Public consultation meetings held by Rössing on its planned extension of the mine’s operating life beyond the end of this decade, is making good progress.

A decision whether to extend the life of the mine towards 2020 or to close by the end of this decade will be made by the middle of November, after the final report on the results of feasibility

studies has been evaluated.

The Company wishes to thank the public for making its valuable comments raised on the social and environmental issues on the extension of the mine’s life during the Open House Days held in March in Swakopmund, Windhoek and Arandis.

A substantial amount of further planning work has since been done and studies undertaken.

Feasibility studies made good progress investigating engineering aspects of the open pit and tailings dam extensions as well as upgrading of the processing plant, should the life of the mine be extended beyond the end of the decade to 2020.

The mine planning teams are now in the process of conducting more detailed work in preparation for the submission of the final proposal on the future of the mine to shareholders.

As part of Rössing’s broader commitment to the long-term development of the Erongo Region and Namibia, a Sustainability Assessment was commissioned in April 2003. A Namibian firm, SIAPAC, in association with Golder Associates Africa is conducting the assessment. Initial results are expected by the end of July this year.

Evaluation of the effect the planned mine life extension will have on the social, economic and environmental aspects of development in the region.

*Identification of Rössing’s contribution to sustainable develop-ment in the Erongo Region and in Namibia.

Consideration of possible scenarios including an early closure of the mine as a worst case.

As a follow up on the public consul-tation conducted earlier this year, the project team will engage in further discussions with the Erongo Regional Council and the Arandis and Swakopmund Town Councils as well as with other key informants from Government, the communities and business with the purpose to share information about the details of the project and Rössing’s life of mine options. With this the team will gain further insights into the sustainability issues related to the Region and the mine.

The extension project will be registered with the Department of Environmental Affairs for approval at the beginning of July. After the interviews have been completed by mid July and all available

material from environmental studies carried out in the last few months have been reviewed, a preliminary report will be issued to Rössing on the 31 July. This report will satisfy the Environmental Impact Assessment requirement of the Namibian Environmental Assessment Policy and provide information about potential flaws or major issues to be considered during mine life extension.

A draft final report on the positive and negative aspects of extension alternatives will be issued for

public review towards the end of August. After the integration of public comments and review by the study steering committee, the final assessment report will be issued by the middle of September. Should the Ministries of Mines and Energy and Environment and Tourism approve the project, Rössing Uranium Limited will propose the extension to shareholders.

Interested and Affected Parties who registered earlier this year will receive further briefing papers as the studies progress. Registrations are still possible by contacting Rössing Mine in Swakopmund.