Trekkopje uranium deposits exceed expectations

THE uranium deposits in the Trekkopje area in the Erongo Region are more than double the initial estimates.

“It could become one of the largest uranium mines in the world,” British mining outfit UraMin has announced. The site could easily yield 4 000 tonnes of uranium a year instead of the initially expected 1 650 tonnes.”The latest engineering study shows that production could exceed eight million pounds, up from 3,3 million pounds,” Chief Executive Officer Ian Stalker said on Tuesday.”The interim results have exceeded expectations,” he stated from London.Trekkopje is expected to become one of the world’s ten largest uranium mines when it achieves production, and will also be one of the top five low-cost, open-pit uranium operations, according to Stalker.The company’s wholly owned, 129 000-hectare Trekkopje licence area is about 65 km north-east of Swakopmund.Test drilling has indicated a mineral resource of 18,4 million pounds of U3O8 uranium and an inferred mineral resource of 139,2 million pounds of U3O8.A feasibility study is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year.Once mining starts, vanadium will also be recovered as a side product.UraMin plans to start a trial mining and processing operation this year, aiming at 250 tonnes of uranium production.Depending on the outcome of a feasibility study, full-scale production at an initial 1 500 tonnes a year is planned by the end of 2008.”This staged process is planned to help define full-scale mining and processing performance, productivity parameters and to provide more accurate operating cost estimates,” UraMin said in a statement.According to UraMin’s Project Manager for Namibia, Bert Leaphley, some 4 000 tonnes of processed uranium (U308) or yellow cake would be produced each year, once the mine was in full swing.”We will move some 18 000 tonnes of ore to produce 4 000 tonnes of U308 per annum”, Leaphley told The Namibian yesterday.Management estimates the capital cost of the trial operation at US$30 million, and expects it to be fully operational by the end of 2007.UraMin was founded in February 2005 and it is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange.The company currently has a working capital of approximately US$94 million.UraMin also has mining projects at Bakouma in the Central African Republic and at Ryst Kuil in South Africa.Through the South African joint venture, UraMin also enjoys additional prospecting licence applications for uranium deposits in the Karoo, South Africa.The world price for uranium stood at US$75 an ounce this week.The site could easily yield 4 000 tonnes of uranium a year instead of the initially expected 1 650 tonnes.”The latest engineering study shows that production could exceed eight million pounds, up from 3,3 million pounds,” Chief Executive Officer Ian Stalker said on Tuesday.”The interim results have exceeded expectations,” he stated from London.Trekkopje is expected to become one of the world’s ten largest uranium mines when it achieves production, and will also be one of the top five low-cost, open-pit uranium operations, according to Stalker.The company’s wholly owned, 129 000-hectare Trekkopje licence area is about 65 km north-east of Swakopmund.Test drilling has indicated a mineral resource of 18,4 million pounds of U3O8 uranium and an inferred mineral resource of 139,2 million pounds of U3O8.A feasibility study is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year.Once mining starts, vanadium will also be recovered as a side product.UraMin plans to start a trial mining and processing operation this year, aiming at 250 tonnes of uranium production.Depending on the outcome of a feasibility study, full-scale production at an initial 1 500 tonnes a year is planned by the end of 2008.”This staged process is planned to help define full-scale mining and processing performance, productivity parameters and to provide more accurate operating cost estimates,” UraMin said in a statement.According to UraMin’s Project Manager for Namibia, Bert Leaphley, some 4 000 tonnes of processed uranium (U308) or yellow cake would be produced each year, once the mine was in full swing.”We will move some 18 000 tonnes of ore to produce 4 000 tonnes of U308 per annum”, Leaphley told The Namibian yesterday.Management estimates the capital cost of the trial operation at US$30 million, and expects it to be fully operational by the end of 2007.UraMin was founded in February 2005 and it is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange.The company currently has a working capital of approximately US$94 million.UraMin also has mining projects at Bakouma in the Central African Republic and at Ryst Kuil in South Africa.Through the South African joint venture, UraMin also enjoys additional prospecting licence applications for uranium deposits in the Karoo, South Africa.The world price for uranium stood at US$75 an ounce this week.