Berkeley up on mining licence
UPDATE 2.20pm: Shares in Berkeley Resources were higher after the company announced it had secured a mining licence for its Retortillo deposit, part of the uranium explorer's wider Salamanca project in Spain.
The Ian Middlemas-chaired company described the licence as a major milestone for the company.
The licence is valid for an initial period of 30 years and may be renewed for two additional periods of 30 years.
It covers an area of 25.2sqkm and includes the entire area containing the Retortillo mineral resource estimate.
Retortillo is the first resource from which production is scheduled to commence, with the separate Alameda and other satellite deposits expected to come online later.
Salamanca hosts a mineral resource estimated at 61.6 million pounds of contained uranium oxide with an average grade of 427 parts per million (at a cut-off grade of 200 parts per million).
Berkeley believes Salamanca has the potential to support a significant scale, long-life, low-cost uranium operation.
Shares in the company closed up 2.5 cents, or 9.62 per cent, at 28.5 cents.
