First Uranium Prepares for C$130 Million Placement
First Uranium Corp., a developer of uranium deposits in South Africa, appointed a group of banks led by RBC Capital Markets to arrange a C$130 million ($114.5 million) offer of unsecured convertible debentures.
The proceeds will be used to fund a study for the expansion of the Ezulwini uranium and gold mine in South Africa, the Toronto-based company said today in a statement to the Johannesburg stock exchange.
First Uranium is reopening Ezulwini mine, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Johannesburg, as power company demand for the nuclear fuel increases. Uranium prices have more than doubled in the past 12 months.
The company Uranium plans to start extracting uranium- and gold-bearing rock in October and aims to complete construction of new processing plants by June 2008.
First Uranium said in a separate statement that the South African government agreed to consider its application to explore for metals in areas adjacent to Ezulwini.
Shares of First Uranium were unchanged at 68.09 rand in Johannesburg, giving the company a value of 8.29 billion rand ($1.16 billion).
Source: www.bloomberg.com
