“The Zambian Government has indicated its strategy to diversify its mining industry from the heavy weighting of base metals and advancing its long-term desire to include uranium and clean baseload nuclear power as part of its economic development plans,” Govind Friedland, the company’s executive chairman, said in a press release.”
GoviEx acquired Chirundu, which hosts the Njame and Gwabe deposits, from African Energy Resources (ASX: AFR) in October 2017.
Shortly after the acquisition, the junior included Chirundu with its Mutanga, Dibwe and Dibwe East deposits in a technical report and SRK completed a preliminary economic assessment in November 2017.
The early stage study envisioned open pit mining and heap leaching over an initial mine life of 11 years and pegged pre-production capex of $121 million. The PEA also estimated operating costs of $31.10 per lb. U308.
The PEA was based on 5.9 million measured tonnes grading 0.04% U308 for 4.8 million lb. U308; 15.7 million indicated tonnes grading 0.03% U308 for 10.4 million lb. U308; and inferred resources of 74.6 million tonnes averaging 0.03% U308 for 44.9 million lb. U308.
Over the last year, GoviEx’s shares have traded in a range of 12¢ and 39¢ and at presstime were trading at 32¢.
The junior has about 530 million common shares outstanding for a market cap of $170 million.
(This article first appeared in The Northern Miner)
