Deep Yellow raises N$2.7bn for Tumas

Deep Yellow has received binding commitments to raise A$220 million, more than N$2.7 billion, to move its Tumas uranium project in Namibia towards production.

The Australian uranium mid-cap company will raise the funds through the issue of 179 591 836 fully paid ordinary shares at an issue price of A$1.225 per share.

The placement was strongly supported by both new and existing domestic and international institutional investors, with demand exceeding the funds Deep Yellow sought to raise through it.

“We are very pleased with the success of the placement raising A$220 million, buoyed by the overwhelming level of interest to participate, and would like to thank all existing and new investors for their support,” Deep Yellow managing director and CEO John Borshoff said in a statement on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) yesterday.



Mine

The ministry of mines and energy in December 2023 issued a mining licence for Deep Yellow’s flagship Tumas.

The company expects a final investment decision late in the third quarter of this year.

Should investors give it the go-ahead, Deep Yellow will start constructing Tumas as Namibia’s fourth uranium mine. Tumas is expected to start producing uranium in 2026.

Tumas will have life of mine of 22.5 years, with the potential to expand it by ten or more years.

Its ore reserves are 67.3 million pounds (Mlb) and the mine is expected to produce 3.6 Mlb per year.



Placement

“The significant interest in the placement and quantum of equity raised represents an important milestone in the development of Deep Yellow, allowing us to materially advance the Tumas Project and bring an important greenfield conventional uranium project into production within the next three years,” Borshoff said yesterday.

“This is the result of a consistently applied, focused 7-year strategy based on the foresight that the uranium supply squeeze currently being experienced was inevitable. This strategy has been supported by a proven, highly credentialed and experienced uranium team that has successfully assembled a relevant pipeline of geographically diverse projects through both organic and inorganic growth endeavours,” he added.

According to Borshoff: “Crucially, Deep Yellow is well-positioned and this is timed perfectly.”

“With the funds raised, we can now move forward with confidence in progressing the development of our two advanced uranium projects while extracting the full resource potential from our highly prospective exploration projects and continuing with our successful M&A strategy to grow our project pipeline to be ready for more, much-needed future development,” he added.



Spend

Deep Yellow spent nearly N$167 million on its operations in Namibia in its past financial year.

The biggest chunk of Deep Yellow’s total spent of about 12.8 million Australian dollars (A$) was operating costs of nearly A$11.4 million, according to the company’s 2023 Sustainability Report.

The company paid nearly N$18 million in wages and benefits locally.

The group boosted government revenue by N$493 758, while it invested N$456 466 in community projects in Namibia.

The vast majority of Deep Yellow’s procurement expenses in Namibia in its 2023 book-year was spent at local suppliers.