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(Reuters) - Canada's Forsys Metals Corp says it may be able to boost its uranium reserves in Namibia by 30 percent as it consolidates its two projects in the southern African nation into one mine development.
The Toronto-listed mining-exploration company is updating an already completed feasibility study on its Valencia project to include ore from the nearby Namibplaas deposit. A new resource estimate for Namibplaas is due out in the second half of 2012.
"We've already defined 60.5 million pounds and we're looking to go to 80 million pounds of uranium," Chief Executive Marcel Hilmer said of the proven and probable reserves at the consolidated project.
"We've got all our permits - the mining license and all the environmental work is done at Valencia," he said in an interview. "We've got to extend that to Namibplaas."
Valencia and Namibplaas are located in a region about 300 kilometers (185 miles) west of the capital, Windhoek, that already has several uranium projects. The region is to home to Rio Tinto Ltd's Rossing mine and Paladin Energy Ltd's Langer Heinrich project.
By blending Valencia and Namibplaas into one project, Forsys says it will be able expand its planned output to 5 million pounds a year from an earlier estimate of 3.7 million pounds a year.
While the expanded production should result in lower operating costs, it will push development costs into the $400 million to $500 million range, up from a previous estimate of about $350 million, Hilmer said.
"We'll need funding, so we will be looking for a strategic partner," he said. "We've held discussions with a number of parties who would be interested in off-take or supply of our uranium."
For now, the company has enough cash on hand to finish its updated feasibility study, which is due out next year.
Shares of Forsys were down 3.5 percent at 83 Canadian cents on Friday morning on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The stock is up about 19 percent so far this year, though it has lost nearly half its value in the past 12 months in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.
RISKS AHEAD
Weighing on Forsys' development plans is the low uranium price, which has fallen to $52 per pound from about $74 before Fukushima.
Since the disaster in March of last year, Japan's entire fleet of reactors has moved into care and maintenance, while several countries, including Germany and Italy, have backed away from atomic power.
The market uncertainty has prompted Areva SA to slow construction at its $1 billion Trekkopje uranium mine, also located in Namibia's uranium district.
Despite the hurdles, Hilmer remains confident Forsys can bring the consolidated Valencia project into production.
"In today's environment ... we would be profitable," he said. "And we remain very confident that the price of uranium in the mid term will increase."
That confidence is rooted in an expected jump in Asian demand. Fourteen new reactor units are scheduled to come online this year, including three in China and five in other Asian nations, according to World Nuclear Association data.
All told, China has more than 25 reactors currently under construction and more in the planning stage. Fueling those reactors will take substantial new uranium supplies.
"There really is no large risk, assuming that the demand, which is being driven by Asia, is actually converted into nuclear plants which require delivery of uranium," Hilmer said.
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