Newly suspended from AIM, Reefton Mining says it is seeking a meeting with the Namibian government over its refusal to allow Reefton to explore for nuclear fuels.

Yesterday, shares in Western Australia-based Reefton were suspended at a lowly 2p when accountant Grant Thornton resigned as nominated adviser and HB Corporate then quit as the company's broker. These moves followed a short-lived share price flurry back in March when Reefton highlighted uranium potential in its licence areas at the Erongo project in central Namibia.

Chairman Bradley Moore has now told the Australian Stock Exchange that Namibia's Ministry of Mines and Energy has refused to include 'nuclear fuels', in other words uranium, within the scope of exploration activities permitted under its Erongo licences. The ministry alleges Reefton had explored for uranium without legal rights, but Moore maintains the company did inform the ministry when its testing revealed higher levels of uranium than expected and duly applied for its inclusion in the exploration licence.

Namibia's Mines Minister Erkii Nghimtina has also suggested the Erongo uranium indications are not new, but based on old data published by the Geological Survey of Namibia. Moore riposts by claiming Reefton's detailed work in March 'significantly enhanced the prospectivity of the area' and says the company will seek a meeting with the minister 'at his earliest convenience'.

Grant Thornton picked up much African resource business through its specialist practitioner Brian Moritz, who later left to play a direct role in several exploration companies, including Phil Edmonds' White Nile. The accounting firm is being tight-lipped over why it resigned as Reefton's Nomad, saying only 'conditions were not suitable for mutually beneficial relations'.