Globe changes tack with initial Kanyika resource

Kate Haycock
MiningNews.net

GLOBE Uranium’s Kanyika project in Malawi has yielded a surprise initial JORC-compliant resource containing 320 million pounds of niobium metal and 8.9Mlb of uranium, shifting the company’s focus away from yellowcake and towards the steel additive.

While Globe’s work at Kanyika has been focused on uranium, the company today said the multi-commodity nature of the deposit – which, at 56.4 million tonnes, is the largest JORC-compliant resource in the African nation of Malawi – is one of its most important features.

Niobium is used mainly in the steel industry and Globe said demand for the commodity had grown at roughly 20% each year over the past five years. The resource also contains 14.5Mlb of tantalum and 600Mlb of zirconium.

“The other three commodities – uranium, tantalum and zircon – could be produced as credits irrespective of their grade, as the potential mine economics will be based almost entirely on the niobium extraction,” Globe managing director Mark Sumich said.

The resource – more than double Globe’s initial expectations –was estimated by mining consultants Runge, and includes a high-grade, near-surface component of 14Mt containing 115.7Mlb of niobium and 3Mlb of uranium.

This resource would lend itself to opencut mining at “a very low strip ratio”, Sumich said, which could reduce the capital payback period and make it easier for Globe to secure debt funding for development. “This is a fantastic exploration success story.

Kanyika was an untested radiometric anomaly two years ago when we acquired the licence at zero cost, and we have turned it into a world-class deposit in a short space of time for only $3 million,” Sumich added.

The company plans to deliver a scoping study into the project by the second quarter of this year. Shares in Globe, which has $8.9 million cash in hand, were given a 20% or 5c boost today to 30c.