GTI Resources Ltd (ASX:GTR) has completed due diligence on a prospective uranium acquisition.
The Perth-headquartered mining company ran the magnifying glass over acquisition target Branka Minerals Pty Ltd, its US subsidiary and its uranium exploration package, known as the Wyoming in-situ recovery (ISR) properties.
Ultimately, the completion of due diligence paves the way for GTI to settle the acquisition early next month, as long as shareholders approve the issue of nearly 200 million consideration shares.
They’ll have a chance to vote on the move at the company’s annual general meeting on October 29.
Improving uranium outlook
GT Resources executive director Bruce Lane said: “We’ve made great progress towards settling the acquisition of Branka and getting organised for our maiden drilling campaign in Wyoming.
“The outlook for nuclear power and uranium has improved rapidly over recent weeks and provides a solid foundation to fund the commencement of uranium exploration in Wyoming and follow-up fieldwork in Utah.
“We’re excited at the prospect of getting into the field in Wyoming and Utah over the next few months with multiple exploration activities in the planning.
“The coming period is set to be a busy one for the company and we look forward to keeping shareholders updated accordingly”.
Proposed acquisition and development timeline.
Uranium portfolio
GTI’s targeted uranium properties cover 85 square kilometres of prospective exploration tenure.
They’re situated in Wyoming’s Great Divide Basin, a major uranium province in the US and Wyoming’s most underexplored and underdeveloped uranium district.
The state accounts for 80% of domestic uranium production, all of which comes from the ISR producing district.
To capitalise on the acquisition opportunity, GTI has banded together a local discovery team that can hit the ground running later this year.
The ASX-lister hopes to conduct 15,000 metres of drilling at the Thor Project later this year as part of a maiden campaign.
After that, it hopes to conduct follow-up drilling in late 2022 and 2023 across the Thor, Odin and Loki uranium tenements.
All this takes place in the hopes GTI will unearth a commercial uranium discovery.
Nuclear power on the rise
GTI’s acquisition progress comes as the Biden administration continues to drive up demand for uranium to power a nuclear future in the United States.
While the US is the world’s largest uranium consumer, there are currently no meaningful production hubs in North America.
In a bid to drive down carbon emissions and achieve net-zero, the US Government plans to develop a uranium supply.
It intends to purchase US$150 million worth of uranium oxide every year for a decade to establish the critical reserve.
Around 50% of US clean energy comes from nuclear sources, meaning sources like uranium are key to the US achieving its emissions reduction targets.