Uranium and gold company Neo Energy Metals has informed shareholders that it and Sibanye-Stillwater have extended the deadlines to secure regulatory approvals from South Africa's Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) for the acquisition of the Beatrix 4 Shaft mining right by six months.

The companies had initially expected the DMPR to approve the carve-out of the Beatrix 4 Shaft mining right, inclusive of the Beisa uranium project, by June this year (Step 1), and approval for the transfer of the Beatrix 4 Shaft mining right to Neo Energy (Step 2) by December.

However, as at June 4, the DMPR has yet to grant approval to Sibanye-Stillwater for the carve out of the Beatrix 4 Shaft mining right. Neo Energy and Sibanye-Stillwater have, therefore, extended the deadline for this approval to December 6.

Once that approval has been secured, Neo Energy will seek approval for the transfer of the Beatrix 4 Shaft mining right. The deadline for this regulatory requirement has been extended to June 2027.

"While we had hoped for completion of Step 1 regulatory approvals, these are administrative processes and they routinely can take additional time. Our engagement with the DMPR is constructive, there are no substantive objections on the table and we expect positive outcomes on both applications. Our teams are fully engaged in preparing New Beisa for development and our confidence in this project and our December 2027 first production target is unchanged," Neo Energy CEO and COO Theo Botoulas assures shareholders.

Neo Energy, which is listed on the LSE and South Africa's A2X Markets, is also planning a potential listing on the JSE main board this year. The company has secured two projects, New Beisa and Henkries, in South Africa, with a combined resource of 31.5-million pounds of uranium and 1.2-million ounces of gold.

The New Beisa uranium/gold project, to be known as the New Beisa Node, is a brownfield uranium and gold development located on the Beatrix 4 Shaft property, near Virginia, in the Free State Goldfields. Neo Energy expects initial production at about 810 000 lb/y of uranium and 52 000 oz/y of gold.

The Henkries uranium project, to be known as The Henkries Node, is a near-surface, palaeochannel-hosted uranium deposit in the Northern Cape. A 2024 feasibility study for the project indicates production of about 580 000 lb/y of uranium. The initial capital requirement to develop the project is estimated to be $65-million.