- Areva, the French nuclear power plant manufacturer, is holding talks to buy the dual-listed Namibian uranium miner, UraMin Inc.
Though they would not disclose the name of the buyer of their company, UraMin officials confirmed to have been moving fast in selling the company.
This only gave birth to rumour mongering in the country, with most people naming the China National Nuclear Corporation as the potential buyer. In May, the Chinese corporation expressed interest in the African focused uranium company.
The Namibian miner had earlier announced its intention to embark on a strategic review of its assets, mainly because of the recent consolidation in the uranium sector, resulting to escalating uranium spot prices to the highest.
There had been a slump in uranium prices during the 90s, resulting to poor investment in new uranium mining projects. But when the resource has started generating power, its price no doubt plummeted.
Not long ago, uranium spot prices hit US $138 per pound. Analysts interpreted the development as an increase of over 500$ in five years.
UraMin has owned uranium projects in Namibia, the Central African Republic and South Africa. But it will soon begin to commercially mine its Namibian uranium deposits in 2008.
UraMin deal is listed in both the London and Toronto stock exchanges and is expected to be more than US $2 billion.
Areva spokeswoman confirmed that her company had been holding talks with UraMin. She described the talks as “non-exclusive.”
The French firm owns 5.5 percent shares in UraMin, which is targeting to produce 20 million pounds of uranium by 2012.
UraMin is also reportedly discussing with other potential bidders as well. The line-up includes Paladin Resources that has major projects in Namibia and Malawi.
It was also reported that the state-owned mining corporation had expressed intention in UraMin but state officials would not disclose actual interest.
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