Production capability: ERDA methods and results

Production centers are categorized into four classes, according to the relative certainty of future production. A ''forward cost'' basis is used to establish both the resource base and to define the acceptable production centers. The first phase of the work is called the ''Could'' capability. Resources are assigned to existing production centers, or new production centers are postulated based on adequate resources to support a mill for a reasonable economic life. A production schedule is developed for each center. The last step in the ''Could'' study is to aggregate the capital and operating costs. The final step in the Production Capability study is the rescheduling of the production from the ''Could'' to produce only sufficient U concentrate to meet the feed requirements of enrichment facilities operated at the announced transaction tails assay plans. The optimized production schedules are called the ''Need'' production capability. A separate study was also performed of industry production plans. 4 tables, 7 figs