Aim-listed Kazera Global has received certification from the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) in South Africa, which will allow for the imminent start of mining and the production of heavy mineral sands at its Whale Head Minerals project.

The company has a mining permit over a 5 ha beach deposit of heavy mineral sands in Alexander Bay, in the Northern Cape. The deposit contains predominantly ilmenite and garnet, but with significant amounts of zircon, rutile and, to a lesser extent, monazite.

In June 2023, while arranging test samples for interested offtakers, the company identified that certain elements of the sands were radioactive.

This required all mining operations to be suspended while necessary infrastructure and procedures were put in place to comply with the NNR’s requirements for certification.

The company subsequently built the required facilities and introduced the required operating protocols, with the NNR conducting a detailed review of its application for certification.

This has culminated in the NNR granting the company permission, following a final inspection of the company’s operations later this month, to begin mining and processing at its site. 

The company says it has remained engaged with several potential offtakers in both South Africa and overseas who have approached the company with a view to purchasing its heavy mineral sands.

With the NNR Certificate of Registration now in place, the company says these discussions can be progressed, with samples expected to be provided to the potential offtakers once mining and production commence towards the end of this month.

Following the analysis of these samples, the company expects to be able to finalise contracts with potential offtakers.

Offtake options open to the company range from heavy mineral sands product being sold as run-of-mine at the mine gate, to the introduction of a magnetic separator to sell specific minerals to end-users.

Kazera says a potential offtaker has agreed, in principle, to finance this second option. The company says it will consider all options available to it and seek to balance short-term cashflow generation with longer-term value creation. 

“This is an incredibly exciting time for the company. We have always known that we have a very pure deposit of heavy mineral sands and, while the discovery of radioactive elements meant we had to delay the start of production, the presence of rutile, zircon and monazite, which typically have a much higher commercial value than ilmenite, suggests the value of the deposit is even higher than we had originally thought. 

“With the NNR certificate in hand, the commencement of production imminent, and numerous offtakers competing to buy our product, I believe that Kazera is now in the best position that it has been in since I took the reins as CEO in 2021.

“I am immensely grateful to the whole Kazera team, particularly those in South Africa, for their dedication and perseverance in getting us to this point and to Tracarta and Richard Jennings for facilitating the recent loan to avoid the need to undertake an equity raise pending what we expect to be significant cash flows,” says Kazera Global CEO Dennis Edmonds.