Note: ?At this very early stage, it appears there could be some misconstrued elements.? and... Namibia has a ?stable uranium production history? spanning more than 30 years and is expected to be the fastest- growing source of supply, Chipman wrote in the report dated yesterday.
Extract Resources Ltd. (EXT), whose shares fell 13 percent in two days in Sydney on concern that Namibia plans to give mining and exploration rights to a state- owned company, said it still has support from the government.
Extract, an explorer proposing a $1.7 billion uranium venture in Namibia, believes statements made by the country?s Mines and Energy Minister Isak Katali about state-owned Epangelo Mining Co. ?have been taken out of context,? the company said in a statement today to the Australian stock exchange. Extract said it?s seeking more information from the Namibian government.
?Media reports quoting Namibia?s mining minister declaring uranium, copper, gold, zinc and coal would face legislation later this year giving the state exclusive exploration and mining rights have understandably concerned industry officials,? Glen Chipman, an analyst at Bank of America Corp. Merrill Lynch in Sydney, wrote in a report. ?At this very early stage, it appears there could be some misconstrued elements.?
Extract?s Husab uranium venture in Namibia has been targeted by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Co., which last month offered 756 million pounds ($1.26 billion) for Kalahari Minerals Plc. (KAH) Kalahari owns about 43 percent of Extract.
Namibia has a ?stable uranium production history? spanning more than 30 years and is expected to be the fastest- growing source of supply, Chipman wrote in the report dated yesterday. Husab is about 7 kilometers (4.4 miles) from London- based Rio Tinto Group?s Rossing mine and about 30 kilometers from Paladin Energy Ltd. (PDN)?s Langer Heinrich project.
Extract fell 10 percent yesterday to A$7.57 in Sydney trading and as much as 5.8 percent today. The shares were 3.3 percent lower at A$7.32 at 12:25 p.m. local time, compared with a 1 percent drop for the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index.
Shares of uranium explorers and producers tumbled after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan amid worries that the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power station would prompt countries to suspend plans to build more reactors.
EXT Price at posting:
$7.19 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
A personalised tool to help users track selected stocks. Delivering real-time notifications on price updates, announcements, and performance stats on each to help make informed investment decisions.
(20min delay)