Uranium explorer and developer Denison Mines sees “considerable value” in JCU’s portfolio of assets, CEO David Cates said on Tuesday, announcing the completion of its acquisition of 50% ownership of JCU (Canada) Exploration.
In addition to consolidating an effective 95% interest in Wheeler River, the acquisition expanded Denison's Athabasca basin development portfolio to include additional uranium development projects such as Cameco’s Millennium project and Orano’s Kiggavik project.
The $20.5-million acquisition of JCU occurred immediately following UEX’s acquisition of all the outstanding shares of JCU from Overseas Uranium Resources Development (OURD) for $41-million in cash.
Denison provided UEX with an interest-free, 90-day term loan to facilitate its purchase of JCU from OURD.
In terms of a shareholders’ agreement between UEX and Denison, UEX would be the manager of JCU.
“UEX would like to thank OURD for trusting UEX to be the steward for the impressive and strategically important uranium project portfolio which they have assembled and developed over the past twenty-one years,” commented CEO Roger Lemaitre.
“We look forward to working with Denison to help develop the next generation of Canadian uranium mines.”