Press Release Source: Tournigan Gold Corporation
Tournigan Receives Positive Jahodna Uranium Economic Study
Thursday April 27, 9:00 am ET
VANCOUVER, BC--(MARKET WIRE)--Apr 27, 2006 -- Tournigan Gold Corporation (TSX VENTURE:TVC.V - News) is pleased to announce that an independent Preliminary Assessment has been received for the Jahodna uranium project in Slovakia. This Assessment provides conceptual economic parameters for a future uranium mine at Jahodna, including an internal rate of return of 44% after-tax, using a uranium oxide price of US$35 per pound. This is based on the Jahodna Inferred Resource estimate of 18.2 million pounds of uranium oxide from 1,256,000 tonnes grading 0.66% U3O8 (announced March 6, 2006) and does not include any possible future molybdenum by-product credit. The 5,000-metre phase 1 in-fill and step-out diamond drilling program at Jahodna is scheduled to begin May 8th, once ground and access conditions have improved.
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ACA Howe International was commissioned to complete a Preliminary Assessment on the Jahodna resource located in eastern Slovakia. Modeling an underground mining operation, ACA Howe has based their study on the Jahodna Inferred Resource (see Tournigan's March 6 or April 20, 2006 release). An initial mining rate of 100,000 tonnes per year by the undercut and fill mining method was assumed as a base case. Tournigan will be assessing options to increase the mining rate, should the exploration program at Jahodna successfully increase the resource base.
ACA Howe derived a direct operating and processing cost of US$92.50 per tonne of ore, consisting of mining direct costs of US$43 per tonne and process costs of US$45 per tonne, with US$4.5 per tonne for management overhead. This translates to US$9.15 per pound of uranium oxide produced, before any molybdenum by-product credit. The capital cost of building the mine and plant, including the acquisition of all operating equipment is US$29.4 million. With no depreciation allowance, capital payback would occur in 25 months, on an after-tax basis. The after-tax Net Present Value of the uranium-only project at an 8% discount rate is $63.5 million. Note that the capital and operating costs include items for extracting molybdenum as a byproduct, though no molybdenum revenue has been included in the projected cash flow. Molybdenum revenue will be included in future economic models if and when enough verifiable molybdenum data is available to be able to estimate at least an Inferred Resource for molybdenum.
The relatively high mining cost is the result of using paste fill, designed to put a portion of waste rock back underground and providing extra safety for miners and reducing the environmental impact. Also, the mine has been designed with a robust ventilation system providing treatment of the exhaust air before returning to the atmosphere. Again, this will assist in workplace safety and environmental stewardship.
The production estimate is based on processing of the ore by the traditional carbonate leach method which normally results in extraction of approximately 90% of both U3O8 and MoS2, if further testwork confirms that molybdenum occurs in economic concentrations. The financial model uses 85% metallurgical recoveries to be conservative. The mine life, based solely on the current resource, would be 10 years. When in normal production, the mine and plant are forecasted to produce and treat 100,000 tonnes per year (tpa) of ore at a mill grade of 0.45% U metal (or 0.53% U3O8). This grade includes 5% for dilution. Production of uranium in yellowcake is forecasted to be approximately 990,000 pounds per year.
Note that this Preliminary Assessment is by definition preliminary in nature and is based on an Inferred Resource that is currently considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to it that would enable it to be categorized as a Mineral Reserve, according to CIM Definition Standards. Generally, an economic evaluation would only be completed on Measured and Indicated Resources, and there is no certainty that this preliminary assessment will be realized.
Tournigan will utilize this Preliminary Assessment to guide future work at Jahodna. Further metallurgical test work will be initiated to better-define the process flow sheet. Additional environmental work is planned. Tournigan is committed to reducing environmental impacts.
Further details of the Preliminary Assessment can be found in a National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report that will be filed on SEDAR shortly (www.sedar.com).
David Pelham, Senior Geologist of ACA Howe International Ltd., an Independent Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 supervised the preparation of the Preliminary Assessment, and has reviewed the technical information disclosed in this news release.
Tournigan Gold is focused on developing advanced projects in Europe - Kremnica (gold) and Jahodna (uranium/molybdenum) in Slovakia, and Curraghinalt (gold) in Northern Ireland. Tournigan's asset mix also includes a portfolio of uranium properties in Wyoming and South Dakota, as well as VMS projects in Slovakia and Northern Ireland.
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02.05.06 15:53:38 Beitrag Nr.: 21.403.450 
