Murchison Secures Strategic Alliance With Areva
June 25 2008 - 1:00AM
UK Regulatory
MURCHISON UNITED NL
ACN 009 087 852
ASX CODE: MUR, AIM CODE: MUU
Telephone: +618 9322 4071, Fax: +618 9322 4073
ASX, AIM and Media Release
25 June 2008
MURCHISON SECURES STRATEGIC ALLIANCE WITH AREVA IN MAURITANIA
Highlights
* Entered into a Cooperation Agreement with global industrial & nuclear energy conglomerate, Areva.
* Areva to acquire initial 5% stake in Murchison through a placement of Shares each at A$ 0.135 per share.
* Murchison to issue shares to Areva equivalent to a further 10% in consideration for access to its
extensive geological database on Mauritania, including Bir En Nar, and provision of technical services,
equipment and personnel.
* Exploration to be fast-tracked at priority Bir En Nar Uranium Project and other prospects in Mauritania.
* Agreement to form Joint Venture on delineation of minimum 60m lbs inferred JORC resource within two years.
PERTH, 25 June 2008 - Australian-based international uranium exploration company, Murchison United NL (ASX: MUR, AIM:
MUU), is pleased to announce that it has executed a wide-ranging Cooperation Agreement with the French-based
multinational industrial and nuclear energy giant, Areva NC ("Areva"), to accelerate the exploration and development of
its portfolio of uranium projects in Mauritania, West Africa.
The agreement encompasses a strategic investment in Murchison, access to Areva's extensive uranium database in
Mauritania, technical cooperation and support from the French-based company There is also an agreement to establish a
Joint Venture between Murchison and Areva if the exploration programme is successful in identifying a minimum of 60m lbs
of JORC Code compliant inferred uranium resources, agreed between the parties, within the next two years. The 60m lbs
of JORC Code compliant inferred uranium resources is only an indicative target and there is no assurance that it will be
identified.
The agreement represents a significant endorsement of Murchison's uranium exploration assets and strategy in Mauritania,
in particular its rapidly emerging Bir En Nar Project, located in the northern Zednes Region, where it has reported
outstanding exploration results over the past 12 months.
It caps a successful 18 months for Murchison, during which it has repositioned as a West African-focused uranium
explorer with over 15,000km2 of prospective tenure in Mauritania and Guinea.
Cooperation Agreement
The agreement between Murchison and Areva lays the foundations for a long-term strategic alliance to accelerate the
exploration, evaluation and development of Murchison's extensive uranium portfolio in Mauritania -which is covered by
Areva's detailed historical uranium database.
The key components are:
* An agreement for Areva to subscribe for 19,009,131 shares, being 5% of Murchison's issued capital at a
subscription price of A$ 0.135, equal to the 8-week Volume Weighted Average Price of Murchison's shares preceding the
announcement date;
* The granting to Murchison of rights to access and utilise Areva's extensive geological database covering the
Republic of Mauritania including Murchison's tenement holdings, and the provision by Areva of equipment, technical
services and personnel to assist in accelerating Murchison's current exploration programs. The consideration for this
will be the issue to Areva of shares equivalent to a further 10% stake in the Company. This will result in a further
39,919,175 new Murchison shares being issued to Areva.
* An agreement to establish a Joint Venture between Areva and Murchison if exploration during the 2-year period
after signing the agreement delineates a minimum of 60m lbs of uranium JORC inferred Resources;
* It is envisaged that Areva would earn an initial interest in the Joint Venture on commercial terms prevailing
at the time based on internal valuation and market valuations and would be able to increase this stake during the pre-
feasibility phase and with the opportunity to eventually increase its interest to 100% at exploitation time on
commercial terms prevailing ;
* Areva will also have the option to acquire 100% marketing rights on any future production from the Joint
Venture tenements.
Under the proposed Joint Venture arrangements, it is envisaged that Areva will conduct the pre-feasibility and
feasibility studies and become the operator of any future mining operation. Therefore, Areva is committed from the
agreement to stay involved in the project for a minimum of 2 years, corresponding to the exploration phase.
The placing of shares in Murchison with Areva in consideration for the database access and provision for technical
services may require the approval of existing Murchison shareholders. If so, the Company will convene an Extraordinary
General Meeting to obtain this approval as soon as practicable.
About Murchison United
Murchison United NL is an Australian-based company whose principal activity is minerals exploration. The company
currently has uranium exploration projects in Mauritania and Guinea in West Africa and copper interests in the
Millennium copper leases in Cloncurry, Queensland and the Maroochydore copper project in Western Australia.
Murchison has secured an extensive portfolio of uranium exploration projects comprising some 15,400km2 of highly
prospective tenements in Mauritania and Guinea, West Africa. Its objective is to delineate significant new uranium
deposits within these under-explored terrains.
The Company recently confirmed the significant potential and prospectivity of the Bir En Nar Project in Mauritania,
after announcing final downhole radiometric logging results, including further significant high-grade results from its
recently completed maiden RC drilling program.
26 of the 38 holes tested returned intercepts calculated at greater than 1,000ppm eU3O8. Seven holes contained
intercepts exceeding 5,000ppm eU3O8, with a maximum intercept of 1.55m at 18,280ppm eU3O8. Murchison considers these
results to be very encouraging and confirm the prospectivity for uranium mineralisation.
The Bir En Nar prospect is a 900 metre long radioactive zone extending 50-70 metres in width and following a tectonic
structure in a NW-SE direction. A smaller parallel zone occurs a few hundred metres to the SW.
The permit areas are located in the north of the country near the town of Bir Moghrein and at Bir En Nar in Zednes
region. These were originally identified by the Company's Technical Director, Mr Bosse Gustafsson, from a study
commissioned by the World Bank and further refined from aeroradiometric data highlighting the region's prospectivity for
uranium occurrences.
Fig.1 Location of Murchison United's exploration permits in Mauritania (to view image, please open the following link in
a new window)
http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/murc0625.pdf
In Guinea, the Company is scheduled to conduct a follow-up 5,000m diamond drilling program at Firawa prospect in Guinea,
in September 2008 following the wet season, targeting a JORC compliant resource estimate to follow up initial drilling
carried out in 2007. Encouraging results of up to 1,325ppm U3O8 were returned from drilling at Firawa last year.
Commenting on the announcement, Murchison United's Managing Director, Mr Mark Reilly, said: "We are delighted to
announce this landmark agreement with Areva, which represents the most significant development in Murchison's recent
history and a key turning point for the Company."
"Importantly, the agreement will give us access to Areva's extensive database on uranium mineralisation in Mauritania as
well as the support of an experienced and fully equipped Areva technical team including an Exploration Project Manager,
Resource & Reserves Manager and drilling expert," Mr Reilly continued.
"Areva's corporate predecessors have undertaken a significant amount of historical exploration activity in Mauritania,
including over our tenements, and their extensive database contains a vast amount of invaluable information on our
exploration projects and other uranium prospects in the country.
"This will give us the additional technical capacity to really step up exploration activities with a view to delineating
a substantial JORC Code compliant resource, initially at Bir En Nar, possibly during the second half of this year," he
added.
"Areva is a leading global expert in nuclear energy and a major global multinational corporation," Mr Reilly continued.
"We are truly delighted to have secured their involvement in our West African uranium exploration activities, which
represents a major endorsement of the quality of our projects and our team, and a vindication of the strategic direction
we have taken over the past two years.
"Importantly, Areva has the technical capacity and funding capabilities to rapidly advance and bring new uranium
projects into production, and this will prove to be a major advantage for Murchison moving forward," he added.
Following the Cooperation Agreement, Murchison also confirmed today that it intended to announce a proposed change of
name shortly to more accurately reflect its focus as an emerging West African uranium company.
Mark Reilly
Managing Director
For further information contact:
Mark Reilly, Managing Director
Murchison United N.L. Tel: +618 9322 4071
Ewan Leggat/Laura Littley
Fairfax I.S. PLC Tel: +44 20 7598 5368
Stuart Laing
RFC Corporate Finance Ltd Tel: +618 9480 2506
(AIM Nominated Adviser to the Company)
Jos Simson/Ed Portman
Conduit PR Tel : +44 20 7429 6603
Notes:
The information in this report that relates to exploration results in West Africa is based on information compiled by
Mr. Bosse Gustafsson, who is a member of the European Federation of Geologists a Recognised Overseas Professional
Organisation ("ROPO"). Mr Bosse Gustafsson is a full time Technical Director of Murchison United NL and is responsible
for exploration activities in Mauritania and Guinea. Mr Gustafsson has sufficient experience, which is relevant to the
style of mineralisation and the type of deposit under consideration and to the activity, which he is undertaking to
qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 Edition of the 'Australian Code for Reporting of Exploration
Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserve'. Mr Gustafsson consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based
on their information in the form and context in which it appears.
Down hole gamma logging/probing of drill holes provides a powerful tool for uranium companies to explore for, and
evaluate, uranium deposits. Such a method measures the natural gamma rays emitted from material surrounding a drill hole
out to around 0.5 metre from its centre - the gamma probe is therefore capable of sampling a much larger volume than
that which would normally be recovered from a core or RC hole. These measurements are used to estimate uranium
concentrations with the commonly accepted initial assumption being that the uranium is in (secular) equilibrium with its
daughter products (or radio-nuclides) which are the principal gamma emitters. If uranium is not in equilibrium (viz. in
disequilibrium) - as a result of the redistribution (depletion or enhancement) of uranium and/or its daughter products -
then the true uranium concentration in the holes logged using the gamma probe will be higher or lower than those
reported in the announcement.
Total count gamma logging does not account for energy derived from thorium and potassium but is calibrated on the
uranium band and factor applied to account for the average effect of thorium and potassium and thus the result is
expressed as an equivalent value or ppm eU308. The logging programme was undertaken by Poseidon Geophysics (Pty) Ltd
utilising an Auslog Logging System using instruments calibrated at Pelindaba, South Africa, an IAEA accepted and
approved standard facility. Data was converted from raw counts per second of natural gamma rays to eU3O8 using the
calibration constant obtained from measurements made at the Pelindaba calibration borehole. Poseidon Geophysics carried
out regular checks to validate the accuracy of probe data using a test hole, BNR14, located on site. Uranium
mineralisation grades through this report annotated with a sub-prefix 'e' have been reported as uranium equivalent
grades derived from down-hole gamma ray logging results and should be regarded as approximations only.
About Areva
More about
With manufacturing facilities in 43 countries and a sales network in more than 100 countries, AREVA offers customers
reliable technological solutions for CO2-free power generation and electricity transmission and distribution. We are the
world leader in nuclear power and the only company to cover all industrial activities in this field. Our 65.000
employees are committed to continuous improvement on a daily basis, making sustainable development the focal point of
the group's industrial strategy. AREVA's businesses help meet the 21st century's greatest challenges: making energy
available to all, protecting the planet, and acting responsibly towards future generations. www.areva.com
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