GoviEx Uranium advances Muntanga project backed local expertise of new metallurgist - ICYMI

GoviEx Uranium Inc (TSX-V:GXU, OTCQB:GVXXF) head of investor relations Isabel Vilela talked with Proactive about the appointment of Deogratias Bukunkwe as project metallurgist for the company’s Muntanga uranium project in Zambia.

Vilela noted that Bukunkwe, a Zambian national with 25 years of experience, brings strong uranium sector expertise from past roles at Langer Heinrich and Kayelekera.

Proactive: All right, welcome back inside our Proactive newsroom. And joining me now is Isabel Vilela. She is the head of investor relations for GoviEx Uranium. Isabel, it's great to see you again. How are you?

Isabel Vilela: Nice to see you. Very good, thank you.

Good stuff. The company has hired a new metallurgist to join the team. People always talk about the importance of metallurgy in mining. Why is that so significant to a project like yours?

Yeah. We are really excited to have appointed Deogratias Bukunkwe as our project metallurgist for the Muntanga Uranium Project in Zambia. This is a simple open-pit heap leach operation expected to produce about 2.20 million pounds of U3O8 a year. We published a feasibility study for this project in January. Mr. Bukunkwe will help us move from feasibility to project financing. His initial role is to develop the crucial pre-commissioning framework needed for due diligence. Then he’ll move on to commissioning and running the plant.

And it's important that he's a Zambian national. That familiarity must help streamline processes.

Absolutely. Being Zambian really aligns with our strategy of hiring local talent. At the moment, we have 100% local staffing in Zambia. He also brings 25 years of experience as a project metallurgist. He’s worked at Langer Heinrich and Kayelekera, where he delivered a uranium recovery plant. So, he's very experienced in exactly the areas we need.

Let’s talk about the project itself. Give us an update—what’s happening this summer?

We’re very excited. After publishing our feasibility study, our focus this year is the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA). A draft has been submitted to the Zambian Environmental Agency, and we expect final clearance by year-end. We're also working on the Relocation Action Plan, which involves moving a small community. We currently have a 94% approval rate for that. In parallel, we’ve started the project financing process. We’ve received some letters of intent from banks and will update the market as more develops. We're doing everything we can to move the project to the next stage.

Quotes have been lightly edited for clarity and style