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In December 2010, Uravan Minerals Inc.
("Uravan") signed a non-binding Letter of
Intent (LOI) with Cameco Corporation ("Cameco") to exchange it's
49% joint venture interest in the Boomerang uranium project in the southwest
Thelon Basin, Northwest Territories (NT) for Cameco's
100% interest in the various mineral dispositions making up the Halliday Lake, Poplar Point, Stewardson
Lake and Thluicho Lake uranium projects in the
Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan. Effective March 25, 2011, a definitive
exchange agreement (the "Purchase and Sale Agreement") between Cameco and Uravan has been
signed.
Prior to the Purchase and Sale Agreement, Cameco
held a 51% joint venture interest in the Boomerang uranium project. The acquisition
of Uravan's 49% interest now provides Cameco with a 100% interest in the various mining leases
and claims making up the Boomerang project and the Boomerang Joint Venture
assets.
In 2010 it became clear that access to the Boomerang project area in
the Northwest Territories for conducting exploration could be on hold for an
unknown period of time. The issues surrounding the land access concerns
are complex; involving unresolved Aboriginal land claims and Aboriginal
concerns regarding uranium exploration and development in the upper Thelon
River Basin. The resolution of these land access issues are between
governments and largely beyond our control.
Although Uravan believes the Boomerang
project holds good potential for finding unconformity-type uranium deposits,
the Southwest Thelon Basin is currently not open for exploration. Uravan's management felt it was in the best interest of
the shareholders to divest away from Thelon Basin and focus on projects that
are readily accessible.
The properties to be acquired by Uravan from
the exchange with Cameco will provide Uravan with a much larger project footprint in the
Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan. The properties are considered highly
prospective and immediately accessible for uranium exploration in this
uranium endowed region.
It is Uravan's plan to move quickly to
assess the potential of these new acquisitions. Programs and budgets are in
place for 2011 to complete multifaceted surface geochemical sampling programs
on the Halliday and Stewardson
Lake projects. The objective is to evaluate the most probable location of
buried uranium mineralization and, pending positive results, to drill
potential mineral targets by late summer 2011.
One of Uravan's key strategies is to engage
in applied research to developing innovative surface geochemical techniques
to advance the detection of uranium mineralization at greater depths versus
targeting blind geophysical conductors.
Additional land acquisitions by Uravan in
the Athabasca Basin are anticipated in the near future.
Uravan is
a Calgary Alberta based mineral exploration company that engages in applied
research to develop new innovative technologies to identify buried uranium
deposits in under-explored areas. Our vision is to get to discovery faster
and more cost effectively in frontier areas. Uravan
is pursuing exploration for potential high-grade unconformity-related uranium
deposits in the Athabasca and Thelon Basins in Canada and other basin
environments globally. Uravan is a publicly listed
company on the TSX Venture Exchange under the trading symbol "UVN".
All of the mineral properties Uravan owns are
considered in the exploration stage of development.
This press release may contain forward looking statements including
those describing Uravan's future plans and the
expectations of management that a stated result or condition will occur. Any
statement addressing future events or conditions necessarily involves
inherent risk and uncertainty. Actual results can differ materially from
those anticipated by management at the time of writing due to many factors,
the majority of which are beyond the control of Uravan
and its management. In particular, this news release contains
forward-looking statements pertaining, directly or indirectly, to the use of
proceeds of the Offering. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list
of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive. These statements speak
only as of the date of this release or as of the date specified in the
documents accompanying this release, as the case may be. The Corporation
undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statements except as expressly required by applicable securities laws.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange
nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies
of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this
release.
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