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The largest conventional uranium producer in the United States, Energy Fuels, is en route to increasing its production by 500 percent now that it has finalized its acquisition of Strathmore Minerals.
As of August 30, Energy Fuels has acquired all the issued and outstanding shares of Strathmore by way of a plan arrangement. Per the arrangement, Strathmore shareholders received 1.47 common shares of Energy Fuels for each common share of Strathmore for an approximate 19.5 percent of all outstanding Energy Fuel shares.
The acquisition of Strathmore was announced in late May 2013, and approval from shareholders, Korean utility KEPCO and the Supreme Court of British Columbia trickled in throughout the summer.
In May, Curtis Moore, spokesperson for Energy Fuels, told Uranium Investing News that the move to acquire Strathmore just made sense. Both companies have projects located in close proximity to each other, and Strathmore’s Roca Honda project is the largest high-grade uranium project in the US, which, given its proximity to Energy Fuels’ White Mesa mill, made the acquisition incredibly attractive.
Energy Fuels’ White Mesa mill is the only conventional uranium mill in the whole of the US with a processing capacity of 2,000 tons of uranium ore per day. Combined with the face that Energy Fuels currently produces 25 percent of the uranium in the United States, the acquisition of Strathmore has brought the company even closer to becoming the dominant uranium producer in the US.
Stephen Antony, president and CEO of Energy Fuels, told investors in a statement that “Energy Fuels possesses a large, unique portfolio of US uranium assets, which should grow in strategic importance, as we believe the US will increasingly focus on secure, domestic energy supplies. In my opinion, the need for a secure, domestic supplier of uranium for the US market will be underscored following the expiration later this year of the US-Russia HEU agreement, which currently provides approximately half of the uranium supply imported into the US. In the past 15 months, we have grown to become the second largest uranium producer in the US, with expected production of approximately 1.15 million lbs. of U3O8 during FY-2013.”
Securities Disclosure: I, Vivien Diniz, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: Energy Fuels is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.