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Gold/Mining/Energy : Mining News of Note -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LoneClone who wrote (26270)	9/23/2008 9:26:16 AM
From: LoneClone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 193608

First Uranium To Process Gold, Uranium At Ezulwini By Luphert Chilwane and Candy Guvi 22 Sep 2008 at 10:51 AM GMT-04:00 Emerging miner First Uranium is spending more than R830 million to build uranium and gold processing plants at its Ezulwini mine on the West Rand. resourceinvestor.com JOHANNESBURG (Business Day) -- The gold plant would cost R483 million based on cost estimates made in July. Of this, R444 million had already been committed, while R354 million had been budgeted for the uranium plant and R260 million had been committed. “By mining uranium and gold together, the company expects to become a very low-cost uranium mine operator,” the company said. Bob Tait, vice-president for investor relations, said the company expected the plants to be fully operational by March and to create an additional 2,500 jobs by then, in addition to the 3,000 already employed. He said gold production at the new plant started in July, while the first two modules of the uranium plant would be commissioned next year. “We are duplicating operations that were already in existence, hence our production targets are reasonable,” he said. The mine was constructed in the 1960s and reached a maximum production of 200,000 tons a month before it stopped production in 2001 as a result of financial constraints compounded by a weak gold and uranium market environment. First Uranium’s plans for the development of the Ezulwini project include the rehabilitation and re-engineering of the main mine shaft and the installation of a floating steel tower, destressing the area where the shaft pillar intersects the shaft barrel and the construction of the uranium and gold processing plants. The company expects the Ezulwini Project to reach a production output of about 130,000 tons a month by next year, rising to 180,000 tons by 2012. The planned life of the mine for the Ezulwini Project is 19 years. Tait said First Uranium hoped to maintain its low-cost operations by mining both gold and uranium together. Despite Eskom’s promise of adequate electricity for all, First Uranium was not taking any chances, Tait said. T he company had ordered a power plant worth $20 million to be commissioned in December. He also said the mine had so far maintained a clean safety sheet with no fatalities reported since it began operations in December last year. According to the group’s safety, health, environmental and quality manager, Percy Mokone, safety at the mine site was a major priority. “Although we have not experienced fatalities, we are still safety conscious and every task is preceded by a risk assessment.” Tait said: “When there are risks of accidents, they are reported immediately. “We will then shut the shaft and the mine becomes accountable to the board of directors. Our safety practices are better than others’. The company was looking to expand in North America, but it was not willing to invest in high-risk and politically unstable countries.