Laramide Buys New Mexico Uranium Royalty Portfolio

Vancouver — Laramide Resources (LAM-T, LMRXF-O) has acquired a royalty package on a number of uranium projects located in the Grant’s mineral district of New Mexico.

The royalty portfolio was purchased from United Nuclear, a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of General Electric (GE-N), for US$9.25 million in staged payments (US$3.5 million paid, with the remainder linked to the acquisition of various production permits).

Specific royalties are sliding-scale gross revenue at a minimum of 5% and up to 24%, depending on spot uranium prices.

The three separate property parcels (Section 8, 17 and Mancos), all located in the Churchrock area of McKinley Cty., are owned by Uranium Resources (URRE-O).

Uranium Resources is advancing its Section 8 mineral lease through the final stages of a feasibility study and is progressing through environmental permitting procedures. The company envisages an in situ leach operation at the project, which has a historical resource of about 6.5 million contained pounds U3O8.

Laramide is also active on its own projects in the district. Its La Jara Mesa deposit hosts a measured and indicated resource of 1.4 million tonnes grading 0.23% U3O8 (about 7.3 million contained pounds U3O8) plus an additional 720,000 inferred tonnes averaging 0.2% U3O8 (about 3.2 million contained pounds U3O8). The resource is hosted in sandstones as tabular bodies (roll-front deposit type) with the uranium occurring as the oxide mineral coffinite.

A current 10-hole, 3,000-metre drill program at La Jara Mesa is confirming grades and extracting material for additional metallurgical tests.

Laramide’s flagship project is its Westmoreland copper-gold-uranium project in Queensland, Australia. The deposit hosts a JORC-compliant inferred resource of 17.4 million tonnes 0.12% U3O8, about 46 million contained pounds U3O8.

The company also recently closed a planned $21-million bought-deal financing of 2.8 million units at $7.50 apiece.

With its 50.4 million shares outstanding, Laramide posts a $420-million market capitalization based on its recent $8.40 trading price. The stock has a 52-week range of $4.06-$8.50.