Berkeley starts licensing for Salamanca 1

Thursday, 13 October 2011 Berkeley Resources has formally initiated the licensing and permitting process for the development of the Retortillo and Santitad deposits within the Salamanca 1 uranium project in Spain. The deposits are 100%-owned by Berkeley, and Salamanca 1 will now be developed as a stand-alone project, completely independent of Berkeley's joint venture with Spanish company Enusa to resurrect production at Enusa's deposits in the same province. According to Berkeley, this will simplify the route to construction and operation of Salamanca 1, enabling licensing and permitting to proceed through the regional government. The company plans to use a biological heap leaching method to recover the uranium, and says a preliminary feasibility study is due to be completed by the end of the year. A program to upgrade inferred resources to indicated resources at Retortillo and Santitad is ongoing. The company says it expects the final resource estimates for its 100%-owned resources, to be published later this year, will be around 12% down on current resources of 31.7 million pounds (14,380 tonnes).