China seen retaining enthusiasm for Husab uranium resources

SYDNEY - Extract Resources Ltd expects China will remain keen to expand its nuclear power program and gain access to the explorer's Husab uranium project in Namibia after an earthquake and tsunami damaged reactors in Japan.

"There's strategic and political interest in securing uranium supplies," Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Leslie said in a telephone interview. "If Husab is regarded as being strategically important, which I'm sure it is, I don't think that objective has changed in the last two weeks."

While uranium price volatility and delays in the construction of nuclear power stations are possible after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi plant north of Tokyo, nuclear power will still be "a very important part of the energy mix", Leslie said on Wednesday.