Namibia clears Extract to build Husab uranium mine

Extract Resources has won a licence to enlarge its Husab uranium mine in Namibia, which could help push up he price a Chinese suitor can offer for the $2 billion Australia-based company in a widely likely buyout bid.State-owned China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp (CGNPC) is in talks to take over Extract's 43 percent shareholder, Kalahari Minerals, through Husab, the world's fourth-largest uranium deposit, seen as the key target.

Extract said on Wednesday it had established the terms that Namibia's Ministry of Mines and Energy had set for granting a licence for Husab, and the ministry would through the mining commissioner to issue a licence for the project."This marks the final step to achieve all of the permits that we need in order to initiate the development of the Husab Uranium Project," Extract Chief Executive Jonathan Leslie said in a statement.

Extract has been in talks with global miner Rio Tinto to link expansion of Husab with Rio's neighbouring Rossing uranium mine. Rio Tinto owns an 11 percent stake in Kalahari and a 14 percent stake in Extract.CGNPC, which first approach Kalahari in March just previous to 
Japan's Fukushima disaster, has until Dec. 8 to decide whether to go ahead with a for Kalahari or be forced to wait a additional six months before it can come back with another.