Maiden uranium mine gets key environmental nod
Brian Benza | Friday May 20, 2016 18:00
In a statement released this week, Australian developer A-Cap said the approval was an important requirement for securing a mining licence for what would be the country’s first uranium mine.
“This is a major milestone for A-Cap and its flagship uranium project with an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) approval being an important requirement for securing a mining licence.
“We have been conducting extensive work over the years, commencing 2009, in studying and identifying the overall environmental and social impacts associated with developing the first uranium mine in Botswana. The board has ensured the highest standards have been adopted in preparing the Environment Impact Statement,” said A-Cap CEO, Paul Thomson.
A-Cap submitted an application for a mining licence in August last year. The company is planning a shallow open pit mining operation with an 18-year mine life. A production rate of 3.75 million pounds a year is planned for the first five years. The Letlhakane project is one of the largest undeveloped uranium deposits in the world, with a resource of 365.7 million pounds.
ASX-listed A-Cap Resources estimates a capital expenditure of $351 million with initial working capital of $40 million.
Botswana is estimated to hold around 1.04 billion tonnes in uranium reserves in the central part of the country, and the government has issued prospecting licences in the last decade although no production has taken place.
A resurgent uranium price meant the project, where explorations started in 2006, was viable, the firm said.
Global uranium production had stalled recently due to depressed prices, curtailing exploration activities and the opening of new mines.
In the first quarter of this year, A-Cap successfully raised $5 million through a rights issue by offering 250 million shares.
The company says completion of the rights issue was a key milestone in securing the financial position of the company that would enable them to finalise a bankable feasibility study for the project, including the mine plan and process design work.
The company’s uranium exploration portfolio includes five other tenements with uranium anomalies discovered in the 1970s.
The company initially came to Botswana for copper-nickel exploration, but went into uranium prospecting when prices for the metal improved. Its current project was previously owned by Falconbird of Japan in the 1970s and 1980s.
Interest in uranium as a source of energy has risen partly because nuclear plants are environmentally-friendly as they emit a tiny fraction of carbon dioxide that causes global warming.
It has been used to produce nuclear weapons for more than 50 years and electricity for more than 40 years.