PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) on Thursday announced that it had re-established the Independent Board Committee to resume discussions around funding requirements.
The Independent Board Committee will comprise the three recently appointed independent nonexecutive directors, Richard Dennis, Kenneth Wyatt and Stuart Glenn.
Dennis was also appointed independent nonexecutive chairperson of ERA in January 2023.
ERA told shareholders on Thursday that work had progressed on funding solutions, including work on a possible interim entitlement offer with a target launch in March 2023. An update will be provided to the market in the coming weeks.
ERA last year revealed that it would require an additional A$1.06-billion to A$1.65-billion in capital to complete rehabilitation of the Ranger uranium project, in the Northern Territory, after an independent review of the rehabilitation estimated a cost of between A$1.6-billion and A$2.2-billion for the project, compared with the 2019 cost estimates of A$973-million, while pushing back the completion of rehabilitation work to between the fourth quarter of 2027 and the fourth quarter of 2028.
Production at the Ranger mine ceased in January 2021, in accordance with the Ranger Authority, and ERA has been undertaking rehabilitation efforts since that time.
The government last year passed legislation allowing the company to extend its existing authority of the Ranger mine beyond the current 2026 deadline allowing the company to continue rehabilitation work at the mine, until complete.
ERA has engaged Highbury Partnership as financial adviser and Herbert Smith Freehills as legal adviser to the Independent Board Committee and Ashurst as legal adviser.