Orapa secures third Malawi prospecting licence

1,283km2 Chizani Exclusive Prospecting Licence Granted.

Significant recent activity from foreign uranium explorers with nearby projects including Globe Uranium Limited and Paladin Energy Limited.

Project area covers untested radiometric anomalies which are interpreted to offer hydrothermal uranium exploration targets over elevated basement complex.

Exploring for uranium and other specified minerals including copper, gold, silver, niobium, rare earths, tantalum, scheelite and wolframite

Substantially expands Oropa's existing uranium portfolio, positioning the company as a significant uranium explorer.

Oropa Limited (ASX: ORP - "Oropa") is pleased to announce that it has secured a significant addition to its uranium exploration portfolio in central Africa after being granted a third Exclusive Prospecting Licence (EPL) covering a total area of 1,283 square kilometres in the Chizani area of central Malawi, located near Globe Uranium Limited's Kanyika Project, ("Globe's").

The grant of the EPL, to Oropa's 100%-owned subsidiary, Oropa Exploration PL, was announced by the Minister of Energy, Mines and Natural Resources of the Republic of Malawi, giving Oropa the right to explore for uranium and other specified minerals including copper, gold, silver, niobium, rare earths, tantalum, scheelite and wolframite within the Chizani Project Area.

The addition of Chizani to the Company's existing portfolio of 100%-owned exploration projects (Mzimba Northwest and Chitunde) increases its total ground position to over 3,600 square kilometres.

In November last year, Oropa entered into Memorandum of Understandings to acquire a 90% interest in two contiguous EPLs, Ngana and Ngana East, located just 20km north of Paladin Energy Ltd's ("Paladin's") Kayelekera Uranium deposit in northern Malawi. The Ngana EPLs represent a significant strategic addition to its uranium exploration portfolio.

The proximity of the Chizani EPL to the nearby Kanyika Project, owned by Globe, provides Oropa with a nearby uranium-niobium-tantalum deposit model to apply to exploration search parameters within the Chizani area. Globe currently has intensive resource definition drilling programs underway at Kanyika, with assay results awaited.

Collectively, Oropa's tenement portfolio in Malawi offers uranium exploration potential for a number of uranium deposit types in specific geological environments including: roll-front, unconformity and hydrothermal styles of uranium mineralisation.

EPL0223/07 - Chizani Project Area

Chizani is situated in central Malawi nearby Globe's multi-commodity Kanyika property, where RC and core drilling of uranium-niobium-tantalum-zircon mineralisation hosted by alkalic granitoid and pegmatitic zones is presently taking place ahead of resource estimation and metallurgical studies. Recently granted tenements in the district are also held by CC Mining SA.

Chizani covers 1283 square kilometres of structurally complex Malawi Basement Complex composed of metamorphic rocks of both igneous and sedimentary origin belonging to the Mozambique Orogenic Belt of Precambrian to Lower Palaeozoic age. A significant structural feature of the Chizani Project area is coverage of over 30 kilometres strike length of the Chimaliro Fault zone. This fault forms the southern boundary of the Champhira Dome and extends into neighbouring Zambia.

Physiographically, the project area may be divided into several units. The most prominent of these include the Kasungu Plain that forms an area of low relief in the western sector and to the northeast abuts the Nkhotakota Scarp Zone where relief exceeds 300 metres in a region of deep dissection. Over northern parts of the project the rugged Viphya Mountains dominate with areas of high relief.

EPLO223/07 covers highly structured metamorphic rocks forming basement represented by gneisses, granulites, schists, quartzites, and mylonites. Granitoid and biotite gneisses are common within the project area. Intrusive rock types include pegmatites and metamorphosed equivalents of mafic and ultramafic rocks. Regionally, quartz syenites, lamprophyres and calc-silicate gneisses interbanded with marble have been identified (see Fig. 1.)

The basement complex is believed to have suffered two major structural and metamorphic events ending with the emplacement of the Champhira Dome as a tectonic wedge. Major post basement complex structuring comprises uplift and rift faulting. The majority of the faulting is on north and northeast trends but subsidiary fractures occur on east northeast trends.

Known previous ground exploration over Chizani appears to have been limited to a regional geochemical stream sediment survey conducted as part of a development programme for Malawi conducted intermittently during the 1960s and early 1970s.

Published information reports a zinc geochemical anomaly associated with the granitoid over the northern sector of the project area, together with anomalous copper, nickel and chromium values over the Champira Dome area - a portion of which falls within Chizani north of the Chimalira Fault. Unfortunately, the historical geochemical surveys excluded analysis for gold and uranium.

Further information on the general prospectivity of Chizani is available from the UNDP-sponsored airborne radiometric survey of the area in 1984/85. A significant number of radiometric anomalies are evident within the property from this work which warrant further investigation and ranking for ground follow-up (see Fig. 2.).

The proximity of Chizani to the nearby Kanyika Project provides Oropa with a nearby uranium-niobium-tantalum deposit model to apply to exploration search parameters within the Chizani area.

Proposed Exploration

Oropa plans to systematically explore Chizani for uranium and other minerals, commencing with a reassessment of the identified radiometric anomalies which will be ranked in order of priority for their prospectivity for uranium occurrences and subsequent ground spectrometer surveys.

This work will be augmented by geological interpretations of the search areas using satellite imagery. Priority targets will then be assessed using a combination of soil, rock and stream sediment surveys in order to outline areas for more intensive exploration. These geochemical studies will be augmented by geological mapping and ground geophysical surveys.

Over areas warranting detailed assessment, systematic trenching of anomalous areas will be undertaken followed by reconnaissance drilling to establish the tenor of mineralisation present both along strike and at depth. It is envisaged that highest priority areas of mineralisation with demonstrated economic potential will be tested first by reconnaissance and in-fill drilling in order to provide sufficient information for a preliminary assessment of resource potential present prior to making a more detailed assessment.

Currently, Oropa is reviewing existing data and plans to acquire satellite imagery covering areas of interest with a view to establishing a GIS database as part of the preparation for ground investigations.

Oropa has established a base in Lilongwe and field operations are planned to recommence after the end of the wet season, which normally ends in late March.

Uranium Exploration in Malawi

Uranium exploration in Malawi presently reflects the high level of interest in the development of the Kayelekera Uranium Project in the north of the country by Paladin. The Kayelekera Uranium Project, where roll-front style mineralisation is hosted by Karroo sandstone and mudstone sediments, is scheduled to be commissioned in late 2008 with a planned annual production of 3.3 Mlbs of U3O8 over a mine life of 7 years based on reported Proven and Probable Ore Reserves of 10.46 Mt at 0.108% U3O8.

Uranium in Malawi is however not limited to Karroo-hosted deposits.

Globe is currently exploring multi-commodity uranium-niobium-tantalum mineralisation associated with 5 northerly trending stacked mineralised zones within an alkalic granitoid at the Kanyika Project in central Malawi. Results from recent drilling programmes indicate that the known mineralisation at Kanyika extends over a strike length of up to 3.4 kilometres with known depth extensions from surface of up to 150 metres. Globe has announced that a JORC compliant resource estimate for a portion of the Kanyika Project is currently being undertaken which is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2008.

Some of the better reported RC drilling intercepts from three of the five mineralised zones at the Kanyika deposit include: 42m @ 79ppm U3O8, 2,922ppm Nb2O5 and 115ppm Ta2O5 from surface, 71m @ 63ppm U3O8, 2,673ppm Nb2O5 and 125ppm Ta2O5 from 46m and 27m @106ppm U3O8, 2,829ppm Nb2O5 and 166ppm Ta2O5 from 51m.

Other known uranium mineralisation in Malawi is based on historical records and includes uranium and niobium mineralisation hosted by nepheline syenite complex intrusions. In the far northwest of the country at the Ilomba Hill locality, surface trenching in the 1950s investigated a radioactive zone where rock samples returned analyses up to 2.15% U3O8 and 7.50% Nb2O5 associated with uranian pyrochlore.

The starting point for area selection for uranium properties in Malawi is the country-wide radiometric surveys conducted in 1984/85 by Hunting Geology and Geophysics Limited based at the time in the United Kingdom. The uranium anomalies and geological settings identified by those surveys are the basis for Oropa's selection of the Chizani area.

Yours faithfully,

OROPA LIMITED

Philip C Christie

Director

Note 1: The contents of this report that relate to geology and historical exploration results are based on information compiled by consulting geologist John Garlick Mackay & Schnellmann Pty Ltd, who is a Chartered Professional Geologist and fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Garlick has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and types of deposits under consideration and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a "Competent Person" as defined in the 2004 edition of the Australian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Resources. John Garlick consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters compiled by him in the form and context in which they appear.

Election troubles in Diocese of Lake Malawi

News from the Diocese of Lake Malawi tells of plans for another election of a bishop regardless of the will of the people. Anglican-Information reports on the situation:

Despite counsel to the contrary Bishop Albert Chama, acting Dean of the Province of Central Africa, is continuing with his plans for a forced election for another bishop in the Diocese of Lake Malawi.
Existing bishop
Readers will recall that the Diocese of Lake Malawi already has a validly elected bishop and that due synodical agreement had been negotiated last year with all parties by the then Dean Bishop Trevor Mwamba of Botswana to resolve the matter of the disputed Court of Confirmation by an independent Provincial Court.

Planned forced election
Subsequently, former Archbishop Bernard Malango managed to persuade the remaining Provincial bishops to accept that new elections should be forced in Lake Malawi, even though they exceeded their constitutional powers in doing so by attempting to overrule synodical processes. It is widely thought that Malango and Bishop Chama are very reluctant to have an independent assessment of the happenings at the original Court of Confirmation, held in November 2005.

Now, following leaking of the dates concerning the proposed forced election, letters have finally gone out from Bishop Chama to parishes in Lake Malawi, ordering an election to take place – to be mysteriously located outside the diocese in Malosa, Upper Shire Diocese, the previous diocese of former Archbishop Malango. It should be noted that this ‘notification’ is also an uncanonical procedure as three months notice should be given and most parishes will be lucky to get three weeks. The article continues below.


The House of Laity of the diocese has written the following letter objecting to the new elections:

House of Laity
Diocese of Lake Malawi
18th January 2008

The Rt Rev Albert Chama
Bishop of Northern Zambia
PO Box 22317
Kitwe
Zambia

His Grace Bishop Chama,

Subject: Election of Bishop of Diocese of Lake Malawi

At an emergency meeting held today at St Peter’s Parish, Lilongwe, we the Laity were saddened to hear that elections for a Bishop of the diocese of lake Malawi are to take place on 16th February 2008 at Malosa in Zomba.

The Laity have agreed unanimously that the elections will not take place until their appeal of the Bishop Elect of the Diocese of Lake Malawi issue is taken to a Provincial Court (Canon 26, 5 &6) for review as is stipulated in the Canons.

You may also wish to be advised that the Laity feel that the current situation in the diocese is not conducive to further elections since there are a lot of internal wrangles still unresolved.

Yours in Christ,

Luke Matchiya
Chair: House of Laity

Copies to:
Vicar General, Diocese of Lake Malawi
All Archdeaconaries, Diocese of Lake Malawi
All Parishes, Diocese of Lake Malawi
All Bishops, Province of Central Africa

The rest of the story, received by email from Anglican-Information is below:

Growing confusion
Unsurprisingly, in the Diocese of Lake Malawi, the situation is becoming confused. Some parishes have still not received notification, some of the clergy have read the letters to their congregations and some have chosen not to. The clergy are in an invidious position torn between obedience to the acting Dean and a reluctance to collude in an uncanonical and contrived election.

An example of the dilemma became evident at a meeting held with the diocesan Vicar General on Friday 18th January with laity and archdeacons present. At the meeting the laity insisted that the elections would not go ahead and that the synodically agreed Provincial Court was the correct procedure. The archdeacons were publicly asked why they had connived with Bishop Chama to support calls for a new election, to which their response was “we have been threated by Bishop Chama that if we do not agree we will lose our jobs”.

In the same vein Chama is reported recently to have told a somewhat surprised (at the audacity) congregation in his diocese of Northern Zambia that he intended “to be the next Archbishop of the Province”. This is a gift that is in the hands of the Provincial bishops not Bishop Chama, however ambitious he may be. It should be noted, however, that Chama would be pleased to have his preferred candidate for Lake Malawi, Henry M’baya (a Malawian priest working in South Africa) elected, as it would strengthen his hand in any future archiepiscopal election; M’baya being a strong supporter of Bishop Bernard Malango who in turn has been Chama’s patron.

However, M’baya’s relatives in Malawi have been contacted and are reported to be surprised and disappointed to discover that there is no desire to have him in the Diocese of Lake Malawi, whilst they had been led to believe by Bishop Chama in person that “there is overwhelming support for his candidacy”.

A rival candidate
In the meantime it is reported that Henry M’baya will have a rival candidate as the Rev’d Frank Dzantenge of Mtunthama parish is to proffer himself. Readers will recall that only a month ago Dzantenge had announced that he was leaving the Province and joining dissident, maverick Bishop Nolbert Kunonga’s ‘new Province’ in Zimbabwe. Dzantenge renounced this two weeks later when he sensed that Kunonga had no support in Zimbabwe.

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION says that mention of Kunonga and his maverick and uncanonical actions in Zimbabwe forces us to remember what is currently going on there. We remember that Kunonga is an old friend of Bishop Albert Chama, who in turn would do well to stick firmly and clearly to proper canonical actions only lest he invite critical comparison with the former Bishop of Harare - and accusations of hypocrisy.

Electoral ‘fiddle’
In short the outcome, following the election of the new Bishop of Lake Malawi in July 2005, under the regimes of Malango and Chama in Lake Malawi has been one big electoral fiddle – thank God for brave laity and clergy who have stood up to it – pray God that some of the bishops who are deeply dissatisfied with what’s going on might do as well. To allow a new flawed election in February to produce a deeply unpopular candidate whose legitimacy is highly questionable would be to store up trouble for years to come.

Resolution
A resolution to all this rests (as it always has) with the bishops, if they can only remember that they are supposed to be the servants of the people not their oppressors. Old style episcopal authoritarianism will not work in the modern age. The people cannot be ‘whipped into line’ and the remaining Provincial Bishops would do well to remember the sad case of ‘imposed’ Zambian Bishop Leonard Mwemba in 2006 who was forced onto the Diocese of Lake Malawi by them with a letter of appointment that said ‘we are your fathers in God and know what is best’ – Mwemba was embarrassingly chased out as an illegitimate usurper within a few weeks.

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION is a network acting as a free conduit for news and information related to the Anglican Diocese of Lake Malawi, and the Province of Central Africa. It is organised by an international team of those who know and love Africa and Malawi well. We reserve the right to reflect on the news as we receive it for the benefit of our worldwide audience.

Malawi says cuts child deaths by 29 percent

Malawi reduced the number of children who die before their fifth birthday by 29 percent in the six years to 2006, Health Minister Marjorie Ngaunje said on Tuesday.

The southern African nation, one of the world's poorest, has grappled with diseases like malaria, the most common cause of mortality in Malawian children under five.

"A 2006 survey showed a decline in the mortality of children under age of five from 189 to 118 per 1,000 live births between 2000 and 2006," Ngaunje said.

She attributed the reduction to improved immunization, the provision of vitamin supplements and the elimination of the fatal neonatal tetanus disease.

Heightened malaria control and increased rates of exclusive breastfeeding, which increased from 3 percent in 1992 to 56 percent in 2006, as well as access to safe drinking water, had also helped, Ngaunje said.

On Tuesday, the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said about 9.7 million children die each year before their fifth birthday, mostly from diseases that could be prevented with simple, affordable measures.

Sub-Saharan Africa has fared worst of the world's regions and now accounts for 49 percent of under-five deaths worldwide but only 22 percent of births. A child born there has a one-in-six chance of dying before turning five. (Reporting by Mabvuto Banda; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Action Aid International-Malawi Launches Hunger Free Campaign

In Malawi, the government, non-profit organizations and other stakeholders have introduced a new initiative to combat hunger. The move – called Hunger Free – is part of a worldwide campaign to eliminate hunger in poor countries. The campaign in Malawi aims to introduce laws that guarantee the right to food for all so hunger can be cut in half by the year 2015. Voice of America English to Africa Service reporter Lameck Masina in Blantyre says for the past two years, Malawi has been making progress in efforts to grow enough food to feed the country.

Statistics from agriculture experts show that this year, farmers harvested more than three million metric tons of the main staple, maize. That’s a surplus of over one million metric tons.

But despite that achievement, there are still pockets of people threatened by hunger.

The hardest hit areas include the towns of Kasungu, Nsanje, Chikwawa and Karonga in the north. In Kasungu, the food shortage is largely attributed to a dry spell that lasted for months, while in the other three towns, it’s due to flooding.

The government, Action Aid and other NGO’s are working to ensure that all hungry Malawians have access to food. The government has approved the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy, part of its commitment to the goal set by the UN and AU to cut hunger and poverty in half by 2015.

Heading the effort in Malawi is Chandiwira Chisi. He’s the Governance and Campaigns Coordinator for ActionAid Malawi, with a background in demographic studies.

He says the campaign will make sure there are enough laws to guarantee that all Malawians have access to food. The laws, he says, also will aim to ensure that women have the right to own land. They’ll also help Malawians hold the government, individuals and corporations accountable under certain circumstances – such as lack of political will or mismanagement leading to a loss of access to food, water, land and seeds.

He says, “Basically, in the first place, we are saying there has to be a way (for) government (to) ensure that the gains that have been made should be sustained in the area of food and nutrition security. For instance, if we now have enough maize or enough food on the ground, is it not possible for us to come up with a law that could guarantee the realization to food for every Malawian?”

In the past, observers attributed most of the hunger problem to what they saw as the government’s failure to properly handle food items.

In 2004, the Malawian government sold the entire maize surplus to Kenya and Mozambique--a development that led to Malawi’s worst bout of hunger and to the deaths of children.

He says if adequate laws had been in place then, there would have been a mechanism for the people of Malawi to bring the issue to the government’s attention.

Another development that critics have described as a flaw in the official food policy is the government’s decision to donate some of the surplus maize to neighboring countries. This year, the government has donated five thousand metric tons each of grain in Malawi’s storage silos to Swaziland and Lesotho. It also sold 400,000 metric tons to Zimbabwe. The action – which was initially considered a goodwill gesture -- has boomeranged, and Malawi is now left with a surplus of about 80,000 tons. Agriculture experts say that’s too little to feed the 13 million Malawians in the event of another hunger crisis. But the government maintains there is enough maize to feed the population until the next harvest period.

Besides the proposed law, there are already political measures underway to improve food security.

The AU project and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) is calling on countries to increase the amount of funding allotted to their ministries of agriculture.

Chisi says the government has already taken action to meet the request.

“We are aware that over the years, budgetary allocation for Ministry of Agriculture has shifted from three percent to about 13 percent. These are political commitments on the part of government and we believe with concerted effort we can be able to look at hunger as history by 2015,” he says.

Malawi’s ActionAid coordinator also says his organization, in coordination with local non-governmental organizations, is currently trying to come up with a Right to Food Bill, which is currently being drafted.

This means that Malawians will still have to wait a bit longer before their right to food is supported by legislation.

Chisi says there is no public opposition to the campaign for the law, even the government supports it. He says it should only be a matter of months before Malawians have another tool in the arsenal to ensure food is distributed fairly and responsibly.

ActionAid has launched similar campaigns in Brazil, Nigeria, Malawi, Senegal, Mozambique, Ghana and Vietnam.

Fruit trees planted in Malawi thanks to aluminium recycling

A FRUIT tree will be planted in Malawi for every tonne of aluminium drinks cans and foil recycled in Ribble Valley over the next two years.
Ribble Valley Borough Council has signed up to a scheme launched by aluminium recycling organisation Alupro and British charity Ripple Africa, aimed at tackling de-forestation and establishing new fruit drying and juicing businesses.

Ribble Valley Borough Council's waste management officer, Peter McGeorge, said: "As recycling aluminium is 20 times more efficient than making it from the raw material, bauxite, recycling drinks cans and foil saves large amounts of energy and thanks to this scheme will also contribute towards planting 85,000 trees in rural Malawi.

"The potential for this scheme to make a real difference to building a sustainable future in Malawi is enormous. At the moment, the only fruit trees in the area are imported in small numbers from South Africa, so combining a good source of fruit tree stock with training at Ripple Africa's demonstration nursery is going to help a lot of people.

"All Ribble Valley residents have to do to ensure this happens is recycle their aluminium drinks cans and clean foil containers. The more aluminium that is recycled, the more fruit trees will be planted."

About half the new trees will be grown from seed in 75 existing nurseries and the remainder produced in new greenhouses at Ripple Africa's base on Lake Malawi, before being sold to individuals and small community businesses.

Ribble Valley residents can recycle their aluminium in their blue wheelie bin or, if they are not yet part of the council's three-stream waste collection scheme, at their nearest Household Waste Disposal Centre.

Further details are available at www.ribblevalley.co.uk