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Sleeping giant
Argonaut caught up with uranium hopeful Mantra Resources (MRU) yesterday. Its
flagship Mkuju River project in Tanzania is progressing rapidly, with current focus on
the Nyota and NW Trend anomalies.
Test work on the geology to date has identified multiple thick zones of mineralisation at
depths < 60m, hosted in soft, barely consolidated sandstone host rock (like beach
sand) at impressive grade. With an additional suite of 33 satellite targets, the Company
believes Mkuju River has the hallmarks of a new uranium province.
The market agrees with management to some extent, if you compare MRU’s share price
against others in the sector. Despite the uranium price halving over the last 12 months,
Mantra has blossomed, with its share price surging more than 200% over the
corresponding time frame.
Attractive features for prospective investors include:
× Well funded, with circa ~$35m cash on hand at present;
× Quality register, with ex Canadian LionOre founders and executives recently
acquiring a 19.9% stake;
× Size and scalability of the resource. Whilst no JORC resource has been delineated
as yet, management is so confident that it is running a scoping study in parallel
with the drilling program. Maiden resource and scoping study are set for
completion during the Dec Q 2008;
× Simple metallurgy and low capital cost estimated. A simple scrubbing and either
acid of alkali process have been contemplated at this point. The soft nature of the
host rock and shallow mineralisation suggest that capital costs will not be onerous;
× Short lead time to production with first production slated for 2010;
× Pipeline of quality projects in a pro-mining and uranium province.
There is plenty of news flow on the horizon, with an extensive 50,000m drilling
program at the NW Trend prospect underway following the recent completion of a
11,500m program at Nyota. With a maiden resource and scoping study to come later in
the year, uranium believers could do far worse than MRU at the minute.