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Extract and Namibia sovereign risk

April 29th, 2011

I have long been a holder of Extract and being a very early investor it has been very kind to me. I got out at its peak and re-bought a much smaller amount several months ago. But the news out of Namibia is very unsettling and judging by the market yesterday and today many aren’t convinced that Namibia is going to do the right thing.

Gavin Wendt (ex Fat Prophets head and one analyst I pay attention to) was fairly negative according to today’s miningnews.net article where he says: “projects that were not previously impacted by the legislation may see it eventually applied to them.”

Putting it all together I got out of nearly all of my EXT early this morning with a small profit, since then the market is down another 11%.

This issue of African countries imposing new rules had made me very wary investing in them but Namibia was meant to be the one with the least risk…. I guess that leaves a lot of Australian explorers inside and outside of Namibia more than a little concerned.

Australia isn’t exactly a clean skin in the uranium sovereign risk department either…. hands up those that think the coming “green” senate is going to expedite new uranium mines?

And yet the world needs quite a lot of new uranium supply….

I still hold AEE, GGG and just a taste of EXT.

China: The FAT LADY isn't singing… China to increase it's nuclear generating capacity markedly

April 27th, 2011

Despite the horrors that have been visited upon Japan China is going to persevere with its nuclear program according to the Reuters report below.

Reuters

BEIJING – China aims to encourage the construction and technological development of advanced nuclear reactors, and will also support further prospecting for domestic uranium resources, the country’s state planning agency says.

The National Development and Reform Commission included the nuclear sector in a list of industries it aims to encourage in the coming years as part of its attempt to restructure its economy.

It said China would also promote advances in uranium isotope separation technology, the handling of spent fuel and the prevention and detection of radiation.

The Chinese nuclear sector is still awaiting details of a strategic review of the industry in the wake of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami on March 11, which left the aging Fukushima reactor complex on the brink of meltdown.

China said on March 16 that it would “adjust and improve” its plans for the nuclear industry, and would halt further project approvals until it had finished inspecting existing reactors and construction sites.

Government and industry officials have so far stressed that China will not give up on its long-term commitment to developing nuclear power, but said that the pace of construction could be slowed down to allow the country to build the necessary manufacturing and regulatory capacity.

Before the Japanese nuclear crisis, many in the industry expected China to unveil a new 2020 capacity target of 80-90 gigawatts, but experts now anticipate a figure of about 75 gigawatts.

China’s total installed nuclear capacity stood at just 10.8 gigawatts by the end of 2010.

Australian Uranium Share Index still not looking good.

April 27th, 2011

au-ur-2011-4

With the Easter break etc I think we might have to wait a while longer to see if there is a significant change…. My guess is that it will get worse for the Australia’s on-shore uranium plays but that we will see renewed buying in the off-shore explorers that have something remarkable such as AEE, GGG and EXT.

More – Putting AEE into perspective….

April 18th, 2011

Aura’s Häggån project is amongst the ten largest uranium resources in the world, yet the existing JORC first inferred resource of 291 million pounds of uranium (U3O8) is based on only 5% of the permit area, mainly in the eastern side, highlighting the projects resource upside potential.

AURA has just completed an 11 hole drilling program and we can probably be sure of a rather large upgrade…. All up the project is thought to have over a billion pounds of uranium… see earlier posts.

Extract -World's 2nd largest Uranium mine 5th largest Uranium resource

April 15th, 2011

hsuab

Husab Project Update

Completed Definitive Feasibility Study on Zones 1 and 2 (DFS) of the Husab Uranium Project, which will become one of the three largest uranium mines in the world.
Maiden reserve estimate for Zones 1 and 2 of 205 million tonnes at 497ppm for 225 million lbs contained uranium.
Significant upside potential from Mine Optimisation and Resource Extension (M.O.R.E.) programme. Next resource update scheduled for Q2, 2011.
Outstanding initial chemical assay results received from Middle Dome highlighting this prospect as a priority exploration target.
Approval of Husab Uranium Project EIA received in January 2011.
EPL 31838 exploration license successfully extended for two years.

Corporate

CGNPC- URC announced a possible cash offer for Kalahari Minerals, our major shareholder. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (“ASIC”) expected to respond shortly to CGNPC’s request to seek a waiver to acquire more than 20% of Extract’s issued share capital.
Partnership process continues to evaluate opportunities to add value to the Husab Uranium Project through alternative development strategies.
Extract raised $60.9 million by a placing of 7.3 million shares to Kalahari Uranium Limited, a subsidiary of AIM listed Kalahari Minerals Ltd.

Putting Aura into perspective

April 14th, 2011

In the post below this one I made the case for AEE being a vastly undervalued uranium company and highlighted the new high grade African resources….

To round out the story here are some images from AEE’s latest Investor Presentation.. Note that I hold AEE as it fits well inside my paradigm of an undervalued elephant with a vast resource and a micro- market cap (AUD$48m)… Perhaps readers should note that Extract Resources market cap is over AUD$1billion…

aee-in-context

aee-2

Is there built in demand for Uranium?
uranium-reactors-under-construction

I suggest that readers download the latest AEE Investor presentation and look at their metallurgy results etc. (A 12 hour heap leach process, in a very friendly mining jurisdiction in a country that has a 50% reliance on nuclear power in a geologically stable area and a vast upside to the JORC resource and a miniscule market cap of $48m…..)

I hold AEE

Aura Energy -High Grade results

April 11th, 2011

Aura Energy is an extremely undervalued ASX listed small cap with a vast amount of Uranium. Aura’s JORC in Sweden places in our top 5 but this substantially underplays Aura’s resource that may be around 10 times bigger… than shown in the image below. (see posts by Sparty)

And now Aura is coming up with very high grades in several of its Mauritania leases…

HIGH GRADE URANIUM RESULTS CONTINUE IN MAURITANIA
HIGHLIGHTS
Aura Energy has received further assays for its major resource drilling programme in Mauritania.
• Positive results continue to confirm the extensive nature of the calcrete uranium mineralisation within the Reguibat Project
• High grade intercepts received (drill hole locations Table 1), including:

    o 10ASACI080: 3.0m @ 2268 ppm U3O8
    o 10ASACI084: 2.5m @ 1859ppm U3O8
    o 10ASACC079: 10m @ 2000 ppm U3O8
    o 10FEACA043: 2.5m @ 1787ppm U3O8

• Mineralisation starts at or is close to the surface
• JORC resource on track – expected in mid-2011

aee-mauratania

With a market cap of AUD$40m this makes Aura the cheapest uranium play on our ASX and possibly the world’s cheapest if we are looking at very large resource based companies…..

Extract up on positive BFS

April 5th, 2011

Extract has released 3 announcements to the ASX today.

2 are addressed to explaining the BFS and the other to the extension of the EPL 3138 license term.

In a nutshell EXT has come up with production costs of $28 per pound and a yearly production of 15Mlbs using a conventional acid heap leach process.

The projects attractions are probably best seen by a glance at the image below…

dfs-largest

Previous posts about Extract

I hold EXT.