insider trading, page-12

Not sure I agree with the assumption that alaskite ore can be mined for $19/lb. Generally the alaskite is very hard granite-like rock - like at Rossing - and has to be blasted out and must be crushed and milled to get it into a state that can be processed. The deeper the ore-body the mosre expensive the basic mining process as massive amounts of overburden needs to be removed.

Paladin's calcrete deposit is close to the surface and calcrete is essentially compacted sand/earth and is much easier to mine and process - some other deposits may in fact be free digging (i.e. can be bulldozed), add in PDN's high grades and they still have process costs north of $26/lb. The lower the grade the more rock/earth that has to be moved and processed, the more water required, the more power required, the more chemicals and iron ore (a catalyst/reagent in alaskite processing) required per lb of yellowcake produced.

Industry rule of thumb for Namibia at current long term prices is that calcrete needs to be north of 200ppm (assuming near surface) and that alaskites need to be north of 400ppm (near surface). Once you need to go deeper the grades required start to go up....but that is what feasability studies are for.

Many of the projects such as Valencia (Alaskite) and Uramin (calcrete) will require a steep increase in U prices to be viable on a stand alone basis. I seem to remember the original Valencia feasibility results when released assumed U prices north of $100/lb - not a bad bet but another variable to be considered.

One other point - In terms of 'add-ons' for their own mines Rossing would not be interested in a calcrete project and Paladin should not be interested in an alaskite project. The basic processing is completely different and would require totally seperate units.