TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Uranium-focused Laramide Resources on Friday said it had received approval for admission to the official list of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and the official quotation of its shares for trading would start on April 30, under the code ‘LAM’.

The co-listing of its shares on the ASX was expected to facilitate greater participation by retail and institutional holders in Australia and Asia, as Laramide focused on developing its flagship Westmoreland uranium project, in Queensland.

Laramide had issued 2.44-million CHESS depository receipts (CDIs) at A$0.75 apiece, raising gross proceeds of A$1.83-million.

Each CDI was equivalent to and exchangeable for one common share of Laramide. The CDIs would be tradable on the ASX upon listing and would at first be subject to a four-month-and-a-day restriction from resale into Canada.

CDIs are traded similarly to the company's common shares, which would continue to trade on the TSX using the same ticker.

“We believe the timing is particularly fortuitous given recent political developments in Queensland – having recently ended a 30-year political ban on uranium mine development – and on the medium-term outlook for the uranium market, which will require new mines to bridge a substantial projected supply deficit," Laramide president and CEO Marc Henderson said.

Laramide said a lot of progress had been made since the moratorium on uranium mining was lifted last year.

On March 18, the independent Uranium Mining Implementation Committee, which was established to examine the responsible development and operation of uranium mining in Queensland, issued a comprehensive report to the Natural Resources and Mines Minister outlining how the uranium industry should be re-established in Queensland.

The recommendations focused mainly on environmental management and protection, health and safety, economic and community development, and the safe transportation of uranium.

The committee concluded that, with certain adaptations, uranium mining could be restarted within the existing policy and legislative frameworks in place in Queensland and at the federal level.

One particular recommendation proposed was a royalty rate of 2.5% for the first five years of a mine's life for new mines, in concession to the application of a 5% royalty regime with the possibility of a higher rate upon the inclination of the price of uranium to a certain threshold.

"Queensland is re-establishing an $18-billion uranium resources industry, which will include industry best-practice policy and regulatory framework. That's a major step towards realising the industry's potential and, moreover, the potential of our flagship Westmoreland, one of the best undeveloped uranium deposits in the world," Henderson added.