TSX-listed uranium development and exploration company Forsys Metals will begin trading on the development board of the Namibian Stock Exchange on December 11, under the symbol FSY, the company announced on Wednesday.

Forsys will be only the second company listed on the development board.

The company owns the Valencia uranium project, with measured and indicated and inferred resources of 62,1-million pounds of uranium.

The dual listing will allow Namibians to participate in the growth of the company as it moves towards production, while also broadening the firm's international shareholder base, Forsys CEO Duane Parnham said.

He told Mining Weekly Online in a telephone interview that Forsys also hoped to indicate to the Namibian government a commitment to participate in the local economy.

Further, under a new regulation, pension funds in Namibia are required to invest a minimum of 35% in local assets, including dual-listed entities on the Namibian Stock Exchange.

As this includes the State pension fund, the new regulation creates a “large pool of money” for investment in local and locally listed companies and projects, Parnham pointed out.

Namibia is the second-biggest producer of uranium in Africa, after Niger, and produced 7,97-million pounds of the nuclear material in 2006, according to Ux Consulting.

Forsys is in the process of completing a bankable feasibility study for Valencia, which is located 35 km from Rio Tinto's Rössing uranium mine, and approximately 50 km north of Paladin's Langer Heinrich mine.

A second round of public hearings into the environmental impact of the project would be held in Namibia on Thursday, Parnham said.

The company had submitted a mining licence application and was hoping to receive government approval “shortly”.

“We are expecting to break ground sometime early next year, and will then target first production towards the end of 2009."

The project will require an initial capital outlay of $220-million, and Forsys is calculating a uranium price of $100/lb in the first three years of production at Valencia, and $75/lb for the remainder of the life-of-mine.

The spot price of uranium touched a record high of $138/lb this year, as setbacks at new mines under development and growing demand from emerging nuclear power giants Russia, India and China stoked fears of continued supply deficits of the material.

To subscribe to Mining Weekly's print magazine email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or buy now.