Uranium Energy (UEC) has agreed to acquire Rio Tinto America’s Wyoming uranium assets, including the fully owned and licensed Sweetwater plant and a portfolio of uranium mining projects in a deal worth $175m.
The assets include around 175 million pounds of historic uranium resources.
The deal will be carried out pursuant to a stock purchase agreement between a subsidiary of the Uranium Energy and Rio Tinto. It involves Uranium Energy’s 100% acquisition of two Rio Tinto subsidiaries, which own the Wyoming uranium assets.
Following the closing of the deal, UEC will replace nearly $25m in surety bonds, thereby securing future reclamation costs for the acquired assets.
Among the assets being acquired include the Red Desert and the Green Mountain uranium projects. Both uranium assets, located in the Great Divide Basin, are development-stage projects.
The Red Desert project covers around 20,005 acres and holds an estimated 42 million pounds of uranium resources. On the other hand, the Green Mountain project spans 32,040 acres and holds an estimated 133 million pounds of uranium resources.
Rio Tinto’s Sweetwater plant is a 3,000-tonnes-per-day processing mill. It has a licensed capacity of 4.1 million pounds of uranium.
The plant has been on care and maintenance since 1983. It is said to be the only conventional processing mill in Wyoming.
The Sweetwater facility can also be adapted for the recovery of uranium from loaded resins produced by in situ recovery (ISR) operations.
Through the acquisition, Uranium Energy aims to create the third US hub-and-spoke production platform, adding to the company’s existing control of 12 uranium projects in the Great Divide Basin.
Besides, the transaction is expected to save time and costs compared to building new facilities, while leveraging synergies from shared infrastructure and expertise.
Uranium Energy CEO Amir Adnani said: “With this Transaction, we are building upon our transformative acquisition of Uranium One Americas in 2021, which added a large portfolio of holdings in the Great Divide Basin of Wyoming.
“We recognised early on that there are meaningful development synergies with the Rio Tinto assets, particularly the Sweetwater Plant. These assets will unlock tremendous value by establishing our third hub-and-spoke production platform and cement UEC as the leading uranium developer in Wyoming and the US.”
Subject to customary conditions, the deal is expected to be completed in Q4 2024.
