Energy Fuels acquired a 6% - 8% sliding scale gross proceeds production royalty on its 100%-owned Nichols Ranch, Hank and Doughstick properties (part of the company's Jane Dough project expansion area). This royalty also applies to the nearby Niles Ranch, Willow Creek, and Verna Ann properties, which are important pipeline uranium properties for the company. The acquisition of this royalty is expected to significantly decrease the company's cost of production at Nichols Ranch.
Energy Fuels also acquired the 4% gross proceeds production royalty on Canadian uranium major Cameco's North Butte/Brown Ranch project, the Ruby Ranch project, and the Greasewood property. North Butte is a fully permitted and operational project that has been operated by Cameco as a satellite to its Smith Ranch-Highland ISR project since 2013.
Energy Fuels has also recently given the State of Wyoming notice of its intention to fully repay $8.3 million debt, which is secured by the company's Nichols Ranch project.
At the end of the June-quarter, Energy fuels reported about $55.25 million of working capital, including cash and cash equivalents of $43.2 million.
"We believe today's acquisition of the royalties will be extremely accretive for Energy Fuels as uranium prices rise, whether due to global supply and demand fundamentals or through remedies associated with the current US government investigation into uranium imports into the US," president and CEO Mark Chalmers said in a news release.
The company's equity gained about US34c on Tuesday to close at $3.30 a share, giving the company a market valuation of $301.27 million.
