Uramin, the uranium prospector backed by Galahad Gold, is likely to seek some £40 million when it targets AIM shortly.

Galahad, chaired by Canadian financier Ian Watson, has 16 per cent of Uramin, which was initially called Uranco but has changed its name to avoid confusion with another group, Urenco, in the uranium and nuclear power field. Uramin, co-founded and run by two experienced mining figures Adrian Lungan and George Roach, has rights to deposits of an estimated 100 million-to-260 million lbs of uranium in Beaufort West and Springbok Flats in South Africa and Trekkopje in Namibia -- at higher grades than Rio Tinto's long-standing Rossing uranium operation in Namibia.

Uramin has already raised £16.5 million privately in the USA from hedge funds and others at the equivalent of 41.5p. It is expected that the AIM float, with Matrix likely to be nominated adviser, will be priced at between 80p and 110p and will seek to raise about £40 million – scaled back from an original target of £70 million.

The price of uranium has risen from $7 a lb at the end of 2001 to more than $30 today, as nuclear power's rehabilitation gathers pace. The timing looks right for this one.