RIO

By Colin Kellaher

Uranium Energy Corp. on Wednesday said it agreed to buy the Roughrider uranium development project in Canada from mining giant Rio Tinto PLC for $150 million in cash and stock.

Uranium Energy said it will pay $80 million in cash and issue about 17.8 million shares valued at $70 million in exchange for the project, located in the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan.

The company said it plans to fund the cash portion of the acquisition--which it expects to complete by the end of the month--through its current balance sheet, which has more than $173 million in cash and liquid assets.

The deal would make Rio Tinto the third-largest shareholder of Uranium Energy, according to data from FactSet.

Uranium Energy said Roughrider is a development-stage, conventional uranium project located near its existing Athabasca Basin properties. Roughrider was discovered in 2008 by Hathor Exploration Ltd., which was acquired by Rio Tinto in early 2012.

Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 12, 2022 07:17 ET (11:17 GMT)

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