Deep Yellow has deferred the Tumas Project’s final investment decision to early March 2025.
The company had said in September 2024 that it would announce the final investment decision in Q4 2024.
The deferment results from delays in receiving final costing and quotes for detailed engineering work and the opportunity to undertake further optimisation and enhancements.
The overall project schedule is refined to arrive at the final investment decision.
However, the Deep Yellow board maintains that this slight delay will not impact the project’s overall timeline and objective of commencing production in late 2026, subject to sufficient uranium price incentivisation.
The company says its board firmly believes that forecast increases in uranium supply by some analysts are materially overstated in the short, medium, and long term, and there is significant doubt regarding the pace of available greenfield uranium developments in the next 10 years.
This, combined with the rapidly increasing demand for commercial nuclear power, cannot justify the current uranium price as a basis for new development start-ups, and it will need to improve to incentivise new production.
The Tumas Project, under license 237 within EPLs 3496 and 3497, will be Namibia’s 4th uranium mine in Namibia.
Deep Yellow’s subsidiary, Reptile Uranium Namibia, owns the project that has a 20-year license that expires in 2043.
The Tumas development has been divided into two phases. One concerns the early works involving process infrastructure, including power, water pipelines, significant roads, site offices, communications, construction camps, and other facilities.
The other is the execution phase, which involves processing plant construction and associated works undertaken by the appointed engineering, procurement, construction, and management (EPCM) contractor.
Deep Yellow managing director John Borshoff said the ongoing detailed work reinforces Tumas as an exceptional project and development opportunity.
Borshoff also said they expect an optimised detailed engineering report by the end of February 2025 and the final investment decision to be delivered in early March 2025.
“It is also important we make our final decisions based on the best, most up-to-date information and in the best interests of our shareholders.
“Although we have one of the most advanced greenfield uranium development projects available, with a formidable and proven team to execute, the current long-term uranium price does not reflect what we see as a significant emerging supply shortage,” Borshoff said.
He added that Deep Yellow will take a very disciplined approach to starting construction of the processing plant while continuing to progress with early works.
“We are progressing in debt financing and have strong cash reserves, meaning we can make decisions on our terms that are in the best interests of shareholders.
“The outlook for nuclear remains extremely optimistic. Substantial uranium supply, potentially a doubling of annual supply by 2040, will be required, and we believe that will be difficult to achieve, giving us a definite competitive advantage in what we anticipate will be a more positive price environment,” he said.
