Extract Resources Limited T.EXT

Husab financing talks

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Extract advancing Husab financing talks, strategic partner still an option
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By: Esmarie Swanepoel
2nd September 2011
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PERTH (miningweekly.com) - Uranium hopeful Extract Resources said on Friday that the development decision on its $1.66-billion Husab uranium project, in Namibia, would only be taken once financing for the project has been locked in.
Extract project manager Andrew Penkethman said at the Africa Downunder conference, in Perth, that the development decision would also be dependent on the granting of a mining licence.
He told Mining Weekly Online that Extract was investigating a combination of debt and equity to fund the construction cost for Husab, at a likely ratio of 60% debt and 40% equity.
The miner had also not set aside the possibility of including a strategic partner in the development.
“There is a real appetite for different organisations to be involved in the process. This is a great example of the quality of the project, even though we have had a reasonable amount of global uncertainty and lots of hiccups in the global financial market, Husab still stands out as a real quality product,” he said.
A detailed project schedule was developed as part of the definitive feasibility study, and this has indicated an engineering and construction period of 33 months from project approval to hot commissioning.
It was expected that the Husab uranium mine, currently classified as the world’s fourth-largest uranium-only project, would come on line during the fourth quarter of 2014, producing some 15-million pounds of uranium oxide a year, over a 20-year life-of-mine.
Penkethman said that Extract was expecting a reserve update later this year following the latest phase of its Mine Optimisation and Resource Extension programme, which was aimed at increasing the mine life, and optimising the mine plan.
In July, ASX- and TSX-listed Extract received environmental approval from Namibia’s Ministry of Environment and Tourism for the linear infrastructure to service its proposed Husab uranium mine.
The infrastructure entails access to roads, electricity, telecommunications and water supply.
This was the second and last environmental approval needed for the Husab project, and was in addition to the environmental approval that the company had received in January.
Edited by: Mariaan Webb