lil brain mr rann

Rann cleared on Alliance comments

* Kevin Andrusiak
* April 03, 2007

SOUTH Australian Premier Mike Rann will escape any scrutiny from regulators for his ambiguous comments that uranium hopeful Alliance Mining was about to reveal the size of its project, dubbed the biggest find in 25 years.
Shares in Alliance surged 12.2 per cent in a declining share market yesterday, despite only announcing that it would move to the scoping study phase at its Four Mile Uranium Project in the South Australian outback.

Mr Rann let the cat out of the bag in Monday press reports that Alliance would be making a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange, predicting that Alliance would give details of the project to the market. However, Alliance told the share market yesterday that its partner, Quasar Resources, was close to detailing a resource estimate for the high-grade western zone at Four Mile, and the scoping study would begin after that.

Quasar Resources, which is the exploration arm of US-based Heathgate and holds a 75 per cent stake at Four Mile, had previously thought it could give a compliant inferred resource estimate for the high-grade western zone at Four Mile by December last year.

Heathgate is the owner and operator of the Beverley uranium mine, which is within 8km of Four Mile.

Alliance chief executive Steve Johnston was on leave yesterday and no one from its offices returned phone calls. A spokesman for Mr Rann said he assumed that the Premier, who was in Chile visiting BHP Billiton operations, had made the comments "because of information he received".

The ASX said it had looked over the comments, but because they were from a third party not associated with the project, Mr Rann was subject to different rules.

"We've certainly noted the Premier's comments," spokesman Matthew Gibbs said.

"But for the moment we are content with the disclosures of the company. In general cases, there is nothing inappropriate about non-specific commentary made by third parties."

However, the press report was enough to prompt Adelaide Resources to release an ASX statement that its joint venture arrangement with Quasar was "separate and some distance" from Four Mile.

Four Mile has been referred to as Australia's premier uranium discovery and Alliance has trumpeted it as the most substantive since 1985.

The scoping study, which will examine the best way of moving the project to the mining stage, is expected to take two months and comes before any pre-feasibility study and mining lease application.

Market scuttlebutt, and it is nothing more, suggests Four Mile could contain 40,000 tonnes of yellowcake.