DFS Confirms Husab's Potential to be One of the Top Three Largest Uranium Mines Globally
Kalahari Minerals plc, the AIM listed resource company, is pleased to announce that Extract Resources Ltd (`Extract' or `the Company'), in which Kalahari's subsidiary, Kalahari Uranium Limited, holds a 42.79% interest, has announced the publication of the Definitive Feasibility Study (`DFS') on Zones 1 and 2 of the Husab Uranium Project (`Husab') in Namibia, highlighting its potential and world class nature.
Kalahari's Executive Chairman, Mark Hohnen, said, "The results of the DFS yet again prove that Husab is the most exciting new uranium project in the world today. The base case development map is now in place for Zones 1 & 2 to transform these into one of the three largest uranium mines in the world, producing 15Mlb of U3O8 per annum via conventional open pit mining and a proven process flow sheet. This is, in isolation, already a fantastic achievement and endorses our investment faith in the project. However, it has to be emphasised that the study is only a base case and Extract has set up the Mine Optimisation and Resources Extension programme (`M.O.R.E.') to increase the mine life and to investigate opportunities to add significant additional value through optimisation of the mine plan and process modifications, and to enhance the project's expected mine life, operating and financial performance.
"Accordingly we look forward to the resource update, scheduled for Q2 2011, which relates specifically to infill drilling in Zones 1 and 2 and is expected to result in additional resources as well as converting Inferred Resources to Indicated thereby increasing the maiden reserve of 225 million lbs contained uranium, and extending the project's mine life.
"Additionally, the study, being based only on the defined resources at Zones 1 & 2, does not include the highly prospective areas of Middle Dome, which recently yielded the second highest grade-width intersection in the entire Husab exploration (non-resource) drilling database, Zones 3, 4, 5, Salem, Ida Dome and Pizzaro. Therefore, we believe that there is huge scope for proving up additional resources through on-going exploration.
"Kalahari remains fully supportive of Extract and its development initiatives for Husab. The true scale of the wider project and its potential to support multiple mining operations is only just starting to be appreciated. We believe that the reality is that Husab already represents a hugely significant strategic asset in the context of supply for the nuclear industry, which has now been significantly de-risked, and we believe that there is still significant upside in terms of scale. This was clearly recognised by CGNPC-URC who announced a Possible Offer for Kalahari on 7 March this year. The board of Kalahari believes that CGNPC-URC continues to look to satisfy the stated pre-conditions, as set out in the announcement of 7 March, and we look forward to being able to update the market on this in due course."
To view figures and diagrams relating to the announcement set out below please visit www.kalahari-minerals.com for the full version of the Extract release.
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