Star Minerals (ASX: SMS) has leapt at the chance to buy up to an 85 per cent stake in the Cobra uranium project in Namibia from Canadian-listed Madison Metals, in a strategic pivot into the heavy metal’s booming sector.
The farm-in and joint venture (JV) agreement for the project that lies in Namibia’s uranium-rich Erongo region gives Star the potential to earn up to a 51 per cent stake by investing US$3.95 million (AU$5.94 million) across three years, with the opportunity to further increase its ownership to 85 per cent.
The Cobra uranium project boasts an estimated mineral resource of 15.6 million tonnes at a grade of 260 parts per million for 9 million pounds of uranium oxide. And the acquisition comes at a time when uranium has enjoyed a stellar rise in price since 2020, running from US$20 per pound to as high as US$106 on the back of a resurgence in the demand for the metal.
While there are people who still have questions regarding nuclear energy, particularly after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011, an advance in technology since then – especially for new generation and small modular reactors – has convinced many that using nuclear reactors to produce electricity is now a safer and cleaner energy source.
And it can also provide a reliable supply of base-load power to heavy industry, something renewable wind and solar cannot do.
Spanning a 297-square-kilometre tenement area, with strong geology for both resource growth and new discoveries, Cobra previously produced key drill intercepts in a 50-hole program including 60m at 333ppm uranium. It included a 10m section grading as high as 732ppm uranium, 7m running 971ppm with a 2m section at 2883ppm, 9m going 636ppm with a 5m section at 1037ppm and 14m coming in at 360ppm with 3m showing 836ppm.
Most of the recorded mineralisation started within 12m of the surface and ran no deeper than 100m.
The Cobra project’s location near the Rossing and Langer Heinrich uranium mines – both significant producers – places it in an area known for mining success related to the hot commodity. The geology of the region, dominated by alaskite-type uranium deposits, is considered promising for further resource development.
We are delighted to add such a significant foreign uranium estimate to the company and look forward to working with Madison to confirm and upgrade the estimate and test the exciting exploration potential in the area. Star sees enormous potential to upgrade and increase the existing estimates.
Star Minerals Chairman Ian Stuart
Under the three-stage earn-in agreement, Star must first pay Madison a combination of shares and cash worth US$500,000 (AU$750,000). Once secured, the company will issue an additional 4.3 million performance shares and spend US$750,000 (AU$1.127 million) on exploration to earn 20 per cent.
The second stage, to be completed within 15 months of the agreement and taking Star’s interest to 40 per cent, can then be satisfied when management forks out a further AU$750,000 in cash and shares and issues another 2.368 million performance shares.
A further AU$1.127 million in exploration expenditure also needs to be completed within 24 months of the first payment. To get to the final stage the company will then need to shell out an additional US$650,000 (AU$977,000) in cash and shares and spend a further US$925,000 (AU$1.39 million) in exploration costs.
All conditions must be met within 36 months – by 2027 – for Star to secure its full 51 per cent stake in the project.
Star will be the operator of the project, leveraging the expertise of its non-executive director Ashley Jones, who has had considerable experience in uranium exploration – particularly in Africa. The experienced geologist previously worked in Namibia for nearly three years and on the Letlhakane uranium project in Botswana for five years between 2014 and 2019.
And Jones has intimate knowledge of the potential of the Cobra project, having first assessed it way back in 2018.
Together with Madison's established Namibian team, the company has plans to immediately upgrade the project’s resource and is targeting significant expansion. However, since the resource is designated as a “foreign equivalent estimate”, following its compilation by SRK Consulting (UK) in 2015, a series of confirmation holes and modelling will be needed to bring it up to JORC 2012 standards.
It will represent the first work undertaken by the new JV.
Star has also been busy delivering an updated scoping study on its Tumblegum South gold project, 40km south of Meekatharra in Western Australia’s Mid West region, to look at options for open-pit mining and third-party toll treatment.
The plan appears to have merit, especially if the company decides to copycat the outstanding success of other ASX-listed juniors such as Auric Mining and Horizon Minerals, which have made a specialty out of accessing stranded gold assets as the price for the precious yellow metal continues its unrelenting rise.
With gold still trading at close to AU$3800 today, the company’s updated study outlined a production target at that price of 255,000 tonnes grading 2.16 grams per tonne for an accumulated cash surplus of $19.6 million.
Star – which has just shy of 95 million shares on issue and a market cap of $3.32 million – has made a bold statement by expanding its interests to uranium in Namibia. However, it appears to be a smart move given that entry into the sector not only plays to its existing management experience strengths in Africa, but also underscores a long-term strategy of capitalising on the growing demand for the metal, which is driven by the global push towards carbon-neutral energy solutions.
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