Before considering an operation, the uranium- and gold-miner assesses the strengths of the management teams at the respective projects.

“We’re the first to admit that we’re not going to be successful if we bring a whole lot of jaapies from Johannesburg and try to start operating in the backwoods of Canada. It’s certainly not going to work,” he told a mining conference hosted by RBC Capital Markets.

The second criterion is that operations must be low-cost producers.

“That makes it very chal-lenging . . . there are lots of opportunities out there but not that many that fit the low-cost profile.”

The third filter for potential acquisitions is that they must be producing or near production.

“So we’ve set ourselves some pretty significant hurdles in terms of our growth strategy,” Miller admitted.

“But if we’re going to be successful, those are the funda-mentals that we need to hit.”

Executive vice-president of corporate development Jim Fisher is now based in Toronto, for the very purpose of scouting for and evaluating opportunities, and “he’s cer-tainly been out there kicking the tyres”, Miller said last week.

First Uranium, a Simmer & Jack Mines subsidiary, owns the Ezulwini gold and uranium mine, south-west of Johannesburg, in South Africa, as well as the Mine Waste Solutions (MWS) tailings recovery operation, also in this country.

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