Kalahari Minerals Chairman delighted with progress at Extract Resources’ Rossing South Uranium Mine

Extract Resources (TSE:EXT, ASX:EXT) continues to pump out impressive drill results from the Rössing South mineralised system which is part of the larger Husab Uranium Project, Namibia.  Arguably no one is more pleased about the continual stream of excellent results then Mark Hohnen, Executive Chairman of Kalahari Minerals (AIM:KAH), which owns 40.41% of Extract Resources.

Well, we suspect shareholders in Kalahari Minerals are pretty chuffed too. Shares in the company have climbed 45% in the past twelve months and a whopping 350% in the past 18 months, giving the company a market capitalisation of £385 million – making it one of the biggest companies on London’s Alternative Investment Market. Shares in Kalahari Minerals tacked on a more modest gain of 5% today, which puts them about 10% below their all time high hit in October 2009.

Consistently excellent drill results emanating from Rossing South has helped keep interest (and speculation) in Kalahari Minerals and Extract Resources high. And today was no different, with results continuing to report impressive widths and grades of uranium, including 22 meters @ 1410 ppm uranium from Zone 1 and 41 meters @ 1222 ppm uranium in Zone 2. 
Hohnen himself noted that the results ‘continue to support the view that these zones are continuous at depth, and open, which should be significant with respect to the resource update scheduled for Q3 2010.’  Indeed, the resource update later this year will be just one of many significant announcements on the agenda, including the all important definitive feasibility study.
Previous estimates have suggested the mine could support production of nearly 15 million pounds (6700 tonnes) of uranium per year, which to put into context, would more than double Namibia’s entire annual output, and would be significantly larger than the nearby Rossing Mine, currently the third largest uranium in the world, and 68.6% owned by Rio Tinto (LSE:RIO, ASX:RIO).

Hohnen has never shied away from commenting in Extract’s results, often helping to put them into perspective for investors who might otherwise be bamboozled by some of the mining terminology dished out in Extract press releases.  This afternoon Hohnen noted that drilling on the Western Limb of the Rossing South anticline has met with ‘immediate success’ - opening up the potential for further new zones of uranium mineralisation.
‘The proximity of the Western Limb to the existing zones 1, 2 and 3 should allow for any resources and reserves defined at these new prospects to be included in any future mine development,’ Hohnen noted.

 In total, Extract Resources now has seventeen drill rigs beavering away in Namibia. Five rigs are currently focused on exploration drilling, eleven rigs (seven diamond, four reverse circulation) are completing infill and resource extension drilling with the remaining rig undertaking sterilization drilling (testing areas of the mine site to be sure there are no valuable minerals underneath before building on it!).
To date Extract has completed over 300,000 meters of drilling, with around 77% dedicated to Zone 1 and Zone 2.

http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/6242/kalahari-minerals-chairman-delighted-with-progress-at-extract-resources-rossing-south-uranium-mine-6242.html