The deal would enable the miner to take full ownership of the Wheeler River uranium project in Canada
Denison Mines issues binding offer for acquiring JCU. (Credit: aymane jdidi from Pixabay)
Denison Mines has offered to acquire JCU (Canada) Exploration, a subsidiary of Overseas Uranium Resources Development (OURD), for up to CAD40.5m ($32.97m).
JCU has a portfolio of uranium project joint venture interests in Canada.
In addition to the cash consideration, Denison Mines has offered to assume the existing liabilities of JCU.
The binding offer from the Canadian uranium miner follows an announcement made by UEX of signing an option agreement for acquiring 100% of JCU for CAD12.5m ($10.18m).
Currently, JCU has a 10% stake in the Wheeler River uranium project in which the remaining 90% is owned by Denison Mines. The company has interests in 14 more uranium assets in Canada.
Wheeler River is one of the largest undeveloped uranium projects in the infrastructure rich eastern portion of the Athabasca Basin region of northern Saskatchewan.
JCU also has a 30% stake in the Millennium Project, a 33.8% stake in the Kiggavik Project, and a 34.48% stake in the Christie Lake Project.
Besides, the company has a minority stake in eight other grassroots and mid-stage exploration projects located within the Athabasca Basin.
Denison Mines offers to make a refundable deposit of CAD10m ($8.14m) on the signing of a definitive agreement. This amount will be followed by an additional amount CAD28m ($22.8m) on closing, and an amount of up to CAD2.5m ($2m) to be paid within 45 days of the completion of the deal.
The company said that it offers a commitment to OURD that JCU will be operated as a corporate subsidiary in order to fulfil its joint venture commitments.
Should a transaction take place, it will be subject to approval from the shareholders of OURD.
Denison Mines, in a statement said: “Denison welcomes the opportunity to build on its long history of partnership with OURD and JCU to effect the acquisition of JCU, as presented in the Denison Offer, and bring significant additional benefit to the shareholders of OURD.”