GTI Resources Ltd has signed a binding agreement to acquire 100% of Branka Minerals Pty Ltd, the holder of around 22,000 acres of land across several underexplored mineral lode claims in the US states of Wyoming and Colorado.
The projects are highly prospective for sandstone-hosted roll front uranium mineralisation amenable to In Situ Recovery (ISR).
Upon completion, GTI will control the largest non-US, Russian or Canadian owned uranium exploration landholding in Wyoming’s Great Divide Basin (GDB), which is near UR Energy Inc’s Lost Creek ISR facility and Rio Tinto Limited’s Sweetwater/Kennecott Mill.
Wyoming has produced a total of 84,000 tonnes of uranium between 1995 and 2015 and was the leading state for US production with nearly has all been mined with the ISR method.
Close to roll front REDOX boundary
The Wyoming properties are on or close to the Great Divide roll front REDOX boundary and
close to several significant uranium deposits including, URE’s Lost Creek and Lost Soldier Deposits and Uranium One’s Antelope and Jab deposits.
A number of the properties host known sandstone-hosted uranium mineralisation as evidenced by historical drill maps and logs.
The GDB is the most underexplored and underdeveloped of the major Wyoming uranium districts.
Highly experienced execution team
For exploration and any future development of the projects, the company has secured the services of Doug Beahm, a Wyoming-based professional geologist with more than 45 years of experience in mineral exploration, mine development and project evaluation.
Currently, he is with BRS Engineering Inc and has been working in uranium exploration mining and mine land reclamation in the Western US since 1975.
BRS is an engineering and geology consulting corporation with expertise in mining and mineral exploration. Of particular note, it specialises in uranium exploration, mineral resource evaluation, mine design, feasibility, mine operations and reclamation.
In addition, James Baughman is also a Wyoming geologist and will help guide the company’s activities.
He is former president and CEO of High Plains Uranium and Cyclone Uranium and has 30-plus years of experience advancing gold, silver and base metal projects from grassroots to advanced stage.
In Situ Recovery process
ISR mining utilises an acid or alkaline ‘lixiviant’ solution injected & extracted using a series of wells drilled from the surface to leach target ores and it accounts for around 90% of the US uranium produced.
This type of mining had been used in Wyoming since the 1960s, and it accounts for nearly all of the Wyoming output since 1993.
The new properties will be GTI’s priority for exploration with the company also holding the Henry Mountains Uranium & Vanadium Project in Utah.
Capital raising
To fund the acquisition, the company plans to undertake a placement of shares in two tranches to raise A$2.6 million at a price of A$0.015 per share.
In the first tranche, the company plans to issue 135 million shares to raise A$2.025 million with one free attaching option, exercisable at A$0.03 and expiring in three years, for every four shares subscribed.
For the second tranche, the company will issue the project vendors 40 million shares at A$0.015 each for $600,000 with the same option conditions.
The vendor placement will be issued subject to settlement of the acquisition and shareholder approval.
Entitlement offer
The company also plans to undertake an entitlement offer to raise up to an additional A$1.461 million.
This will allow GTI’s existing shareholders to participate in the capital raising activity on the same terms as institutional and sophisticated investors who are subscribing under the placement.
GTI chairman Nathan Lude said: “We value the ongoing support of shareholders, and we think it is important to allow them the opportunity to participate in this raising on the same terms as the sophisticated investors who have shown strong support for the placement.”
CPS will fully underwrite the entitlement offer and act as lead manager and arranger to the placement and the vendor placement.
GTI shares have been as much as 12% higher today to A$0.019.
www.ferroalloynet.com
