TNT Mines higher on completing acquisition of high-grade US uranium-vanadium project

TNT Mines Ltd (ASX:TIN) has completed the acquisition of a high-grade uranium-vanadium project in the prolific Dry Valley/East Canyon mining district of southeast Utah, USA. With the company’s acquisition of Vanacorp Aust Pty Ltd and wholly-owned US subsidiary Vanacorp USA LLC, TNT has a new asset in the East Canyon Uranium Vanadium Project along with a new director in Peter Woods. In prolific belt East Canyon project is within the extended Uravan Mineral Belt, an important source of uranium and vanadium ore in the US for more than 100 years. This project is also within easy 50-kilometre trucking distance of the only fully permitted and fully operational conventional uranium-vanadium mill in the US, Energy Fuels Inc’s (TSE:EFR) (NYSEAMERICAN:UUUU) White Mesa Mill. The acquisition coincides with positive market fundamentals for uranium and resulting upward price movement. Shares higher Shares up more than 19% to 15.5 cents and since the close on May 1 have risen from 4.6 cents, reaching a new high of 21.5 cents on May 15. The East Canyon claims cover around 4,000 acres or 16 square kilometres in the district and feature numerous historical workings, including the None Such Mine previously owned and operated by Vanadium Corporation of America. The project area surrounded by other uranium-vanadium resources. Major highway 191 runs adjacent to the project and Energy Fuels’ White Mesa Mill is within trucking distance. Historical workings Many of the workings within the project area are still open and appear in relatively good condition. Over 2018 and 2019, Vanacorp representatives collected 26 samples from eight sites including underground ribs/faces and ore dump sites that returned assays as high as 0.47% U3O8 and 9.21% V2O5. They also observed multiple occurrences of visible mineralisation. The acquisition was subject to ASX approval of the terms of the performance rights to be issued to the vendors as part of consideration for the acquisition and after receiving this approval, the parties moved quickly to completion. Consideration for acquisition Initial exploration work has started ahead of schedule at the project and due to the accelerated timeline and delay in settlement, the vesting milestone for the first tranche of performance rights has effectively been partially satisfied. As a result, the revised final consideration payable for the acquisition is: 3.5 million ordinary shares, issued at settlement under the company’s placement capacity pursuant to ASX Listing Rule 7.1; Post-settlement and subject to shareholder approval, 1.75 million performance rights, that shall vest upon a JORC compliant report being published by the company detailing drill holes which have been drilled by the company intersecting, (i) at least 1-metre of an ore grade of greater than or equal to 0.2% U3O8 on any of the project claims, or (ii) at least 2 metres of an ore grade of greater than or equal to 0.1% on any of the claims; and A 2% net smelter return. New board member With settlement complete, TNT welcomes Peter Woods to the board as a non-executive director. Woods is the founder of Vanacorp, which he established in 2018 to acquire vanadium and uranium projects in the USA. After exploring southeast Utah in 2018, he began pegging claims in the Dry Valley district and has been instrumental in progressing the project to date. He is a director of boutique advisory and investment firm Bluebird Capital, has extensive capital markets and financial services experience and has held directorships with other ASX-listed companies. Michael Jardine has resigned from the TNT board and the company thanks him for his service and input as a director since listing in 2017 and wishes him the best in his future endeavours. General meeting next month TNT proposes to hold a general meeting of shareholders next month to seek approval for the issue of the performance rights. At this meeting, the company also intends to seek shareholder approval to ratify the issue of the consideration shares proposed to be issued to the vendors.