Areva completes sale of Millennium stake
12 June 2012
Cameco now owns over two-thirds of the Millennium uranium project in Saskatchewan's Athabasca Basin following the completion of its purchase of Areva Resources Canada's 27.94% interest.
.jpg "Millennium winter drilling (Cameco)") |
| Winter drilling at the Millennium project (Image: Cameco) |
The Millennium project is part of the Cree Lake Extension Joint Venture exploration project by Cameco, Areva and JCU (Canada) Exploration, a subsidiary of the Japanese industry-owned Overseas Uranium Resource Development. Cameco's stake in the project now stands at 69.9% following the transaction, after JCU decided not to exercise a right to increase its stake by an additional 11.67% through acquiring a portion of Areva's interest.
Areva said that the C$150 million ($146 million) raised through the sale of its stake in Millennium "contributes to a reduction in the group's net debt and helps to the finance the group's strategic and safety investment program." Under the terms of the transaction, Areva will also receive a 4% royalty on revenue from 27.94% of any future production exceeding 63 million pounds of U3O8 (24,230 tU) from the Millennium project.
The Millennium project area is located between existing uranium operations at Key Lake and McArthur River and has identified indicated resources of 50.9 million pounds of U3O8 (19,579 tU) and inferred resources of 16.7 million pounds U3O8 (6423 tU). An underground mine has been proposed for the project.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News