OREANDA-NEWS. November 27, 2009. ARMZ Uranium Holding Co.’s Transaction With Uranium One Approved by Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Kazakhstan.
 
Moscow, Russia – ARMZ Uranium Holding Co. today announced that the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan has approved the transaction whereby Uranium One Inc. has agreed to purchase from ARMZ Uranium Holding Co., AKA Atomredmetzoloto, a 50% joint venture interest in the Karatau Uranium Mine for consideration which includes an interest in Uranium One equity.

Subject to approvals from the Competition Protection Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board and to the satisfaction of usual and customary closing conditions, ARMZ Uranium Holding Co. expects to close the transaction before the end of 2009.

As previously announced, on June 15, 2009, ARMZ Uranium Holding Co. which is the mining arm of Rosatom State Corporation, signed a definitive purchase agreement to sell a 50% interest in the Karatau Uranium Mine in Kazakhstan for consideration of 117 million common shares of Uranium One Inc. (UUU – Toronto Stock Exchange, JSE Limited [Johannesburg Stock Exchange]) through a private placement and a cash payment of USD 90 million (or equivalent promissory note due within one year of closing). The agreement provides for a contingent payment to ARMZ Uranium Holding Co. of up to USD 60 million, payable in three equal tranches over the next three years subject to certain post-closing tax-related adjustments. Thus, ARMZ Uranium Holding Co. will acquire a 16.6% to 19.95% interest in Uranium One Inc., depending on the timing of Uranium One’s transaction with a consortium of Japanese corporations.

Concurrently with the purchase agreement, ARMZ Uranium Holding Co. has also entered into a long-term offtake agreement and a framework agreement providing for a strategic relationship with Uranium One, both of which will become effective upon closing of the acquisition.

In welcoming the decision made by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Director General Vadim Zhivov of ARMZ Uranium Holding Co. stressed, ‘The closing of the transaction brings Rosatom State Corporation in partnership with Uranium One to the second place among foreign uranium producers operating in Kazakhstan in the terms of uranium resource base. Most importantly, this strategic relationship forms a global platform for Rosatom’s further expansion in the world’s uranium markets. After the deal is closed, the Russian nuclear industry’s uranium resources will have increased by 15% since the start of the international expansion, which commenced earlier this year’.