Australia’s Deep Yellow has postponed the final investment decision on its Tumas uranium project in Namibia. The reason is persistently weak conditions in the equity capital market. The company confirms its confidence in the quality of the asset and is continuing construction work using its own funds.
The decision was originally expected to be announced in the fourth quarter. The timeline has now been pushed back, but the company stresses that the project remains, for it, the next generation of reliable uranium supply.
For now, site preparation is under way. Workers are preparing concrete foundations, installing reinforcement, and carrying out preliminary off-site fabrication of structures. These costs are fully covered from Deep Yellow’s existing cash reserves.
In parallel, the company is preparing a project optimization and an updated cost estimate. The results will be presented as a comprehensive project update once the work is complete.
Deep Yellow Managing Director and CEO Greg Field explained the decision this way: the fundamentals of the global uranium market remain strong, but the equity capital market is limiting financing options for uranium developers. In these circumstances, it makes sense to defer the final decision while maintaining the pace of construction and continuing work on the financing strategy. This will allow Tumas to be ready to move quickly when conditions improve.
The delay shows how strongly the capital market affects the schedules of even high-quality projects. Deep Yellow is keeping the asset in working order so as not to lose time and money when conditions for raising funds become favorable.
Source: MiningWeekly
Image: Deep Yellow
