Okapi nails down US uranium acquisition

ASX-listed junior explorer Okapi Resources has nailed down the purchase of a portfolio of high-grade uranium projects in the United States in a deal it says is transformational. The Perth-based company assumes 100 per cent ownership of the brownfields uranium assets following the recent completion of an all-scrip acquisition of private Australian group Tallahassee Resources.

Okapi shareholder approval sees the Tallahassee vendors receive 33.5 million new Okapi shares and 16.75 million options as consideration for the transaction.

In conjunction with the deal, the company has put to bed a capital raise of $2.84 million from the issuing of 14.2 million shares at 20¢ apiece to sophisticated and professional investors. The placement also has 14.2 million unlisted options attached – on a one for one basis – that are exercisable at 30¢ each and will expire in two years’ time.

Okapi’s issued capital structure expands to a tightly held total of about 101 million shares after the blocks of new stock relating to the capital raise and the acquisition of Tallahassee are taken into account.

Included in the suite of properties Okapi has picked up is the Tallahassee uranium project that covers about 7,500 acres in central Colorado’s prolific Tallahassee Creek uranium district about 140 kilometres south-west of Denver.

The Tallahassee deposit hosts an existing JORC 2004 mineral resource of 26 million pounds of uranium oxide from ore grading an average 540 parts per million uranium oxide, with “significant exploration upside”.

Okapi proposes to pump a decent slice of its $6 million bank balance into exploration activities at the Tallahassee project including a drilling campaign comprising an aggregate coverage of about 10,000 metres.

The company says it will be looking to increase the existing Tallahassee resource base and its confidence in the resource estimate via the drilling and also generate some samples for initial metallurgical test work.

An option for Okapi to acquire 100 per cent of the Rattler uranium project, including the historical high-grade Rattlesnake open-pit mine, in north-eastern Utah, also forms part of the newly acquired Tallahassee Resources’ portfolio of projects.

Experienced geologist Ben Vallerine has also been appointed to Okapi’s board as a Technical Director as part of the Tallahassee Resources vend.

Okapi’s foray into the US uranium space has come during a period when the uranium price is hovering around five-year highs at about US$33 a pound.

Okapi Resources Executive Director David Nour said: “This acquisition is truly transformational for Okapi and underpins our new strategy to become one of the most prominent uranium developers in North America. We believe that the global push towards clean energy as a way of lowering carbon emissions will significantly increase global demand for uranium for the foreseeable future. Okapi is well placed to take advantage of this once in a generation macro-economic shift.”

If the London-headquartered World Nuclear Association’s projections are any guide, Okapi may have pounced ahead of a major pivot point in the uranium market.

Almost two years ago it produced a report modelling a predicted divergence in the supply and demand curve globally for uranium that shows demand outstripping supply from 2023 onwards.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au