Berkeley announces further potential cost savings

RNS Number : 9757T

Berkeley Energia Limited

09 July 2018

 

BERKELEY ENERGIA LIMITED

NEWS RELEASE | 9 July 2018 ed ("Berkeley" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that the capital cost review initiated by the Company has identified a number of opportunities to reduce the initial capital expenditure required to bring the mine into production.

Potential savings of up to €9 Million (based on the FEED estimate as announced on 6 July 2017) arise from:

·     optimization of plant capacities within the overall process design,

·     outsourcing of peripheral infrastructure, and

·     reducing initial throughput for production from the Retortillo deposit and right-sizing of the associated plant.

The proposed modifications remain consistent with the future expansion of production from Zona 7 and Alameda.

The initiatives proposed will be taken forward to detailed engineering in parallel with the commencement of planned on-site construction activity, including site preparation, bulk earthworks and initial civil construction works.

Managing Director & CEO, Paul Atherley, said:

"The review has identified potential up-front cost savings at the Salamanca mine which capitalises on the well-established EU infrastructure.

There has been uranium mining in this district for over 40 years and we are immensely proud of the work by our Spanish team who are developing the project to the world's highest environmental standards.

Importantly residents from the surrounding villages will benefit from the creation of over 2,500 direct and indirect jobs within their community.

Over 120,000 people have left the region in the past five years and approximately another 21,000, mainly young people, are expected to leave this year.

Our promise to preferentially hire from the region and training villagers are two of the ways we are helping to rejuvenate an area badly hit by long term depopulation and youth unemployment. 

There is strong local support for our mine from nearby residents, over 25% of whom have applied for jobs with us, and from Salamanca's business community, who turned out in force with over 200 people attending our recent update evening at the historic Colegio Arzobispo Fonseca.

We put our commitment to the local community at the forefront of everything we do, from the local cafés that welcome our workers for their lunches to the local suppliers that are vital to our operations; we want to see the success of this major investment support the success of our neighbours.

Looking forward the €250 million investment by London Main Board listed Berkeley will be an important post Brexit bilateral trade deal.

Our forthcoming listing on the Spanish stock exchange deepens our UK Spanish relationship and paves the way for Spanish institutional investors to own a part of Spain's long standing mining traditions where Rio Tinto was arguably the birthplace of modern mining as we know it today."

For further information please contact:

Berkeley Energia Limited	[phone]
Paul Atherley, Managing Director & CEO	[e-mail]
Sean Wade, Chief Commercial Officer
Berenberg (Joint Broker)	[phone]
Matthew Armitt
James Brooks
Tamesis Partners (Joint Broker)	[phone]
Charles Bendon Richard Greenfield

Forward Looking Statements

Statements regarding plans with respect to Berkeley's mineral properties are forward-looking statements.  There can be no assurance that Berkeley's plans for development of its mineral properties will proceed as currently expected. There can also be no assurance that Berkeley will be able to confirm the presence of additional mineral deposits, that any mineralisation will prove to be economic or that a mine will successfully be developed on any of Berkeley mineral properties. These forward-looking statements are based on Berkeley's expectations and beliefs concerning future events. Forward looking statements are necessarily subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside the control of Berkeley, which could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. Berkeley makes no undertaking to subsequently update or revise the forward-looking statements made in this announcement, to reflect the circumstances or events after the date of that announcement.

 

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