Firms explore Botswana, Zam for uranium after lull

GABORONE – Companies are piling into African countries like Botswana and Zambia that could hold rich uranium deposits, but where exploration was abandoned decades ago when prices crashed.

A 10-fold surge in uranium prices over the past five years has spurred a new rush to find deposits. Only three African countries currently produce uranium – Niger, Namibia and South Africa – but geological formations supporting the mineral exist in many places on the continent.”There is a solid basis for a reawakening,” said Richard Wadley, a consultant with MSA Geoservices, which helps companies with exploration.”The lack of exploration (in uranium) that has taken place in the last 30 years makes the African continent a logical and exciting target for exploration,” he told the Capital Resources mining conference in Botswana this week.Uranium exploration flourished in the 1970s when prices surged, but many companies left when prices later crashed.Some 30 companies are exploring, developing or already mining uranium deposits at nearly 50 sites in more than 20 African countries, Wadley added.The same Karoo Basin geology found in existing uranium producers South Africa and Namibia also extends to Botswana and Zambia, where a resurgence of prospecting is taking place.Australia’s A-Cap Resources came to Botswana to look for nickel and copper, but then heard about uranium exploration during the boom of the 1970s and 1980s.A-Cap now has prospecting licences covering 4 500 square km and include the majority of previously discovered uranium prospects, Chief Executive Andrew Tunks told the conference.The company is focusing on the Mokobaesi and Kraken fields, which were previously explored by Falconbridge and the Metal and Mining Agency of Japan in the 1970s and 1980s.A-Cap has done extensive drilling and started work on calculating a resource for the project “This is an enormous field with an enormous potential to continue to grow,” he said.In Zambia, African Energy Resources Ltd is bullish on finding uranium and says any deposit could be developed much more quickly than back home in Australia, where there is political opposition to new uranium mines.”Zambia is one of the best places around in our view for making projects happen,” Executive Chairman Alasdair Cooke told the conference.The country has good infrastructure, stable politics and experienced mining labour, he added.Zambia also hosts the Karoo basin geology and African Energy has identified a rich area of prospects for uranium in joint ventures with Albidon Ltd.”We’re looking at nearly 1 000 km of strike length through this area, with occurrences all the way through it and we’ve only started to scratch the surface of it,” Cooke said.The firm’s most advanced project is Njame North, where an inferred mineral resource of 5,5 million tonnes at 400 parts per million of U3O8 has been identified.African Energy also has exploration projects in Botswana and Malawi.Nampa-ReutersOnly three African countries currently produce uranium – Niger, Namibia and South Africa – but geological formations supporting the mineral exist in many places on the continent.”There is a solid basis for a reawakening,” said Richard Wadley, a consultant with MSA Geoservices, which helps companies with exploration.”The lack of exploration (in uranium) that has taken place in the last 30 years makes the African continent a logical and exciting target for exploration,” he told the Capital Resources mining conference in Botswana this week.Uranium exploration flourished in the 1970s when prices surged, but many companies left when prices later crashed.Some 30 companies are exploring, developing or already mining uranium deposits at nearly 50 sites in more than 20 African countries, Wadley added.The same Karoo Basin geology found in existing uranium producers South Africa and Namibia also extends to Botswana and Zambia, where a resurgence of prospecting is taking place.Australia’s A-Cap Resources came to Botswana to look for nickel and copper, but then heard about uranium exploration during the boom of the 1970s and 1980s.A-Cap now has prospecting licences covering 4 500 square km and include the majority of previously discovered uranium prospects, Chief Executive Andrew Tunks told the conference.The company is focusing on the Mokobaesi and Kraken fields, which were previously explored by Falconbridge and the Metal and Mining Agency of Japan in the 1970s and 1980s.A-Cap has done extensive drilling and started work on calculating a resource for the project “This is an enormous field with an enormous potential to continue to grow,” he said.In Zambia, African Energy Resources Ltd is bullish on finding uranium and says any deposit could be developed much more quickly than back home in Australia, where there is political opposition to new uranium mines.”Zambia is one of the best places around in our view for making projects happen,” Executive Chairman Alasdair Cooke told the conference.The country has good infrastructure, stable politics and experienced mining labour, he added.Zambia also hosts the Karoo basin geology and African Energy has identified a rich area of prospects for uranium in joint ventures with Albidon Ltd.”We’re looking at nearly 1 000 km of strike length through this area, with occurrences all the way through it and we’ve only started to scratch the surface of it,” Cooke said.The firm’s most advanced project is Njame North, where an inferred mineral resource of 5,5 million tonnes at 400 parts per million of U3O8 has been identified.African Energy also has exploration projects in Botswana and Malawi.Nampa-Reuters