Kennedy talks up Tantalite Valley's tantalising future

Kennedy Ventures was talking up the tantalising future at its majority-owned tantalite operation on Wednesday - the Tantalite Valley mine in southern Namibia.

The AIM-traded firm focusing on tantalite production through its 75% holding in African Tantalum (Aftan), said the first delivery of the mine's high grade tantalite concetrate to its offtake partner was now expected to take place at the end of February.

Kennedy's board said full receipt of the explosives magazines licences also enabled Aftan to take delivery of and store explosives at the mine.

Blasting faces had been fully prepared, and blasting was now taking place at all four main adits of the Homestead deposit, the company said, generating substantial volumes of underground high grade ore.

Plant tonnages were also continuing to ramp up to the planned 10,500 tonnes per month, with increasingly improved performance and delivery of high grade concentrate.

The company said demand from the offtake partner remained high.

"The company's investment in Aftan continues to represent the launch pad for Kennedy Ventures to take advantage of further investment opportunities in the sector", said CEO Peter Hibberd.

"After a slight delay, Aftan is now positioned to deliver substantially improved performance from both mine and plant", he added.