Sep 1 2008
First Uranium Corporation today announced that an exclusive agency agreement has been entered into with the Traxys Group, a global metals, minerals and energy marketing company. As per the agreement, Traxys will market, on an exclusive basis, all of the uranium production from First Uranium's underground Ezulwini Mine and its tailings re-treatment operation at Mine Waste Solutions, except for any uranium that might in future be sold to fulfill South Africa's requirements.
"While our production ramps up, we have agreed to work with Traxys to enter into market-related transactions for short-term delivery at or near uranium spot prices," said Gordon Miller, President and CEO of First Uranium. "Following on from our initial spot sales contract, Traxys will help us enter into long-term contracts with utilities and build a balanced portfolio of sales contracts while maintaining up-side exposure to the market."
At the same time, First Uranium is maintaining regular contact with South Africa's Department of Minerals and Energy (DME), the national power utility (Eskom) and the Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (NESCA) to ascertain domestic uranium requirements to meet South Africa's national security of supply imperatives for its planned nuclear power plants.
First Uranium expects to begin producing yellowcake (ammonium diurinate or ADU) at the Ezulwini Mine in October 2008 and at MWS in early 2009. The Company expects to produce approximately 454,000 pounds of uranium in the current fiscal year, ramping up sharply to approximately 1.7 million pounds in the Company's fiscal year ending March 31, 2010. Over the currently planned 18-year life of its operations, the Company expects to produce an average of approximately 2.1 million pounds of uranium per annum.
"Our near-term objectives are focused upon expanding current gold production, while commissioning the uranium plants at both operations and delivering consistent operational cash flows," added Mr. Miller. "We remain on track to achieve our long-term objective to become a major low-cost uranium producer."