Scandium Int'l Mining (SCY-T) has received a mining lease for its Nyngan project in New South Wales, Australia. This is, says Mr. Putnam, president and chief executive officer, the "final major approval" required from the government before construction begins. Mr. Putnam called the lease "a major milestone" that signals the full support of the government, regulators and the community for the project. The approval will undoubtedly please John Kaiser, a veteran stock guru who has long been a booster of scandium in general and Nyngan in particular. Mr. Kaiser had been fretting that Nyngan might be caught up in bureaucratic purgatory indefinitely, but he will presumably be pleased that the lease is a "signal to a broad range of potential end users that primary, scalable scandium supply will within two years be a reality."
Nyngan cleared feasibility a year ago, based on a reserve of 1.43 million tonnes averaging 409 parts per million scandium. (The full resource hosts 16.9 million tonnes measured and indicated at an average of 235 ppm scandium.) The feasibility plan called for an $87.1-million (U.S.) mine capable of producing just under 38,000 kilograms of scandium oxide per year over a 20-year period, although Mr. Kaiser points out that Nyngan can support a mine capable of up to 150,000 kilograms per year. The study derived a discounted net present value of $225-million (U.S.) after taxes for Nyngan, pleasing, but still far short of the billions that Mr. Kaiser was musing about a few years ago.
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