Kalahari Minerals plc (`Kalahari' or `the Company')
Final Results
Kalahari Minerals plc, the AIM listed resource company, announces its results for the year ended 31 December 2009.
Overview
- Increased interest in Extract Resources Limited (`Extract'), Kalahari's primary value driver, which is developing the world-class Husab Uranium Project (`Husab')
- Rssing South, part of Husab, defined as the highest grade granite-hosted uranium deposit in Namibia and expected to be one of the top five global uranium deposits by contained metal and a total resource in excess of 500Mlbs U3O8
- Cost estimates demonstrate that Rssing South could support a profitable, long life, low cost, low technical risk uranium mine producing 14.8M lbs U3O8 per year, making it one of the world's largest uranium mines
- Kalahari and Extract have solidified key relationships in Namibia and assembled a team of high calibre experts in order to advance Rssing South towards production
- Rationalised corporate structure to realise value of gold, copper and base metal assets through a joint development agreement with North River Resources Plc
- Strengthened shareholder register with new strategic investors including ITOCHU Corporation, the major Japanese trading house with a strong relationship with the Government of Japan, and APAC Resources Limited, a major Hong-Kong based investment company
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- Two capital raisings totalling 37.89 million completed demonstrating strong investor appetite
Chairman's Statement
We made excellent progress crystallising the value of our interests in our uranium, gold, copper and base metal assets in Namibia over the past year, both through operational developments and through the implementation of key corporate initiatives.
Our interest in Extract Resources Limited (`Extract') remains of paramount importance to Kalahari as our primary value driver, and we remain its key, highly active, shareholder with a 40.8%interest (as at 1 June 2010). Extract has continued its rapid development programme on its flagship project, Rssing South, which has a current JORC resource of 267Mlb of U3O8 at average grades of 487ppm and has been defined as the highest grade granite-hosted uranium deposit in Namibia. Importantly, both Zones 1 and 2 at Rssing South remain open at depth and strike indicating that the total resource for the project could exceed 500Mlb of U3O8, placing it amongst the largest Uranium assets in the world. We remain wholly supportive of Extract's rapid development schedule for its world-class uranium assets, and look forward to the next phase of development which will include both a resource upgrade and the publication of a Definitive Feasibility Study in the coming months.
In order to progress its world-class uranium project to its full potential, Extract solidified its relationships in Namibia and continued to build a team of high calibre experts to advance Rssing South towards production. Kalahari was therefore instrumental in bringing to Extract's Board two exceptional Namibian nationals, Steve Galloway as Chairman and Inge Zaamwani-Kamwi as a Non-executive Director. In addition, in October 2009, Norman Green was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Swakop Uranium, Extract's wholly-owned subsidiary. Norman has a huge amount of experience in the resource sector in southern Africa, and importantly in Namibia, through his commissioning of a number of mines, such as the Skorpion Zinc mine. In addition to this, Norman will be based in Namibia on a fulltime basis, which we see as vitally important in maintaining the strong relationships that we have developed with the local authorities.
Post period end, Extract appointed Jonathan Leslie as its new Chief Executive Officer. This appointment marked the culmination of a long process intended to identify the best person, from an outstanding shortlist of industry professionals, to drive Extract forward and transform it from a pure exploration company to a tier one uranium producer. Jonathan has an exceptional level of experience in the uranium sector, particularly in marketing and management, stemming from his role as Managing Director of Rssing Uranium, Rio Tinto's subsidiary, which operates the producing Rssing Mine. This high profile position, which saw him responsible for overall marketing of all uranium from the world's largest uranium mine, established Jonathan as an international expert in the uranium industry and a well-respected figure in Namibia, with outstanding relationships with the Namibian government and mining agencies.
Kalahari also instigated key initiatives during the period to maximise the value of its non-uranium assets. This has been achieved through the relationship established with North River Resources Plc (`North River'), aimed at fast tracking our gold, copper and other base metal projects towards production through a joint development agreement, and in so doing, attributing tangible value to these highly prospective assets. Under the terms of this agreement, Kalahari has retained a 44.7% interest (as at 1 June 2010) in North River and both myself and fellow Kalahari Director Professor Glyn Tonge have joined the Board of North River to ensure an open dialogue between our two companies in the future.
Since forming this relationship in November 2009, North River has implemented an aggressive development programme focussed primarily on developing the key copper projects and the Namib lead zinc project towards production, where considerable work was previously carried out by Kalahari.
Corporate Review
The Company continues to focus on strengthening the relationship between Kalahari and both Extract and North River, as well as our position in Namibia, which necessitated changes to our Board to align the skills and experiences of our Directors with our business model. This impetus led to a number of new appointments at Board level.
Mr. Neil MacLachlan was appointed to the Board of Kalahari in March 2009, and his appointment was specifically designed to further strengthen the relationship and dialogue between us and Extract, through his position as a Non-executive Director for both companies. Mr. David de Jongh Weill also joined as a Non-executive Director, replacing Stephen Galloway, who stepped down to assume the position of Chairman of Extract. Post period end, Mr. Richard Lockwood also joined as a Non-executive Director, bringing with him 50 years of experience in institutional investment and extensive experience in the uranium sector.
In addition to a bolstered corporate team, we have welcomed new strategic investors to our shareholder register, providing further support to our already strong institutional backing. Since year end, recent additions to our shareholder base have included ITOCHU Corporation (`ITOCHU'), a major Japanese trading house with an established relationship with the Government of Japan. ITOCHU has taken a circa 15% interest in the Company and appointed a representative, Mr. Takashi Yasuda, to the Board to ensure the benefits of the strategic relationship between the two companies is maximised. APAC Resources Limited (`APAC'), a major Hong-Kong based investment company, has agreed to acquire circa 7% of Kalahari's issued share capital (4.45% as at 1 June). In addition to the support that these investments give to our shareholder register, which also includes Rio Tinto holding a circa 12.5% interest (as at 1 June 2010), both ITOCHU and APAC's involvement with Kalahari gives us exposure to invaluable relationships and contacts in the Asian resource sector. We believe that access to this network will be highly beneficial, as we work together with Extract in developing the world-class Rssing South project towards production.
Kalahari has a serious and vested long-term interest in Namibia, and in line with this, the Company listed on the Namibian Stock Exchange (`NSX') in October 2009. This listing underpins our ongoing commitment to Namibia and the development of its huge resource potential to the benefit of all stakeholders.
Extract also listed on the NSX in October 2009, and we remain highly supportive of Extract's corporate development, including the Nambianisation of its board and corporate structure. In line with this, representatives from both Kalahari and Extract, including Jonathan Leslie, Stephen Galloway and myself, recently met with both the President and Prime Minister of Namibia, in order to provide an update on Extract's activities in the country. In particular, we emphasised our joint commitment to Namibia as a whole and our intention to continue to provide employment and other ancillary benefits to the Namibian people through Extract's development activities.
Financial Overview
- Annual increase of interest in associate Extract of 0.82% to 40.41% (as at 1 June 2010: 40.78%). The market value of this investment at balance sheet date is 454.5 million, which has been achieved through acquiring a shareholding at an average share price of 0.82 (balance sheet date share value 4.64).
- Acquisition of 44.89% shareholding in the enlarged share capital of North River as proceeds from the disposal of the entire share capital of West Africa Gold Exploration (Namibia) (Pty) Limited and Craton Diamonds (Pty) Limited. The market value of the investment at balance sheet date is 8.3 million.
- Two successful equity capital raisings undertaken during the year giving rise to net proceeds of 36.17 million.
- On 7 September 2009, the Group raised a further 10 million in convertible loan notes.
- Post year end, on 4 May 2010, the Group agreed to sell up to 16,000,000 ordinary shares in the Company, generating proceeds of 29,600,000.
Outlook
The corporate initiatives that we have implemented this year have created a solid platform for future growth, maximising the full potential of our significant uranium, gold, copper and other base metal interests in Namibia. We believe we have assembled a strong, supportive and high quality shareholder register, and I look forward to working with our key strategic investors over the coming year, realising the considerable value of our interests for the benefit of all stakeholders.
Development work at Husab and progress on the Rssing South Definitive Feasibility Study continues at pace, with Kalahari's full support, and we look forward to the resource upgrade and publication of the study, which is scheduled for release in the coming months. We believe that these developments will reiterate the global significance of Rssing South, confirming its potential to host one of the world's largest uranium mines.
Mark Hohnen
Chairman
1 June 2010
OPERATIONS REPORT
Uranium
ASX 200 listed company Extract, in which Kalahari's subsidiary, Kalahari Uranium Limited, holds a 40.78% interest (as at 1 June 2010), is developing world-class uranium assets in Namibia, which Kalahari believes have the potential to deliver a resource well in excess of 500Mlbs of U3O8. Its main project, known as the Husab Uranium project (`Husab'), is located in a prime uranium district flanked by the Rssing Mine (69% Rio Tinto) and the Langer Heinrich Project (Paladin Resources Ltd). The key deposit within Husab is Rssing South and this is where current activity is mainly concentrated.
Extract made rapid progress throughout the year, starting 2009 with the announcement of a maiden resource for Rssing South Zone 2, which brought the total Husab resource to 292Mlbs U3O8 at a grade of 487ppm. Following this, Extract announced that preliminary cost estimates indicated that Rssing South could support a profitable, long-life, low-cost, low technical risk uranium mine producing 14.8Mlbs U3O8 per year, making it one of the world's largest uranium mines. Given that Rssing South was only discovered in January 2008, the Board of Kalahari believes that this expeditious growth is outstanding.
In order to accelerate development work at Rssing South, Extract has now increased drill rigs on-site from one to nineteen, spending some A$8 million a quarter on drilling. In October 2009, Extract released a targeted resource at Rssing South of 452-552Mlbs U3O8, and Kalahari believes that Extract will achieve a figure close to the top end of this range by Q3 2010, when Kalahari expects a resource upgrade to be achieved by Extract. Importantly, resource growth is expected to come from various areas including from the current infill drilling that it being conducted on Zone 1 and 2, in addition to depth extensions in Zone 1 and 2, southern extensions to Zone 2, the eastern limb of Zone 2, and at depth between Zone 1 and 2.
Progress on the Rssing South Definitive Feasibility Study continues to progress well and is expected to confirm the project's potential to be one of the world's largest uranium mines. The base case mine plan remains low risk, bulk tonnage, open pit mining, with ore processed through a conventional agitated tank leach plant. Publication of the Rssing South Definitive Feasibility Study is expected by Q4 2010, a slightly later timescale than originally anticipated, due to the fact that the resource continues to grow in size, which increases the time required by Extract to better define the ore body, and in particular to identify the high grade resource. This approach by Extract will ensure that an optimum development plan can be determined, to maximise the true potential of this outstanding uranium project.
Gold, Copper and Base Metal
In November 2009, Kalahari entered into an agreement with North River Resources plc whereby Kalahari's gold, copper and other base metal interests would be jointly developed towards production in the medium term. Kalahari retained a 44.7% stake (as at 1 June 2010) in North River and both Professor Glyn Tonge and Mark Hohnen have joined its Board as Non-executive Director and Non-executive Chairman respectively. We are looking forward to pooling our expertise and fast-tracking these assets towards production, to the benefit of both North River and Kalahari shareholders alike.
North River has subsequently implemented a development schedule, focussed primarily on developing the key copper projects and the Namib lead-zinc project towards production, where considerable work was previously carried out by Kalahari. Various oxide processing options are being investigated, including ammonia leaching and oxide flotation, with the aim of identifying the most economic processing route ahead of scoping studies. Mining studies are commencing to establish the viability of trucking sulphide ore to nearby processing plants.
Rehabilitation work has also commenced at the historically producing Namib lead-zinc underground mine, where the Company intends to explore for additional polymetallic (lead, zinc, silver, indium) resources. Work to date has focussed on site establishment and clean-up, after which the underground workings will be made safe. Once safety equipment and systems are in place, a full survey of the underground workings will be completed in order to identify the most attractive route to take the project into production. Importantly, North River is also in discussions with a metal refining company, as potential joint venture partner, to enable the underground mine's rapid exploration and development.
At Ubib, North River is actively negotiating farm access contracts, following which it is intended to commence extensive field surveys aimed at delineating drilling targets. Early surveying and historical data has indicated the licence is prospective primarily for copper, gold and also uranium. Indeed, the tenement extends to within 30km of Rssing and Rssing South uranium assets. In view of this, North River has submitted an application for an amendment to the existing licence to include nuclear fuels, in order to encompass the uranium mineralisation.
EXT Price at posting:
$6.98 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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