Date: Tuesday 24 Jul 2012
LONDON (ShareCast) - Uranium producer Berkeley Resources has been playing swapsies with Spanish joint venture partner Enusa Industrias Avanzadas, bringing to an end a dispute between the two companies over various uranium resources.
Under the agreement, Berkeley will have full exploitation rights over State Reserves 28 and 29 while waiving its rights to mine in State Reserves where ENUSA has undertaken rehabilitation.
State Reserves 28 and 29 include the substantial unmined Alameda deposit, the Villar deposit and additional prospects. Total resources for these reserves are currently estimated at 30.6m pounds of contained U3O8 - an impure mixture of uranium oxides - at an average grade of 465 parts per million (ppm), at a lower cut-off grade of 200 ppm U3O8.
ENUSA will receive a production fee equivalent to 2.5% of the net sale value (after marketing and transport costs) of any uranium produced within the State Reserves 28 and 29.
Berkeley has waived its rights to mining in State Reserves 2, 25, 30, 31, Hoja 528-1 and the Saelices El Chico Exploitation Concession. These properties have combined resources estimated at 21.9m pounds of U3O8 (Berkeley's previous 90% interest equated to 19.7 million pounds).
Additionally, Berkeley has waived any rights to management of the Quercus plant, and the co-operation agreement between Berekeley and ENUSA signed on January 29th, 2009, has been terminated.
JH