UrAsia Shareholders OK Uranium One Arrangement

Vancouver — Shareholders of UrAsia Energy (UUU-V, UAEYF-O, UUU-L) have overwhelmingly endorsed SXR Uranium One’s (SXR-T, SXR-J) friendly deal to acquire the company, with 99.89% of cast votes giving a thumbs up.

The plan of arrangement sees Uranium One issuing 0.45 of a common share for each UrAsia share upon closing of the deal, expected by late April, pending final regulatory approvals. In taking up all 518.7 million shares (on a fully diluted basis) of UrAsia, Uranium One will end up issuing about 233.4 million new shares.

The merger will see UrAsia shareholders with about 60% of the combined company, while current Uranium One shareholders will retain about 40%.

UrAsia reports current annual production of about 1.8 million lbs. U3O8 and will contribute its main asset: acquisition rights for 70% of the Betpak-Dala joint venture that owns the in-situ leach (ISL) Akdala uranium mine and the South Inkai ISL development project in south-central Kazakhstan. It is partnered with the Kazakhstan state-owned uranium producer NAC KazAtomProm.

Akdala holds proven and probable reserves of 13.1 million tonnes grading 0.057% uranium attributable to UrAsia, about 19.4 million contained pounds U3O8. South Inkai contains an attributable inferred resource of 40.4 million tonnes of 0.043% uranium (43.5 million contained pounds U3O8).

Additionally, UrAsia has the right to acquire 30% of the North Kharassan uranium project, under development as an ISL operation in southern Kazakhstan. The property contains a resource of 2.6 million indicated tonnes of 0.2% uranium and 30.5 million inferred tonnes of 0.095% uranium.

UrAsia also has a number of uranium exploration projects in Kyrgyzstan.

Uranium One’s flagship operation is its Dominion uranium mine in South Africa, which recently began operation. The deposit hosts probable reserves of 18.5 million tonnes grading 0.077% U3O8 (31.3 million contained pounds), an indicated resource of 26 million tonnes at 0.083% U3O8 (47.5 million contained pounds) plus 178.4 million inferred tonnes grading 0.05% U3O8 (about 199 million contained pounds). Dominion ore also contains a precious metal component averaging about 1 gram gold per tonne.

It holds the Honeymoon project in South Australia, a permitted, advanced ISL project with production scheduled for 2008. The project contains a resource of 1.2 million indicated tonnes at 0.24% U3O8 or about 6.5 million contained lbs. of U3O8. Exploration is also under way on additional uranium projects in South Australia.

Uranium One has a 71.4% stake in Aflease Gold, which owns the Modder East gold project in South Africa, scheduled to begin production in 2009, and is joint ventured with Pitchstone Exploration (PXP-V, PEXPF-O) on a number of Athabasca basin properties.

The new Uranium One will become one of the larger public companies in the uranium field, posting a market capitalization of well over $6 billion based on recent trading levels of $18.00 per share for SXR Uranium One and $8.00 per share for UrAsia.