Lotus Resources now has the third largest uranium resource on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
The company’s mineral resources equal 241 million pounds (Mlb) of triuranium octoxide, a compound of uranium, at the Kayelekera project in Malawi and the Letlhakane project in Botswana.
Lotus acquired the Letlhakane project through its merger with A-Cap Energy, which was implemented on November 7 2023.
“The A-Cap merger has delivered Lotus a vastly increased resource base of 241Mlb uranium, the bulk of which is located in the top ranked global mining jurisdiction of Botswana, and combines two highly complementary and synergistic projects with significant leverage to the global uranium thematic,” Lotus managing director Keith Bowes said.
“Lotus has developed an initial program of work bringing its proven uranium skills to optimise Letlhakane’s potential, including updating the Letlhakane mineral resource model and undertaking preliminary test work to determine potential of upgrading Letlhakane ore and therefore target a more efficient processing route.”
Lotus is looking to restart the Kayelekera project in late 2025. The company is currently seeking to appoint a debt advisor to assist in the financing process and finish negotiating a mine development agreement with the Malawi Government, among other final investment decision activities, within the next six months.
“While Letlhakane is considered the longer-term asset, Lotus remains focused on restarting the Kayelekera project as soon as practicable to benefit from the current strong and increasing uranium prices,” Bowes said.
“As such, Lotus is testing the market for debt and is focused on undertaking the necessary planned activities to prepare Kayelekera for a potential restart of production in late 2025 when the supply gap for the nuclear utilities is forecast.”
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