/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES/
VANCOUVER, Dec. 11, 2019 /CNW/ - Uranium Royalty Corp.
(TSX-V: URC) ("URC" or the "Company") is pleased to announce
that its common shares will commence trading on the TSX Venture
Exchange ("TSX-V") today at market open under the symbols
"URC". The warrants issued by the Company under its initial
public offering (the "IPO") will commence trading on the
TSX-V under the symbol "URC.WT" at market open on
December 12, 2019.
With the previously announced completion of the Company's
oversubscribed and upsized $30
million IPO and the completion of its TSX-V listing, URC
becomes the first publicly-traded pure play uranium royalty
company, positioning the Company to partake in future opportunities
as a non-dilutive capital provider for uranium developers.
URC's competitive advantages include:
- First Mover Advantage: URC is the first company to apply
the successful royalty and streaming business model exclusively to
the uranium sector.
- Strong Balance Sheet: URC currently has
approximately $40 million of cash and
listed securities and no debt, which positions it to capitalize on
accretive uranium royalty and streaming acquisition
opportunities.
- Physical Uranium Ownership: Through its approximately 9%
stake in London-listed Yellow Cake
plc, URC holds interests in physical uranium, acquired at cyclical
lows.
- Large and Diversified Royalty Portfolio: With the
acquisition of three additional royalties, URC's royalty portfolio
includes interests on development, advanced, permitted and
past-producing uranium projects in multiple jurisdictions with
aggregate JORC and 43-101 resources of 271 million pounds
U3O8 of measured and indicated resources and
148 million pounds U3O8 of inferred resources
(not including any historic resources on Rio Tinto's Roughrider
project). See Table 1 below.
- Expertise: URC management and board possess decades of
uranium industry experience, including senior executive and
advisory roles to prominent companies and governments in the
sector.
"On behalf of URC, I would like to thank our existing and new
shareholders for their support throughout this successful IPO
process. Global reactor growth is at robust levels and utilities
are finally returning to more normal procurement levels as the
significant gap between production and consumption is accelerating
drawdown of excess supplies. Additionally, we believe nuclear power
will continue to play a lead role in combatting climate change and
carbon emissions. We expect that the need for new production
will emerge and royalties and streams present an attractive source
of alternative finance to meet global requirements," said
Scott Melbye, President and CEO of
URC.
Additional Royalty Acquisitions
The Company is pleased to announce that it has completed its
previously announced acquisitions of three additional North
American based royalties, being:
(i) a 1.97% net smelter
return royalty on the Roughrider Uranium Project, owned by Rio
Tinto plc ("Rio");
(ii) a 2.0% gross revenue
royalty on the Michelin Project, owned by Paladin Energy Ltd.
("Paladin") and Électricité de France (EDF); and
(iii) a 0.5% net profit
interest royalty on the Reno Creek Project, owned by Uranium Energy
Corp. ("UEC").
Roughrider Uranium Project, Saskatchewan, Canada
The Roughrider project (the "Roughrider") is a
development stage, conventional uranium project located in the
eastern Athabasca Basin of
northern Saskatchewan. The project
is located approximately seven kilometers north of Points North
Landing, 11 km west of the McClean Lake Mill, and covers an area of
approximately 598 hectares. Roughrider is 100% owned by a wholly
owned subsidiary of Rio.
Roughrider was the flagship asset of Hathor Exploration Ltd.,
which Rio acquired for US$550 million
in 2012 pursuant to a take-over bid that included a competing bid
from Cameco Corp. The Roughrider royalty also applies to the
Russell Lake and Russell Lake South
projects, which are considered to be early exploration stage
projects, located in the south-eastern rim of the Athabasca Basin, immediately southeast of
Denison Mines' Waterbury Lake
Project.
The Company acquired the Roughrider royalty pursuant to an
agreement with the former holders for total consideration of
$5,910,300, one-half of which was
paid in cash and one-half of which was paid by the issuance of
1,969,964 units on the same terms as the units issued under the
IPO.
Hathor Exploration Ltd. previously disclosed the following
historical mineral resource estimate for the Roughrider
project:
(i) for the Roughrider West
Zone, an indicated resource of 17.21 million pounds of
U3O8 (0.39 million tonnes at an average grade
of 1.98% U3O8) and an inferred resource of
10.60 million pounds of U3O8 (0.04 million
tonnes at an average grade of 11.03% U3O8);
and
(ii) for the Roughrider East
Zone, an inferred resource of 30.13 million pounds of
U3O8 (0.12 million tonnes at an average grade
of 11.58% U3O8).
The Company is treating the foregoing estimate as historical in
nature and disclosing it for illustrative purposes as it believes
it provides readers with relevant information on the project. A
qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the
historical estimate as current mineral resources. There are no
other recent estimates or data available to the Company for the
project as of the date hereof. A detailed study of the current
technical data relating to the property, together with the
preparation of an updated development plan is required to be
conducted in order to update such historical estimate as a current
resource estimate. There are numerous uncertainties inherent in the
historical estimate, which is subject to all of the assumptions,
parameters and methods used to prepare such historical estimate.
For further information regarding Roughrider, please refer to Table
1 below and the technical report titled "Technical Report on the
Roughrider Uranium Deposit Royalty, Saskatchewan" with an effective date of
October 23, 2019, prepared for URC by
Terra Modelling Services Inc. and authored by Pieter I. Du Plessis,
P.Geo.
Michelin Project, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
The Michelin Project ("Michelin") is a development stage
conventional uranium project located in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada; the project covers
approximately 69,800 hectares of mineral licenses and is located
approximately 140 km north of Happy
Valley-Goose Bay, and 40 km southwest of Postville, Newfoundland and Labrador. The Michelin project is indirectly
55% owned by Paladin.
The royalty on Michelin was acquired by the Company pursuant to
a royalty purchase agreement with Altius Minerals Corporation and
its subsidiary for total consideration of $4,250,000, which was satisfied by the Company by
issuing 2,833,332 units on the same terms as the units issued under
the IPO.
Reno Creek Project, Wyoming,
USA
The Reno Creek Project ("Reno Creek") is a development
stage ISR uranium project located in the Pumpkin Buttes Uranium
District in Campbell County,
Wyoming, in the south-central portion of the Powder River
Basin. The Reno Creek Project is fully permitted up to an annual
production rate of 2 million pounds U3O8. The
project is indirectly 100% owned by UEC.
The consideration paid by URC to acquire its royalty on the Reno
Creek project was US$225,000, paid in
cash to certain funds managed by Pacific Road Capital, being the
vendors of the royalty.
Yellow Cake PLC Investment
URC owns 7.6 million shares of London-listed Yellow Cake PLC
("Yellow Cake") as of the date hereof, or approximately 9%
of the outstanding shares of outstanding Yellow Cake. Such shares
were acquired as part of URC's US$19.25
million cornerstone strategic investment in Yellow Cake
US$200 million initial public
offering in July 2018. As previously disclosed, the Company
utilized part of the proceeds from its IPO to fully repay and
retire a CDN$12.8 million
(US$9.7 million) senior secured
credit facility that had been used to finance its acquisition of
Yellow Cake shares. An element of the strategic partnership
with Yellow Cake entitles URC the option to acquire up to
US$31.25 million of physical uranium
under Yellow Cake's long-term supply agreement with Kazatomprom,
which is based in Kazakhstan and
is the world's largest uranium producer.
About Uranium Royalty Corp.
Uranium Royalty Corp. is a pure-play uranium royalty company
focused on gaining exposure to uranium prices by making strategic
investments in uranium interests, including royalties, streams,
debt and equity investments in uranium companies, as well as
through holdings of physical uranium. The Company's strategy
recognizes the inherent cyclicality of valuations based on uranium
prices, including the impact of such cyclicality on the
availability of capital within the sector and the current
historically low pricing environment. The Company intends to
execute on its strategy by leveraging the deep industry knowledge
and expertise of its management team and the Board to identify and
evaluate investment opportunities in the industry. The Company's
management and the Board include individuals with over 130 years of
combined experience in the uranium and nuclear energy sectors,
including specific expertise in mine finance, project
identification and evaluation, mine development, nuclear fuel
management and uranium sales and trading.
Table 1 – Summary of Global Mineral Resources for Projects
Underlying Royalties
Resources(1)
|
Deposit
|
Measured
|
Indicated
|
Total Measured and
Indicated
|
Inferred
|
Tonnes
|
Grade
|
U3O8
|
Tonnes
|
Grade
|
U3O8
|
Tonnes
|
Grade
|
U3O8
|
Tonnes
|
Grade
|
U3O8
|
(millions)
|
(%
U3O8)
|
(mmlb)
|
(millions)
|
(%
U3O8)
|
(mmlb)
|
(millions)
|
(%
U3O8)
|
(mmlb)
|
(millions)
|
(%
U3O8)
|
(mmlb)
|
Existing
Royalties
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anderson (open
pit)(2)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
25.42
|
0.03
|
15.50
|
25.42
|
0.03
|
15.50
|
4.63
|
0.02
|
2.50
|
Anderson
(underground)(2)
|
|
|
|
1.43
|
0.05
|
1.50
|
1.43
|
0.05
|
1.50
|
8.36
|
0.05
|
9.50
|
Slick
Rock(3)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
2.31
|
0.23
|
11.60
|
Workman
Creek(4)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
2.92
|
0.09
|
5.54
|
Langer
Heinrich(5)
|
66.20
|
0.05
|
71.87
|
18.80
|
0.04
|
17.96
|
85.00
|
0.05
|
89.84
|
6.25
|
0.04
|
5.79
|
Church
Rock(6)
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
30.73
|
0.08
|
50.82
|
Dewey-Burdock(7)
|
4.72
|
0.13
|
13.78
|
2.11
|
0.07
|
3.16
|
6.83
|
0.11
|
16.94
|
0.66
|
0.06
|
0.82
|
Lance(8)
|
3.40
|
0.05
|
3.70
|
11.10
|
0.05
|
12.10
|
14.50
|
0.05
|
15.80
|
36.20
|
0.05
|
37.80
|
Michelin(9)
|
17.80
|
0.10
|
38.00
|
36.60
|
0.08
|
67.60
|
54.40
|
0.09
|
105.60
|
13.10
|
0.08
|
22.10
|
Reno
Creek(10)
|
13.60
|
0.04
|
12.92
|
15.40
|
0.04
|
13.07
|
29.00
|
0.04
|
26.00
|
1.74
|
0.04
|
1.49
|
Historical
Resources(11)
|
Roughrider West
Pit(12)
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
0.39
|
1.98
|
17.21
|
0.39
|
1.98
|
17.21
|
0.04
|
11.03
|
10.60
|
Roughrider East
Pit(12)
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
–
|
0.12
|
11.58
|
30.13
|
Notes:
|
|
(1)
|
As set forth below,
the Company's royalty interests do not cover the entire project, or
applicable resource area, in all cases. Mineral resources which are
not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
There is no certainty that all or any part of any mineral resources
will be converted to mineral reserves and, generally, resource
estimates may be materially affected by a variety of factors
including permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical,
marketing or other relevant issues. Where applicable, third party
resource estimates disclosed in tons have been converted to metric
tonnes for presentation purposes.
|
(2)
|
Estimated in
accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101")
and disclosed in the technical report of UEC titled "Technical
Report and PEA on the Anderson Uranium Project, Yavapai County,
Arizona, USA", with an effective date of July 6, 2014, authored by
Douglas Beahm, PE, PG, Terence P. McNulty, D. Sc., P.E., Bruce
Davis, FAusIMM, and Robert Sim, P.Geo. (the "Anderson Technical
Report"). The estimate was prepared using a cut-off grade of 0.01%
eU3O8 for open pit and cut-off grade of
0.035% e U3O8 for underground, a price
assumption of US$65per pound U3O8 and a
14-year mine life. A copy of the Anderson Technical Report is
available under UEC's profile on SEDAR.
|
(3)
|
Estimated in
accordance with NI 43-101 and disclosed in the technical report of
UEC titled "Technical Report Preliminary Economic Assessment,
Slick Rock Project Uranium / Vanadium Deposit, San Miguel County,
Southwest Colorado, USA" with an effective date of April 8, 2014,
authored by Douglas Beahm, PE, PG, Bruce Davis, FAusIMM, and Robert
Sim, P. Geo. (the "Slick Rock Technical Report"). Uranium grades
were calculated using radiometric grade equivalents and the cut-off
grade quoted is 0.15% e U3O8. The model
utilized 50 foot x 50 foot x 10 foot blocks and ordinary kriging
for interpolation. The model utilized historical density values of
15 square feet per short ton. A copy of the Slick Rock Technical
Report is available under UEC's profile on SEDAR.
|
(4)
|
Estimated in
accordance with NI 43-101 and disclosed in UEC's technical report
titled "Technical Report on the Workman Creek Project, Central
Arizona", with an effective date of March 2, 2012, authored by Neil
G. McCallum, B.Sc, P.Geo., and G.H. Giroux, MASc, P.Eng. (the
"Workman Creek Technical Report"). The cut-off grade quoted is
0.05% U3O8. The grades were interpolated into
50 foot x 50 foot x 10 foot blocks using ordinary kriging. The
density used was 164.75 pounds per square foot.
U3O8 values were capped at 0.94%. The Workman
Creek Technical Report is available under UEC's profile on
SEDAR.
|
(5)
|
Does not include
stockpiles. Estimated in accordance with the 2012 Edition of the
Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral
Resources and Ore Reserves ("JORC") and was prepared using a
cut-off grade of 250 ppm. Paladin has reportedly depleted the
estimate for mining to the end of June of 2018. The estimate was
disclosed in Paladin's ASX Release titled "Prefeasibility Study
Delivers Improved Financial and Production Capacity for Langer
Heinrich Uranium Mine Restart" dated October 14, 2019.
|
(6)
|
Estimated in
accordance with NI 43-101 and disclosed in the technical report of
Laramide Resources Ltd. ("Laramide") titled "Technical Report on
the Church Rock Uranium Project, McKinley County, State of New
Mexico, U.S.A." with an effective date of September 30, 2017,
authored by Mark B. Mathisen, C.P.G. (the "Church Rock Technical
Report"). The estimate was prepared using a cut-off grade of 0.02%
e U3O8, minimum thickness of 2.0 feet,
internal maximum dilution of 5 feet, grade values have not been
adjusted for disequilibrium, tonnage factor of 15 cubic feet per
ton. A copy of the Church Rock Technical Report is available under
Laramide's profile on SEDAR.
|
(7)
|
The Company's royalty
on the Dewey-Burdock project does not apply to the entire project
area covered by this estimate and covers approximately 17% of the
aggregate surface and mineral rights disclosed in the technical
report of Azarga Uranium Corp. ("Azarga") titled "NI 43-101
Technical Report, Resource Estimate, Dewey- Burdock Uranium ISR
Project, South Dakota, U.S.A.", with an effective date of November
12, 2018, authored by Steve Cutler, P.G. (The "Dewey-Burdock
Technical Report"). Estimated in accordance with NI 43-101 and are
disclosed in the Dewey-Burdock Technical Report. The estimate was
prepared using a cut-off grade of 0.02% U3O8
and a GT cutoff of 0.20 m% U3O8 for use in
the GT (Grade x Thickness) contour method. Only the ISR-amenable
resources were quoted. A copy of the Dewey-Burdock Technical Report
is available under Azarga's profile on SEDAR.
|
(8)
|
The Lance royalty
does not apply to the entire project area covered by this estimate
and covers approximately 15% of the stated Peninsula Energy Ltd.
("Peninsula") holdings owned. Estimated in accordance with JORC.
The mineral resources were calculated using a GT product contour of
0.2 m% and a cutoff of 200 ppm U3O8 and is
set forth in Peninsula's September 30, 2019 quarterly activities
report.
|
(9)
|
Estimated in
accordance with JORC and disclosed in Paladin's annual report for
the year ended June 30, 2018. The estimate was prepared using a
cut-off grade of 200 ppm for open pit and 500 ppm for underground
(except Jacques Lake, which required a cut-off grade of 250 ppm),
an 18-year mine life and a price assumption of US$85 per pound
U3O8. Includes Michelin, Jacques Lake and all
other deposits.
|
(10)
|
The Company's royalty
on the Reno Creek project does not apply to the entire North Reno
Creek Area, which represents approximately 45% of the measured and
indicated resource and approximately 85% of the inferred resource
contained in the North Reno Creek area of the project. Estimated in
accordance with NI 43-101 and disclosed in UEC technical report
titled "Technical Report and Audit of Resources of the Reno Creek
ISR Project, Campbell County, Wyoming, USA" with an effective date
of December 31, 2018 authored by Robert E. Cameron, Ph.D., MMSA,
and Robert Maxwell, CPG, AIPG. (the "Reno Creek Technical Report").
The estimate was prepared using a cut-off grade 0.2 GT (grade x
thickness per intercept). A copy of the Reno Creek Technical Report
is available under UEC's profile on SEDAR.
|
(11)
|
Historical resource
estimates cannot be considered current mineral resources and may
ultimately prove unreliable. The Company is treating the Historic
Roughrider Technical Report (as defined below) and the mineral
resource estimate therein as historical in nature and notes that a
qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the
historical estimates as current mineral resources. See "Roughrider
Uranium Project, Saskatchewan, Canada" above for further
information.
|
(12)
|
Disclosed by
reference to the historic technical report of Hathor Exploration
Ltd. titled "Preliminary Economic Assessment Technical Report for
the East and West Zones, Roughrider Uranium Project, Saskatchewan",
with an effective date of September 13, 2011 authored by Gordon
Doerksen, P.Eng., Bruce Fielder, P.Eng., Iouri Iakovlev, P.Eng.,
David Keller, P.Geo., Mark Liskowich, P.Geo., Bruce Murphy, FSAIMM,
and Cam Scott, P.Eng. (the "Historic Roughrider Technical Report).
The Historical Technical Report was prepared under NI 43-101 and
used a cut-off grade of 0.05% U3O8 in the
West Zone and 0.4% U3O8 in the East Zone, a
price assumption of US$80 per pound U3O8,
assuming open pit extraction for West Zone and underground
extraction for East Zone and metallurgical recovery of
98%.
|
Note on Technical Disclosure
Darcy Hirsekorn, the Company's
Chief Technical Officer, has supervised the preparation of and
reviewed the technical information contained in this presentation.
Darcy holds a B.Sc. in Geology from the University of Saskatchewan, is a qualified person
as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and is registered as a
professional geoscientist in Saskatchewan.
Except where otherwise stated, the Company's disclosure herein
relating to properties subject to its royalties is based primarily
on information publicly disclosed by the owners or operators of
such properties, as is customary for royalty portfolio companies of
this nature. Specifically, as a royalty holder, the Company has
limited, if any, access to the properties subject to its interests.
The Company generally relies on publicly available information
regarding these properties and related operations and generally has
no ability to independently verify such information. In addition,
such publicly available information may relate to a larger property
area than that covered by the Company's interests.
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements in this news release may constitute
"forward-looking statements", including those regarding future
uranium market conditions. Forward-looking statements are
statements that address or discuss activities, events or
developments that the Company expects or anticipates may occur in
the future. When used in this news release, words such as
"estimates", "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "will", "believes",
"intends" "should", "could", "may" and other similar terminology
are intended to identify such forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements reflect the current expectations and
beliefs of the Company's management. These statements involve
significant uncertainties, known and unknown risks, uncertainties
and other factors and, therefore, actual results, performance or
achievements of the Company and its industry may be materially
different from those implied by such forward-looking statements.
They should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or
results, and will not necessarily be an accurate indication of
whether or not such results will be achieved. A number of factors
could cause actual results to differ materially from such
forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the
ability of the Company to identify and execute future acquisitions
on acceptable terms or at all, risks inherent to royalty companies,
fluctuations in the market price of publicly listed shares held by
the Company, currency fluctuations, uranium price volatility, title
and permitting matters, risks related to the operators of the
projects underlying the Company's interests, political or economic
developments in the countries in which the Company holds its
royalty and other interests, litigation, general economic
conditions and those other risks described in the Company's final
long form prospectus dated November 22,
2019 and other disclosure documents, available on SEDAR at
www.sedar.com. These risks, as well as others, could cause actual
results and events to vary significantly. Accordingly, readers
should exercise caution in relying upon forward-looking statements
and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise them to
reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by
law.
Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that
term is defined in policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility
for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE Uranium Royalty Corp.