'Botswana could have up to 8% of world's uranium'

WANETSHA MOSINYI
Staff Writer | Thursday July 24, 2008 00:00

 

Tunks was speaking at the Botswana Resource Conference held at the GICC at which he also said his company was currently exploring one of the largest places of contained uranium.

'Countries next door to Botswana hold about 15 percent of the world's current uranium resources,' he said. '(But) Geology doesn't know boundaries, so Botswana will be the next major uranium producer.'

Botswana had no uranium resource prior to A-Cap's exploration. While A-Cap held some of the best uranium prospects at Letlhakane, there was 'plenty of scope' for others to participate.

Last year, A-Cap published its first uranium resource, 65-million tons at 140 parts per million (ppm) representing about 20-million pounds.

Two weeks ago, it produced its new resource of 'nearly 100-million pounds', with a massive increase in tons and a 30 percent increase in grade.

'We expect that Botswana will eventually be shown to host between four and eight percent of the world's uranium resource,' he said.

Tunks added that he expected the Letlhakane deposit to eventually be proven as one of the largest uranium deposits found anywhere in the world.

'I am no longer prepared to state at this stage just how big I think this deposit could eventually turn out to be,' Tunks said. 'However, there is enormous growth potential in the area.'

A scoping study will be produced in the next few weeks, which will show that the resource could be mined using the heap-leach mining method.

Tunks' goal was to begin mining in 2011, but he believes he can start a year earlier. He said new trenches had shown mineralisation starting 20cm below the surface.

'You could come out there with a broom and a shovel and you could start mining it,' Tunks said.
A-Cap's other interests are near Serule.