Namibia Clears Extract To Construct Husab Uranium Mine

Published on Wednesday November 30 2011

Extract Resources has won a licence to develop its Husab uranium mine in Namibia, which could help push up the price a Chinese suitor may offer for the $2 billion Australia-based company in a widely expected buyout bid.

State-owned China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp (CGNPC) is in talks to take over Extract's 43 percent shareholder, Kalahari Minerals, with Husab, the world's fourth-largest uranium deposit, seen as the key target.

Extract said on Wednesday it had accepted the terms that Namibia's Ministry of Mines and Energy had set for granting a licence for Husab, and the ministry would direct the mining commissioner to issue a licence for the project.

"This marks the final step to achieving all of the permits that we need in order to begin the development of the Husab Uranium Project," Extract Chief Executive Jonathan Leslie said in a statement.

He said talks with financiers and potential strategic partners to help raise the $2 billion needed for the project were progressing.

Extract has been in talks with global miner Rio Tinto to link development of Husab with Rio's neighbouring Rossing uranium mine. Rio Tinto owns an 11 percent stake in Kalahari and a 14 percent stake in Extract.

CGNPC, which first approached Kalahari in March just before Japan's Fukushima disaster, has until December 8 to decide whether to go ahead with a bid for Kalahari or be forced to wait a further six months before it can come back with another offer.

Under Australian rules, CGNPC would be required to follow up with an offer for Extract once it owns more than 20 percent of the company, unless the securities regulator grants an exception.

CGNPC's intentions on Extract became clearer on Tuesday, when both Extract and Kalahari said CGNPC was talking to Namibia's state-owned Epangelo Mining Co about buying a 10 percent stake in Husab.

The only way Epangelo could buy a 10 percent stake in the project from CGNPC would be if CGNPC owned a controlling interest in Husab, which is 100 percent-owned by Extract.

Extract shares rose 1.5 percent to A$8.07 in early trade on Wednesday in a weaker broader market.

Four analysts have estimated that based on the 243.55 pence per share offer that CGNPC is discussing for Kalahari, Extract would be worth between A$8.75 and A$9.00 a share.

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Lynas Corporation Aiming For Operating Licence

Published on Saturday November 19 2011

Although there were rumours that Lynas would be granted the pre-operating licence this week, the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) has yet to announce this.

Firm is ready to operate and eager to prove critics wrong, says managing director

Lynas senior manager (engineering services) Wee Tiat Eng showing the monitor of the airborne monitoring system which detects the radiation level at the plant in Gebeng. - Luqman Hakim Zubir

Lynas Corporation is hoping to get its pre-operating licence soon to prove that its plant in Gebeng is safe and not hazardous to the environment.

Lynas Malaysia Sdn Bhd managing director Datuk Mashal Ahmad said this was the company's immediate concern as the licence would also prove that other allegations against the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) were baseless.

"The sooner we get the licence, the faster we can do this. If we cannot prove that our operations are safe, the plant will be shut down," he said at a special briefing and visit to LAMP yesterday.

Present were Lynas Malaysia senior manager (technical services) Robin Zhang from China, and its radiological safety adviser Professor Dr Ismail Bahari of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Mashal said the first phase of the rare earth processing facility, costing about RM1.3 billion, was expected to operate in January.

"We have fulfilled all the requirements by the international and local agencies, and it will take about a month to bring in the raw material from Australia."

The two-year licence will allow the company to import and process raw material. The authorities will only grant an operating licence if they are satisfied that Lynas had fulfilled all the requirements and met the international standards.

On the continuous protests by anti-Lynas groups, Mashal said it was unfortunate the public was still being fed with misleading information by those who claimed to be experts.

He stressed that the raw material for the plant, which is rare earth concentrate from Mount Weld in Western Australia, had very low levels of radiation and the facility would treat the waste water and gas emission before releasing them into the environment.

"We are willing to engage in talks with any party if they are sincere in wanting to understand our operations. If need be, we can arrange for a visit to our plant," said Mashal.

The media was later brought to the AELB office at the LAMP compound, where a RM1.4 million airborne monitoring system was installed to gauge the radiation level in the area.

A similar device will be installed at the district police headquarters here and the public can read the radiation level on the monitors set up at various locations around here.

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IEA URANIUM REPORT NOVEMBER 2011

Published on Friday November 11 2011

Versant Partners reported the International Energy Agency (“IEA”) has said nuclear energy remains the only viable solution to meet the global energy needs.

As quoted in the market news:

In a report released Wednesday, November 09 2011 the IEA outlined that global nuclear generation capacity could fall 15% by 2035 if countries like Germany and Belgium continued with their decommissioning plans. However, this pullback would only mean an increased demand for coal and gas, which would further deteriorate the environment and produce carbon emissions.

Click Below to read the Versant Partners press release.

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PDF 2011 URANIUM REPORT

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Deep Yellow Triples Ongolo Alaskite Resource In Namibia

Published on Tuesday November 08 2011

PERTH (miningweekly.com) - Uranium developer Deep Yellow has tripled its Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource for its Ongolo Alaskite deposit, in Namibia.

The indicated and inferred mineral resource estimate has been tripled to 20.5-million tons, at 400 parts per million (ppm) uranium oxide (U₃O₈) for 18-million pounds of U₃O₈.

This has increased the total Omahola project resource base to 38.6-million pounds of U₃O₈ at an average grade of 338 ppm, and Deep Yellow’s total Namibian resource base to 107-million pounds U₃O₈.

“We have concentrated our exploration efforts primarily along the Inca-Ongolo trend and have been consistently rewarded with wide, high-grade intersections,” said Deep Yellow MD Greg Cochran.

“These have now been included to give us a tripling of the Ongolo resource, which remains open along strike. We can expect more success from this region, including a resource upgrade on the satellite MS7 deposit, before the end of the year,” he added.

Deep Yellow recently submitted an environmental impact assessment for the Inca and Red Sands areas, which make up the Omahola project.

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Uranium Mining & Formation 3D Video

Published on Saturday November 05 2011

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EXTRACT Resources Hopes To Secure Husab Mining Licence

Published on Saturday November 05 2011

Australian Uranium Explorer Extract Resources hopes to secure amining licence from the Namibian government for its $US1.66billion ($1.54bn) Husab uranium project by next month. 

"We're hoping for it at the end of the year and we've not heard any negative things coming out (of the government) which would give us alarm," Extract chief executive Jonathan Leslie said after the company's annual general meeting in Perth.

The company continues to pursue a standalone development for Husab, potentially one of the world's biggest uranium mines, despite the possibility it may become a takeover target if China Guangdong Nuclear Power makes a cash bid for Extract's 43 per cent shareholder Kalahari Minerals, Mr Leslie said.

Extract lodged a mining licence request last December, and the application is under "active consideration", he said.

"We've had strong interest for project financing from global banks," he said, adding Extract continues talks aimed at bringing in a strategic partner for Husab.

"We haven't closed off discussions with anyone -- we've kept lines of communication open with all those people in the partnership process," he said.

In February, Extract revealed it was in talks with 14 per cent shareholder Rio Tinto over combining Husab with Rio's neighbouring Rossing mine.

Asked whether Extract had any direct contact with CGNPC, Mr Leslie said: "They are, again, obvious people to be part of the partnership process."

On October 10, British-based Kalahari said it had restarted talks with CGNPC, five months after one of China's biggest nuclear power generators walked away from a $1.2bn bid.

In response, Extract said it had talked to Australia's securities regulator about a potential bid for the company by CGNPC. Under Australian law companies making a fresh investment in a company must make a full takeover bid if their stake exceeds 19.9 per cent.

Mr Leslie said he was confident in the demand for uranium, despite moves by several countries to scale back nuclear programs in the wake of the March 11 earthquake in Japan.

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Uranium Exploration Boom Embraces Western Australia

Published on Wednesday November 02 2011

The size of Western Australia's uranium industry has grown exponentially, almost quadrupling in the last four years.

The WA Mines Department has reportedly released data showing 46 companies have been licenced to explore for uranium since 2008, according to The West Australian.

It also released figures showing exploration expenditure reached an all time high of $100 million.

This was driven by a 277% increase in uranium exploration investment since FY 2007/08, when only $26.7 million was invested.

The Australian Uranium Association (AUA) say the state is ahead of the rest of the nation in uranium exploration.

"The results are a strong sign of the confidence the uranium industry has in the medium and long-term outlook for the nuclear industry," it added.

Mining financial services and analysis firm Mine Life agreed.

Gavin Wendt, director of Mine Life, said that nuclear energy has bright future ahead.

He pointed to Rio Tinto's recent acquisition of Canadian firm Hathor Exploration for US$ 570 million as a sign that uranium is in demand.

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