who are really the players vying for extract

Its fascinating to link up all the players in the battle to gain control of Rossing South and Extract- which is essentially between a group of three AIM-listed but South African-based companies controlled by ex-UraMin directors, effectively acting in concert, and Rio.

Kalahari with 40% of Extract is key and sees the ex-UraMin stakebuilding as a way of preserving Extract's independence until it can get a maximum takeover premium.

Niger Uranium (exec chair Ian Stalker previous UraMin CEO) holds 15.1% of Kalahari, Emerging Metals (co-chair Stephen Dattels) owns 6.3% of Kalahari and Polo Resources (exec chair Dattels, exec dep chair Neil Herbert former UraMin finance director) 5.6% of Extract. Niger and Emerging have a bigger combined stake of 21.4% in Kalahari than Rio (15.8%)and with Polo hold a combined Extract stake of just over 14%, not far short of Rio's 15.6%.
Expect to see more strategic stake buying by
Niger/Emerging in Kalahari and Polo in Extract in coming weeks/months.

Rio aims to sell its interests in Kalahari and Extract to Rossing Uranium Ltd, the Namibian-based operating company for the Rossing mine but the deal has yet to happen although flagged up in the Rio AR for 2008.

Someone posted a while back on who else would be after Rossing South. AREVA is not after Rossing South as it has enough on its plate with expensive heap leaching technology at the Trekkopje mine it is building north of Rossing; China already has a stake as AREVA's partner at Trekkopje; Cameco- well it could have got in on the ground floor way back and has its own production problems to sort out. And as for Iran- that's a joke, the namibians would not be so stupid as to risk alienating the Americans by allowing Iran to acquire a sizeable deposit especially given persistent rumours that Rossing was the source of Iran's uranium for its enrichment programme (allowed by the South Africans before Namibia was independent in 1990).

Paladin- ah now that's a different story. Could well see them swooping on Rossing South to fulfill Borshoff's aim to become a major yellowcake producer long-term.