Namibia Holds Talks on Role in Extract’s Husab Uranium Project
Namibia’s state-owned miner, Epangelo Mining Co., is in talks with Swakop Uranium, a unit of Extract Resources Ltd. (EXT), about taking a role in the development of the company’s Husab project, the world’s third-largest uranium mine, Mines and Energy Minister Isak Katali said.
“I know Epangelo has ongoing talks with Swakop Uranium but I don’t think they’re anywhere near concluding them,” he told reporters in Windhoek yesterday. He didn’t say what form Epangelo’s involvement in the project might take.
The talks started before the government’s decision last month to declare uranium, gold, copper, coal, diamonds and rare earth metals as strategic minerals, Katali said.
Namibia’s government is altering its mining laws to ensure its citizens receive more benefit from the country’s mineral wealth. The southern African nation is the world’s biggest miner of offshore diamonds, the fourth-largest uranium producer and also has deposits of gold, coal and copper.
Extract’s Husab project is about 7 kilometers (4.4 miles) from Rio Tinto Group’s Rossing mine and about 30 kilometers from Paladin Energy Ltd. (PDN)’s Langer Heinrich project.
Husab has been targeted by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Co., which yesterday withdrew a 712 million-pound ($1.16 billion) bid for Kalahari Minerals Plc (KAH) after the U.K. Takeover Panel barred it from reducing its offer. Kalahari owns about 43 percent of Extract.
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.
Extract has “engaged with Epangelo” as part of its partnership process, said a spokesperson for the Australian company, who declined to be named in line with company policy. “Those discussions remain confidential.”
Epangelo’s General Manager Eliphas Hawala said he wasn’t in a position to comment when contacted by phone in Windhoek today.
To contact the reporter on this story: Chamwe Kaira in Windhoek at ckaira@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net
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