OREANDA-NEWS.  January 17, 2012.  Board of Directors of the Canadian uranium mining company Uranium One Inc. (51.4% of shares are owned by ARMZ Uranium Holding Co. (JSC Atomredmetzoloto, ARMZ)) decided to partially exercise a call option and purchase 13.9% of shares of Australian-based company Mantra Resources Limited (Mantra) from JSC Atomredmetzoloto for USD 150 mln. The deal is expected to be closed in Q1 2012, upon receiving all necessary approvals from the regulatory authorities.

Under the terms of the option agreement, the term of Uranium One Inc.’s call option to purchase the rest of Mantra Resources Limited shares from ARMZ will be extended until 7 June 2013 after the USD 150 mln partial option exercise has been completed. Exercising of the option to acquire the remainder of Mantra Resources Limited is subject to Uranium One Inc. minority shareholders’ approval.

As was reported earlier, in December 2010 ARMZ Uranium Holding Co. announced a transaction to acquire 100% shares of Australian-based uranium mining company Mantra Resources Limited. ARMZ and Uranium One also signed a Put/Call Option Agreement, under which Uranium One Inc. has the right to acquire from ARMZ all of the shares of Mantra at the same price paid by ARMZ plus additional expenditures of the latter.

In March 2011, ARMZ Uranium Holding Co. announced that the terms of its proposal for purchase of Mantra shares had been revised. At the same time, ARMZ and Uranium One signed an Amended and Restated Put/Call Option Agreement for purchase of all Mantra shares, under which the put/call option could be extended to 24 months from 12 months provided that Uranium One partially exercised its call option and acquired approximately 15% of Mantra shares for USD150 million within six months from closing of the acquisition of Mantra by ARMZ or until 31 January 2012, whichever comes later.

The transaction to acquire 100% of Mantra Resources Limited shares was closed in June 2011. After that, Uranium One Inc. became the operator of the key project of Mantra Resources Limited – Mkuju River in Tanzania.