Uranium Resources to Divest Roca Honda Property for $2.5 Million Cash and Other Consideration
Uranium Resources Inc. (NASDAQ:URRE) announced today that it has entered into a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE MKT: UUUU; TSX: EFR) related to the purchase and exchange of certain uranium properties in New Mexico for the mutual benefit of both companies.
Under the LOI, Uranium Resources (URI or the Company) and its subsidiaries have agreed, subject to the execution of definitive documentation, to transfer ownership of URI €™s Roca Honda Project, including mineral fee lands and unpatented lode mining claims in Sections 8 and 17 of Township 13 North, Range 8 West, covering approximately 1,240 acres, as well as the leased Endy Claims of 3,382 acres (together known as the Roca Honda Assets), to Energy Fuels or its subsidiaries (EFR). In exchange, URI will receive from EFR at closing:
- US$2.5 million in cash,
- US$375,000 value in Energy Fuels €™ UUUU shares, based on the volume weighted average price of EFR €™s stock on the NYSE MKT stock exchange for the 20 trading days ending on May 26, 2015 and subject to a four-month hold period from the date of closing,
- EFR €™s 4% gross royalty covering 5,640 acres on seven mineral leases in the State of Wyoming at the Kendrick and Barber areas of the Lance uranium in-situ recovery project, which is currently under construction by Peninsula Energy Limited,
- Unpatented lode mining claims covering 640 acres in Section 4 of Township 16 North, Range 18 West, located near Churchrock, New Mexico, which are contiguous with Uranium Resources €™ Churchrock Project, as well as claims in Section 34 and leases from the State of New Mexico in Sections 32 and 36, all situated in Township 17 North, Range 16 West (Churchrock Claims), and
- URI retains a 4% royalty on Section 17 of the Roca Honda Assets. The royalty can be repurchased by Energy Fuels upon payment to URI of US$5.0 million cash at any time in the Company €™s sole discretion prior to the date on which the first royalty payment becomes due.
Definitive documentation on the terms above is expected to be executed in early June 2015 with closing planned by the end of June 2015, subject to customary conditions, including applicable stock exchange approvals.
The Churchrock Claims that URI will receive in this transaction will expand the resource base of its existing Churchrock property. However, there is no change in the projected timeframe for URI €™s Churchrock Project as it applies to the Company €™s mid-term path to production. While the Churchrock Claims provide upside for resource expansion in the future and may provide future mine planning flexibility, URI has no immediate plans for exploration drilling and engineering work at the Churchrock Project.
The Roca Honda Assets are contiguous with Energy Fuels €™ 60%-owned Roca Honda Project.
Christopher M. Jones, President and Chief Executive Officer of Uranium Resources, said, €œWe are pleased to have worked with Energy Fuels to achieve this strategic consolidation for our respective shareholders. We have now completed the full monetization of our Roca Honda properties in a two-step process we began last year. €
About Uranium Resources
Uranium Resources Inc. was incorporated in 1977 to explore, develop and recover uranium. Uranium Resources has two licensed and currently idled processing facilities and approximately 17,000 acres of prospective in situ recovery (ISR) projects in Texas. In New Mexico, the Company holds a federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission license to recover up to three million pounds of uranium per year using the ISR process at certain properties and controls minerals rights encompassing approximately 195,000 acres in the prolific Grants Mineral Belt in New Mexico, which holds one of the largest known concentrations of sandstone-hosted uranium deposits in the world. The Company acquired these properties along with an extensive uranium information database of historic drill hole logs, assay certificates, maps and technical reports for the Western United States.
Cautionary Statement
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions and are identified by words such as "expects," "estimates," "projects," "anticipates," "believes," "could," and other similar words. All statements addressing operating performance, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will occur in the future, including but not limited to statements relating to the execution of definitive documentation related to the transaction with EFR, the terms and conditions of the definitive documentation for the transaction, the anticipated timing and closing of the transaction, the anticipated benefits from the transaction and the Company €™s path to production are forward-looking statements. Because they are forward-looking, they should be evaluated in light of important risk factors and uncertainties. These risk factors and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, (a) the ability of the Company and EFR to agree on definitive documentation relating to the transaction in a timely manner or at all, (b) the Company's ability to raise additional capital in the future, (c) spot price and long-term contract price of uranium, (d) the Company's ability to reach agreements with current royalty holders, (e) weather conditions, operating conditions at the Company's projects, (f) government and tribal regulation of the uranium industry and the nuclear power industry, (g) world-wide uranium supply and demand, (h) availability of capital, (i) maintaining sufficient financial assurance in the form of sufficiently collateralized surety instruments and other factors which are more fully described in the Company's documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of the Company's underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those currently anticipated. In addition, undue reliance should not be placed on the Company's forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any obligation to update or publicly announce any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements contained in this news release.
Learn more about URI at
www.uraniumresources.com
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Contact
Uranium Resources Inc.
Wendy Yang, 303-531-0478
Investor Relations
wyang-ir@uraniumresources.com