S&P/ASX 300 Index (ASX: XKO) uranium share Deep Yellow Ltd (ASX: DYL) is charging higher today.
Shares in the uranium miner were up 7.8% in earlier trade today and remain up 5.5% at the time of writing.
Here's what's driving investor interest in the ASX 300 uranium share.
What did Deep Yellow report?
The Deep Yellow share price is soaring after the miner reported that its "highly positive" Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) at its Tumas uranium project in Namibia has been completed.
Deep Yellow noted that the DFS, compared to the earlier Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS), resulted in increased production capacity of its plant from 3 Mlbpa of uranium (U3O8) to 3.6 Mlbpa U3O8, a 20% increase. The plant's throughput also increased by 11% from the PFS, to 4.15Mtpa from the prior 3.75Mtpa.
Atop uranium, the DFS indicated annual production capacity of 1.15 Mlb V2O5, a vanadium by-product.
Based on existing ore reserves, the project Life of Mine (LOM) currently stands at 22.25 years. But the ASX 300 uranium share expects that to increase to 30-plus years amid additional future resources.
Commenting on the DFS results, CEO John Borshoff said:
We believe this is a very robust DFS and underscores the value of our conviction to apply effort in contrarian fashion, with a proven team, to discover the expanded Tumas Project that now demonstrates its potential to be a long-life, world-class uranium operation.
Importantly, we have used appropriate assumptions and our costings are highly accurate, having been largely based on quotes received in the last quarter of 2022 and in January 2023, resulting in a very realistic outcome against the inflationary and supply headwinds that have hit the mining sector.
Borshoff expects Deep Yellow's application for a Mining Licence will be granted by mid-2023. The company is awaiting the Environmental Impact Assessment and approval by the authorities.
On the sustainability front, Borshoff added:
We intend for Tumas to be a best-in-breed uranium operation with world-leading extractive technologies and sustainability initiatives applied, including a specific process route that will produce a benign tailings stream to allow for the eventual safe closure and rehabilitation.
Deep Yellow said it will now focus on detailed Front End Engineering and Design, project financing, and product offtakes ahead of a Final Investment Decision expected in the first half of 2024.
How has this ASX 300 uranium share been tracking?
As you can see in the below chart, the Deep Yellow share price is off to a cracking start in 2023, up 16%.
