranium deposits, particularly basal-channel sandstone-hosted uranium deposits, and appears to be related to a redox boundary of possible regional extent. Therefore, the Ivana uranium-vanadium deposit should be considered a unique deposit, including characteristics of surficial and sandstone-hosted deposits. That model is maturing as exploration of the deposit progresses.

For a full description of the Ivana project please refer to the NI 43-101 Technical Report.