I found an old press interview with Steve Galloway and Jonathan Leslie, which may be interesting to review at this time:
Full Story 12.05.2011 No free lunch for Epangelo By: JO-MARÉ DUDDY
STATE-OWNED Epangelo Mining Company is welcome to share in the riches of the giant Husab uranium deposit, but Government will have to buy its way into it. In an interview with The Namibian yesterday, Steve Galloway, chairman of Extract Resources which intends to develop Husab into one of the three biggest uranium mines in the world, said they have been talking to Epangelo for some time already. These talks have always been on a “commercial” basis, Galloway said. Asked how Epangelo, with a budget of N$5 million for the current financial year, could buy a stake in Husab, Galloway said the company would have to raise the capital. Extract has “no shadow of a doubt” that Mines and Energy Minister Isak Katali will approve its mining licence application, he said. However, later in the interview, he said Extract can’t be 100 per cent sure that it will get the licence. “But we’ve done a 100 per cent of our work,” Extract chief executive officer, Jonathan Leslie, who was also part of the interview added. The application has been lying at the Ministry for five months and Extract is just waiting for the green light to start constructing the mine. The 33-month process will give jobs to 4 000 Namibians. Once up and running, Husab will create about 1 000 permanent jobs. Katali on Tuesday gave the assurance that mining licenses currently in the pipeline will not be affected by Government’s proposed policy change which in future will give state-owned companies the exclusive exploration and mining rights of strategic minerals. The Minister said these applications will be considered “on its strength and without prejudice”. However, he said an application will remain an application, but “there is no guarantee that it will be successful until it has been assessed and has been determined to have satisfied the Minister”. Galloway said Epangelo would be no different than any other partner should it become a shareholder in Extract. He said the state-owned company could add value as it shares Extract’s long-term objective and would not to sell its shares or undermine the project. Commenting on Government’s intended policy shift – which caused major uncertainty among foreign investors when Katali announced it in Parliament last month – Galloway said state-owned players with exclusive rights like Epangelo would be good “in principle”. “It is the mechanism and implementation that will have to stand the test of time,” he said. Transparency is vital, though. If Government provides an attractive investment regime under the proposed policy, investors will continue to come, Galloway said. Both he and Leslie welcomed Katali’s clarification of the proposed changes on Tuesday, saying investors will now see that the policy is not draconian. It has been coming for some time and is consistent with what has been happening in other countries, Galloway said. Government’s shift in policy was born out of frustration because some licence holders speculate with mineral rights or drag their feet with developing mines. Asked what Extract’s definition of nationalisation was, Leslie responded that changing the law to the extent that it affects the rights of the players already in the sector, would be nationalisation. Government’s proposed amendments, however, doesn’t amount to this, as existing exploration and mining licences will not be touched. As for new investors entering Namibia, they’ll do so under the new law and would know the rules, he said. The law is still being written. “It is incumbent that the private sector behaves in such a way to make sure that nationalisation does not take place,” Leslie warned.
(20min delay)