Sweetwater withdrawn from sale

11 January 2007

Rio Tinto has decided to withdraw the Sweetwater uranium mill in Wyoming, USA from sale to consider retaining or developing it and and its related properties.

The company said that its decision was prompted by "significant and unexpected changes" in the global uranium market, which has just reached a high of $72 per pound of U3O8 after climbing for over 48 months.

Sweetwater and its assets, including a already-permitted mill, were initially offered in a bidding process begun in 2005. In July the next year, Rio Tinto entered into an agreement to exclusively negotiate a sale with Sxr Uranium One and now Sxr's CEO, Neal Froneman, has expressed disappointment over Rio Tinto's decision, "particularly at this stage in our negotiations."

However, Rio Tinto has agreed that, should it decide to re-offer these assets for sale in the next two years, it will invite sxr Uranium One to re-submit a bid. Sxr would still like to expand into the USA, said Chris Sattler, the South African company's vice-president of investor relations, but would not include Sweetwater in plans "at the moment."

Further information

Rio Tinto
Sxr Uranium One

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