A-Cap searches for more Uranium in Makgadikgadi

Staff Writer | Wednesday January 13, 2010 00:00

The company which is also at an advanced stage towards uranium mining in the Serule and Letlhakane areas, says in a statement that Preliminary interpretation of the data has identified 16 high priority radiometric targets for initial follow up.

' A-Cap will be conducting ground checking of the anomalies early in 2010 as soon as the wet season finishes and access can be made.

'The geology of the area of the Makgadikgadi Prospecting Licences is essentially the basal sequence of the Karoo Supergroup.

'These rocks have been known to host economic deposits of uranium throughout southern Africa such as the Kayelekera deposit in Malawi and A-Cap's own Letlhakane Project in Botswana. Airborne radiometrics are one of the principal early stage exploration tools and in this instance A-Cap has immediately identified 16 targets for ground follow up in early 2010,' reads a statement from the company.

A-Cap Resources, which has ambitions of becoming Botswana's first uranium miner, last year said the company will require a maximum of P1.6 billion to advance from exploration to mining at its Letlhakane and Serule uranium resources in the Central District.

A-Cap says its ambitions to become Botswana's first uranium miner are being spurred on by anticipated high nuclear energy demand from China and India in the coming years.

With world net electricity consumption expected to nearly double over the next two decades, some 30 new nuclear reactors are being built, the fastest expansion being in Asia, especially China and India, A-Cap expects the number of nuclear reactors under construction to increase significantly in the next three to five years as more economies shift to nuclear energy.

'Whilst uranium spot prices remained in a trading range of $42/lb to $53/lb for most of 2009, China and India confirmed their intentions to actively increase the percentage of power to be generated by nuclear (clean fuel), leading to more reactors over the next decade and beyond,' says the company.

As A-Cap advances another step closer to its objective of becoming Botswana's first uranium miner, this should add to the value of the company, hence to shareholders' wealth.

During 2009, A-Cap enjoyed further exploration success at its Serule prospect. With further exploration planned for Serule again and for Gorgan South in 2010, this should boost the company's global uranium inventory.

So far, the Letlhakane area is estimated to hold at least 30 million lb of uranium. Targets to be tested during the upcoming exploration include Gorgon South, Gorgon West, Serule North Extension, Serule West Extension and Bolau.

A-Cap holds six prospecting licences covering a total area of 4,400km2 and three licences under application covering a further 3,000km2. All grounds held by A-Cap was previously explored by major companies, among them Falconbridge, BCL, Urangesellchaft and Union.