Australian company finds uranium reserves in Guinea
Reserves of uranium have been found in the west African country of Guinea by Australian mining company Murchison United NL, Guinean Mines and Geology Minister Ahmad Kante announced.
The discovery resulted from analysis of samples taken from the Firawa site at Kissidougou 600 kilometres (400 miles) southeast of the capital Conakry, the minister told an AFP journalist here.
Analysis of half the samples showed that “we are dealing with a mineral stratum of a width ranging from seven to 14 metres according to the zone, while in certain countries exploitation is carried out on mineral layers estimated in centimetres,” Kante said.
“I can tell you that following work and analysis done in a Canadian laboratory, one can reasonably say that uranium does exist in Guinea,” said the minister without going into detail about the dates when the samples were taken or the exact place where they were analysed.
Conakry delivered “more than six prospecting permits” to Murchison for Firawa, Kante said, but also for other sites at Cece in the southeastern Nzerekore region and Bohodou Kerouane in the far eastern region of Kankan.
He did not give the size of the zones concerned.
“Now we are in a phase of prospecting,” the minister said. “Exploitation is a higher phase that comes after the prospecting phase.
“But there, it’s really promising. I think that with Murchison it is certain that the results they’ll obtain on the two other sites will enable rapid movement to the phase of exploitation.”
He went on: “I know in advance that these results will bring keen interest from the different mining companies that specialise in prospecting for uranium.”
Kante said that other companies were also looking for uranium. They included a South African company, he added without giving details.
“We are waiting for the results. (…) Guinea is known to be a country with bauxite or rich in precious matters such as diamonds and gold. The discovery of uranium enables us to speed up diversification in prospecting,” Kante said.
Murchison said on its website that it “holds eight Uranium Prospecting Permits in the Republic of Guinea covering 3,563 km2 over three separate concession areas: Firawa, Bohodou, Sesse.”
An initial drilling programme was successfully completed in Firawa during May 2007, it said, while in Bohodou “an initial drilling programme is planned for later in 2007.”
Meanwhile, Murchison also said on its website it had been granted six uranium exploration licenses in Mauritania to the north “covering 8,200 km2, with two more permits awaiting approval. The Company is well placed to secure additional exploration licences.”
The company “is currently negotiating access to a drilling rig in order to commence a drilling programme on one of its licences in the Bir En Nar region of Mauritania,” it added.