TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – TSX- and JSE-listed First Uranium has had a key environmental approval reinstated for a tailings storage facility at its Mine Waste Solutions (MWS) operation in South Africa, the company announced on Thursday.

The company's shares surged on the news, and were up 34,6% in Toronto, at C$1,75 a share, by 14:08.

First Uranium can now immediately start preparing for construction of the tailings storage facility as soon as it has the necessary funding in place, the firm said.

The company announced on January 20 that the government of the North West province had “unexpectedly” withdrawn environmental authorisation for the facility, and that the development could severely jeopardise its financial situation.

"Now that we have the environmental authorisation re-instated we can concentrate on the process of securing the necessary financing for the construction of this tailings storage facility at MWS and our plans for ramping up our production at both operations," said CEO Gordon Miller.

First Uranium's two main assets are its Ezulwini uranium and gold underground mine and the MWS tailings recovery operation.

The company said earlier this month that it was under pressure to raise funds, and that the withdrawal of the environmental approval for the MWS tailings storage facility had disrupted plans it had been working on to secure the necessary financing.

It said at the time it would need at least $50-million to cover its needs.

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