CHAMWE KAIRA
Deep Yellow has appointed Nedbank Limited as mandated lead arranger and sole book runner to coordinate the project financing for the Tumas Project.
Nedbank has a strong track record in uranium project financing and will form a banking syndicate and will oversee the due diligence and documentation process.
“Nedbank has an extensive track record in financing mining projects across Africa, including uranium, and previously worked with the current Deep Yellow management team in leading project financings for a uranium project in Namibia and a second African project. It is this strong working relationship and Nedbank’s extensive experience which was key to the appointment. The appointment represents a key milestone in Deep Yellow’s development plan for the Tumas Project,” Deep Yellow said.
The proposed project financing is expected to deliver a competitively priced cost of funding for project development. Key to this process from a Deep Yellow perspective will be working with Nedbank to implement the optimal level of offtake commitments required to access debt funding, whilst ensuring maximum upside uranium price exposure.
Deep Yellow Managing Director and CEO John Borshoff said over the past seven years Deep Yellow has focused on building a company that is uniquely positioned in the uranium sector with two substantial greenfield projects and to become a producer with multiple mines during this decade.
“In this context, we are very pleased to be initiating the project financing process for the Tumas development, particularly to be working with Nedbank again. Their extensive experience in Africa with a strong track record in financing uranium projects combined with our economically and technically robust project is a perfect match.”
Borshoff said the project finance process will run in parallel to the detailed engineering currently underway and that the company aim to be in a position to announce final investment decision in the last quarter of 2024 and said it is pleasing that its schedule is holding for production start-up during the third quarter of 2026.
“The company will provide further details about the project financing arrangements when financing has been secured and binding agreements have been entered into. Any binding agreements will remain subject to other milestones including offtake agreements, “said Borshoff.
The Ministry of Mines and Energy issued the mining licence for the Tumas Project in September last year. The licence is valid for 20 years from date of issue and allows Deep Yellow to progress the project towards production, establishing Tumas as the fourth uranium mine in Namibia.
