Ilala Metals is hoping to follow on from the last generation of promising uranium explorers in Botswana.

A new float set for the ASX in 2024 will capture the growing enthusiasm for uranium and Australian investors’ growing comfort with Botswana.
Ilala Metals Ltd is set to hit the bourse in the new year after an IPO chief executive Andrew Pedley is confident will attract plenty of interest due to its commodity and geographic focus.
“The main focus is Botswana, specifically uranium and copper within Botswana,” Pedley told Paydirt recently. “I’m a big believer in Botswana and Australian investors are very comfortable with it given the recent success of companies such as Sandfire Resources [Ltd]. And you can’t beat uranium which is outperforming every other commodity and although copper has been weaker in the last six months, the next 10-15 years will require a doubling of production.”
Botswana’s potential for both copper and uranium has been brought into sharp relief in 2023. On the base metal front, the Southern African country is now established as the world’s most prospective region for sedimentary-hosted copper deposits. Sandfire opened its 50,000 tpa Motheo copper mine there earlier this year and Cupric Canyon’s 150,000 tpa Khoemacau copper operation is at the centre of an intense bidding war among the likes of South32 Ltd and MMG Ltd.
On the uranium front, Lotus Resources Ltd is set to acquire fellow ASX-listed company A-Cap Resources Ltd and its 190 mlb Letlhakane uranium project in the country’s north-east (see page 36).
The Ilala portfolio is tapping this enthusiasm.
“The projects were actually put together in 2020 but it was only recently as uranium became very strong, that there was a realisation that we had a great set of projects which would generate a lot of interest on listing,” Pedley said.
The undoubted lead asset is the Serule uranium project near Francistown and along strike of Lethlakane.
“Serule is early stage but has huge potential, it is probably the most sought-after uranium project in Botswana now,” Pedley explained. “It is next door to Lethlakane and there is plenty of evidence the paleochannel mineralisation extends into our licence with three holes already drilled intersecting uranium.”
With the target clearly defined, Ilala hopes to have Serule well advanced before listing, with plans to confirm mineralisation with drilling and complete some desktop studies on its suitability to in situ recovery techniques prior to listing. In situ recovery (ISR) accounts for nearly half of global uranium extraction and its low impact methodology brings significant environmental and economic advantages.