Uranium prospects put a glow in Aflease`s outlook
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JUNIOR mining company Aflease wants to exploit the uranium resources of DRDGOLD and Harmony, Aflease CE Neal Froneman says.
He said yesterday the move reflected Aflease`s strategy of becoming SA`s major player in uranium with existing plans to reopen the Dominion mine near Klerksdorp in just over two years.
Froneman predicted robust future demand for uranium, and said reopening the Klerksdorp mine was a smooth way to produce additional uranium.
`There is not a lot of exploration, and environmental and permitting issues are very difficult elsewhere, particularly in North America,` he said. `In SA, we have a friendly mining code, and the mine is a brownfields project, so a lot of infrastructure is already in place, and that gives us critical mass it says we should be focused on uranium.`
Froneman said Aflease would be eager to process uranium in other areas, particularly where it was a byproduct of gold mining.
`We have approached DRDGOLD and Harmony, and discussions are progressing,` he said.
`Their investors want them to focus on gold, and we don`t want to compete on gold we want to be SA`s uranium champion.`
He said quantifying the uranium reserves of DRDGOLD and Harmony might be problematic, as they had been `ignored` for the past decade until the recent improved demand for uranium.
Much of the uranium potential was in mine dumps and in waste rock dumps.
Froneman did not exclude the possibility of Aflease being interested in mines with both uranium and gold reserves.
`There are areas where if you combine the revenue from uranium with that from gold, some marginal shafts would no longer be marginal,` he said.
The first uranium from Dominion would be produced in early 2007, with the mine being commissioned at the end of next year, he said.
Meanwhile, Aflease, which currently has no working mines, plans to start gold production in the first half of this year.
However, Froneman said he was worried about the current low rand gold price.
`I am very concerned by the weakness of the dollar,` he said. `I am not sure it makes sense to bring a new gold project on stream.`
Profile Group (Pty) Ltd. has taken care in preparing all information on this website, but does not accept any liability for errors or out-of-date information.
