DESIGNATED NEWS RELEASE
VANCOUVER, BC, Nov. 29,
2022 /CNW/ - Uranium Royalty Corp. (NASDAQ:
UROY) (TSXV: URC) ("URC" or the "Company") is pleased
to announce that it has notified Orano Canada Inc. ("Orano") of
URC's election to receive royalty proceeds from the recently
re-started world-class McArthur River mine through delivery of
physical uranium. URC's royalty interest applies to Orano's 30.195%
ownership interest in the McArthur River Project which is
operated by Cameco. Cameco currently plans to produce 15
million pounds of U3O8 (100% basis) per year
from the operations starting in 2024.
URC further announces that it has completed the indirect
acquisition of an existing royalty on the Dawn Lake project,
located in the Athabasca Basin
uranium district in Saskatchewan,
Canada.
Release Highlights:
- URC applauds the re-start of the McArthur River mine. Cameco
Corporation ("Cameco") has disclosed that the world's largest,
high-grade mine is planning to produce 15 million pounds
U3O8 (100% basis) per year starting in
2024.
- By electing to receive the royalty proceeds as physical
uranium, it allows URC to control the sale of the attributed pounds
in a disciplined, yet fully unhedged manner, focusing on providing
the maximum value to shareholders.
- URC has acquired a sliding scale 10% to 20% NPI on a 7.5% share
of overall uranium production from the Dawn Lake project lands.
This royalty was previously subject to an option held by the
Company. The royalty was acquired through the Company's acquisition
of Reserve Minerals, LLC, the holder of the royalty, in
consideration for US$100,000.
Scott Melbye, Chief Executive
Officer of URC stated: "By electing to receive physical uranium
under this royalty interest, URC provides shareholders with
unhedged exposure to future uranium price upside. In addition, it
represents pounds sourced from a geopolitically stable
jurisdiction, in one of the world's premier uranium mining
districts, by an operator with an outstanding safety and
environmental record."
Mr. Melbye continued: "The Dawn Lake project, while early stage,
covers multiple areas of significant uranium mineralization,
including 17.9 Mlbs of indicated resources at the Tamarack deposit,
as well as the historically mineralized areas at Dawn Lake and La
Rocque Lake. The project also potentially covers the immediate
strike extension of IsoEnergy Ltd.'s Hurricane deposit."
Re-start of McArthur
River
On November 9, 2022, Cameco
announced that the first pounds of uranium ore produced from the
McArthur River mine had been milled and packaged at the Key Lake
mill, marking the initial production from McArthur River as it
transitions back to normal operations. Cameco stated that McArthur
River/Key Lake are expected to produce up to 2 million pounds (100%
basis) of uranium concentrate (U3O8) in 2022.
It further disclosed that, starting in 2024, Cameco plans to
produce 15 million pounds of U3O8 (100%
basis) per year from the operations. As of December 31, 2021, Cameco reported estimated: (i)
proven and probable mineral reserves of 393.9 Mlbs of
U3O8 at an average grade of 6.58%
U3O8; and (ii) measured and indicated
resources, exclusive of reserves, of 9.0 Mlbs at an average grade
of 2.26% U3O8 and inferred resources of 2.6
Mlbs at an average grade of 2.85% U3O8. URC's
current royalty represents a 1% Gross Overriding Revenue Royalty
("GORR") on a 9.063% share of uranium production from the McArthur
River project derived from Orano's current 30.195% production
interest in the project.
The Dawn Lake Project
The Dawn Lake project is an early-stage exploration project
located near Waterbury Lake in northern Saskatchewan, Canada approximately 700 km
north of Saskatoon. The Dawn Lake
property is operated by Cameco in partnership with Orano. The
project grounds cover an area approximately between the McClean
Lake mill and Cigar Lake mine in the Athabasca Basin uranium district. The Dawn
Lake Royalty does not apply to the entirety of the project lands
but covers approximately 99% of the project area and the Company
believes that the Dawn Lake Royalty applies to substantially all
areas of the project underlying the estimate of mineral resources.
As of December 31, 2021, Cameco
disclosed estimated indicated resources, exclusive of reserves, of
17.9 Mlbs at an average grade of 4.42% U3O8
and inferred resources of 1.0 Mlbs at an average grade of 1.02%
U3O8, for the Tamarack deposit which is
located in the Dawn Lake project area.
The Dawn Lake project area also potentially covers the immediate
strike extension of IsoEnergy Ltd.'s ("IsoEnergy") Hurricane
deposit. In a news release on July 18,
2022, IsoEnergy disclosed estimated Indicated Mineral
Resources for the Hurricane deposit of 48.61 million lbs. of
U3O8 based on 63,800 tonnes grading 34.5%
U3O8 and Inferred Mineral Resources of 2.66
million lbs. of U3O8 based on 54,300 tonnes
grading 2.2% U3O8. For further clarity, the
royalty does not cover the Hurricane resources as outlined above,
only the potential western extension of the mineralized zone on the
adjacent Dawn Lake project claims.
In addition, the Dawn Lake project hosts several other
significant historical mineralized areas, including the 11, 11A,
11B and 14 Zones of the Dawn Lake
deposit, La Rocque Lake (29.9% U3O8 over
7 m in hole Q22-040), Natona Bay (5.56% U3O8
over 5.25 m in hole Q27B-030), and
Thorburn Lake (3.2%
U3O8 over 8.8 m
in hole Q14A-026) areas. These historical uranium occurrences
do not have resources assigned to them by Cameco under the
framework of NI-43-101.
The Dawn Lake Royalty is a sliding scale 10% to 20% NPI on a
7.5% share of overall uranium production from the Dawn Lake project
lands. The sliding scale royalty percentage for the Dawn Lake
Royalty is based upon historical production and recoverable
reserves of the combined Waterbury/Cigar Lake and Dawn Lake project
lands, with the royalty rate having already achieved the maximum of
20% as the Cigar Lake mine has achieved such production and reserve
threshold. The sliding royalty percentage will decrease to 10%
after the combined production on both Waterbury/Cigar Lake and Dawn
Lake projects reach a production hurdle of 200 Mlbs of
U3O8 (Cameco has reported a total of 105.0
Mlbs production as at December 31,
2021). As a profit-based NPI interest, this royalty is
calculated based upon generated revenue, with deductions for
certain expenses and costs, which include cumulative expense
accounts, including development costs. As such and given the
significant total of expenditures on the project, the Dawn Lake
Royalty will only generate revenue to the holder after these
cumulative expenses are exhausted.
About Uranium Royalty
Corp.
Uranium Royalty Corp. is the world's only uranium-focused
royalty and streaming company and the only pure-play uranium listed
company on the Nasdaq. URC provides investors with uranium
commodity price exposure through strategic acquisitions in uranium
interests, including royalties, streams, debt and equity in uranium
companies, as well as through holdings of physical uranium. The
Company is well positioned as a capital provider to an industry
needing massive investments in global productive capacity to meet
the growing need for uranium as fuel for carbon-free nuclear
energy. URC has deep industry knowledge and expertise to identify
and evaluate investment opportunities in the uranium industry. The
Company's management and the Board include individuals with decades
of combined experience in the uranium and nuclear energy sectors,
including specific expertise in mine finance, project
identification and evaluation, mine development and uranium sales
and trading.
Note on Technical
Disclosure
Darcy Hirsekorn, the Company's
Chief Technical Officer, has supervised the preparation of and
reviewed the technical information contained in this presentation.
He holds a B.Sc. in Geology from the University of Saskatchewan, is a qualified person
as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and is registered as a
professional geoscientist in Saskatchewan.
Unless otherwise indicated, the scientific and technical
information herein regarding McArthur River, Dawn Lake, and
Waterbury Lake / Cigar Lake has been derived from Cameco's Annual
Information Form for the year ended December
31, 2021, and Cameco's other public disclosures, copies of
which are available under its profile on SEDAR. For the Hurricane
deposit, the information is derived from the technical report
titled "Technical Report on the Larocque East Project, Northern Saskatchewan, Canada", prepared by
SLR Consulting (Canada) Ltd. with
an effective date of July 8, 2022. A
copy of the report is accessible under IsoEnergy's profile on
SEDAR.
As a royalty holder, the Company has limited, if any, access to
the properties subject to its interests. The Company generally
relies on publicly available information regarding these properties
and related operations and generally has no ability to
independently verify such information. In addition, such publicly
available information may relate to a larger property area than
that covered by the Company's interests.
Unless otherwise indicated, the technical and scientific
disclosure contained or referenced herein has been prepared in
accordance with NI 43-101, which differs significantly from the
requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
applicable to U.S. domestic issuers Accordingly, the scientific and
technical information contained or referenced in this press release
may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S.
companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements of
the SEC. "Inferred mineral resources" have a great amount of
uncertainty as to their existence and great uncertainty as to
‎their ‎economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that
all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will ‎ever be
‎upgraded to a higher category.
Forward Looking
Statements
Certain statements in this news release may constitute
"forward-looking information" and "forward looking statements", as
defined under applicable securities laws, including those regarding
the disclosed expectations of owners and operators regarding the
projects underlying the Company's royalty interests, including
expected production activity at the McArthur River Mine
Forward-looking information includes statements that address or
discuss activities, events, or developments that the Company
expects or anticipates may occur in the future. When used in this
news release, words such as "estimates", "expects", "plans",
"anticipates", "will", "believes", "intends" "should", "could",
"may" and other similar terminology are intended to identify such
forward-looking information. Statements constituting
forward-looking information reflect the current expectations and
beliefs of the Company's management. These statements involve
significant uncertainties, known and unknown risks, uncertainties,
and other factors and, therefore, actual results, performance or
achievements of the Company and its industry may be materially
different from those implied by such forward-looking statements.
They should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or
results and will not necessarily be an accurate indication of
whether or not such results will be achieved. A number of factors
could cause actual results to differ materially from such
forward-looking information, including, without limitation, any
inability to satisfy the conditions to the transaction announced
herein, risks inherent to royalty companies, uranium price
volatility, risks related to the operators of the projects
underlying the Company's existing and proposed interests and those
other risks described in filings with Canadian securities
regulators and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These
risks, as well as others, could cause actual results and events to
vary significantly. Accordingly, readers should exercise caution in
relying upon forward-looking information and the Company undertakes
no obligation to publicly revise them to reflect subsequent events
or circumstances, except as required by law.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSX-V") nor its
Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies
of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy
of this release.
View original
content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/uranium-royalty-corp-elects-to-receive-physical-uranium-from-mcarthur-river-and-acquires-dawn-lake-royalty-301688478.html
SOURCE Uranium Royalty Corp.