another false article

I hate this guy - A lot of his info in all his articles are lies:

Reefton's uranium dreams in tatters

* JOHN GROBLER
REEFTON Mining's ambitions to mine uranium in Namibia have been dealt a critical blow: the Ministry of Mines and Energy turned down Reefton's exploration application for nuclear fuels, sending its shares plummeting on the London and Australian Stock Exchanges by nearly 34 per cent.




The so-called junior mining company, which also holds several Exclusive Prospecting Licences (EPLs) for diamonds and heavy mineral sands on the Skeleton Coast, this morning issued a curt announcement that its application to have nuclear fuels included in its Erongo Pyro-Metallic Project had been rejected.

SHARES PLUMMET Its shares, listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) and the London Stock Exchange Alternative Investment Market (LSE AIM), took a sharp dive of 33,73 per cent immediately after the announcement.

Reefton still holds, via its Black Mountain Mining (Pty) Ltd, an EPL for the area for base and rare minerals.

Reefton Mining's chairman Bradley Moore was reported in Australian media as saying the company had written to the Namibian Mining Commissioner requesting reasons for the rejection of its Erongo application.

Moore stuck to his guns regarding the geology, repeating their claim that the area showed four radioactive anomalies that returned significant readings of up to 94 320 counts per minute "…indicating the presence of uranium-bearing mineralisation."

This was more than 10 times as high as readings obtained by any other exploration company in the same area, raising more concerns over the bona fides of the mining outfit.

Mining Commissioner Erasmus Shivolo yesterday declined to discuss the reasons for the rejection, saying that such information was only to be shared with Reefton.

It was, however, reliably learnt that Reefton had in fact over-stepped the line by violating several technical aspects of the Minerals (Mining and Prospecting) Act of 1992.

Ironically, it was this very behaviour - by announcing a major uranium find before it had even obtained permission to commercially prospect for it - that had initially seen its share price treble in as many days.

Reefton Mining NL's share price had been in a slow decline since late May, when its "uranium strike" on the farm Hakskeen, south-west of Usakos, was being questioned by the local mining industry.

At their highest point, Reefton shares were trading at US$0,27 per share.

The latest fall in share price saw its shares traded at USD $0,055, or 5,5 cents per share.

This is in sharp contrast to its announcement on March 18 of "a major uranium anomaly", after which its share price shot through the roof.

The Namibian reported on June 23 that Reefton's alleged uranium find might well have been misrepresented to investors after it emerged that the company had ignored old reports dating to the 1980s, which showed there was in fact no uranium at Hakskeen.

In reports compiled in the early 1980s, two other but now defunct uranium exploration companies reported that they had drilled the suspected deposits extensively.

The results were totally negative, with one report to the former Atomic Energy council stating that the surrounding granite rocks in fact emitted more radiation than the suspected ore body.

This newspaper had also earlier reported that Reefton's uranium 'find' might be ascribed to poor geology, as the area of Hakskeen was infamous for displaying a false radioactive signal related to the presence of potassium and thorium in the area.

Both reports were initially slammed by Reefton's geologist and technical director Gary Hemming, who suggested that this newspaper should rather not comment on specialised geology but leave such assessments "to the experts".

Reefton continues to hold four EPLs over some 120 kilometres of the Skeleton Coast, which include prospecting for diamonds and heavy minerals.

Work at the Skeleton Coast claims has, however, stood still for some time now, as the company reportedly was refurbishing its plant and waiting for the renewal of its licenses at the end of last month.

Mining Commissioner Shivolo yesterday conceded that rigorous reporting on the mining industry in Namibia "would help keep it honest".

* John Grobler is a freelance journalist.

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