Uranium Project

RNS Number : 1784X

Goldstone Resources Ltd

20 June 2008

 



GOLDSTONE RESOURCES LTD

PROPOSED ACQUISITION OF THE DR3-EAST URANIUM PROJECT

The Directors of GoldStone Resources Ltd ('GoldStone' or the 'Company') are pleased to announce that the Company has conditionally agreed to acquire a 100 per cent. interest in a uranium exploration project in South Africa (the 'Acquisition').  

Details of the Acquisition

The Acquisition comprises the conditional purchase of the entire issued share capital and loan accounts of Hymrai Properties 1 (Pty) Ltd ('Hymrai'), a South African registered company. Hymrai's sole material asset is a notarially executed Prospecting Right over the Remainder and Portion 2 (De Onderste Vlei) of the farm Drie Vaderlandsche Rietvalleyen 49, located in the district of Laingsburg, Western Cape, South Africa.

A Black Economic Empowerment company, Obeec (Pty) Ltd (the 'BEE Vendor'), holds 26 per cent. of the share capital of Hymrai in accordance with the policy of the Department of Minerals and Energy ('DME') of South Africa. The balance of 74 per cent. is held by various different private entities (the 'Non BEE Vendors').

The Acquisition has been structured in two phases as follows:

Phase one comprises the conditional acquisition of 60 per cent. of the issued share capital of Hymrai, pro rata from the BEE Vendor and Non-BEE Vendors, and 100 per cent. of the loan account (the 'Loan Account') in Hymrai. The Loan Account totals US$29,711 and primarily represents advances made to Hymrai in order to fund the purchase of a spectrometer and to enable Hymrai to provide rehabilitation guarantees to the DME.

The consideration payable by GoldStone in phase one of the Acquisition is 6,540,832 ordinary shares in GoldStone, representing 5 per cent. of the current issued share capital, a cash component of US$30,000 and repayment of the Loan Account.  Phase one of the Acquisition is, save for the cash component of US$30,000, subject, inter alia, to the fulfilment of the following conditions by not later than 28 February 2009:

1. Approval of the purchase of the shares and loan accounts in Hymrai by the South African Reserve Bank;
   
2. Approval of the transaction by the Minister with regard to Section 11 of the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act, Act 28 of 2002 of South Africa, and confirmation by the Minister of compliance with the objectives of Section 2(d) of the same Act; and
   
3. The listing of GoldStone's ordinary shares on the AltX stock exchange of the JSE Ltd.

The second phase of the Acquisition grants GoldStone the right, within a period of nine months from date of fulfilment of the above conditions to acquire the remaining 40 per cent. of the issued share capital of Hymrai pro rata from the BEE Vendor and Non-BEE Vendors for a consideration of 13,081,666 ordinary shares in GoldStone, representing 10 per cent. of the current issued share capital, a cash component of US$50,000 and a net smelter royalty of two per cent. in perpetuity.

In the event that the BEE Vendor is unable to obtain the requisite Section 11 approval for the sale of its 26 per cent. shareholding in Hymrai, then the transaction shall proceed as detailed in respect of the remaining 74 per cent. shareholding of the Non-BEE Vendors. 

Should GoldStone elect not to proceed with phase two of the Acquisition, then it shall sell back the shareholding in Hymrai acquired under phase one to the BEE Vendor and the Non-BEE Vendor (if relevant) at nominal value, along with the book value of the Loan Account.

Two of the directors of GoldStone, Nico van der Hoven and Jurie Wessels, each have an indirect interest in 34.25 per cent. of the issued share capital of Hymrai as potential beneficiaries of discretionary trusts.  Whether or not they will benefit from the shares held in Hymrai by these trusts is entirely at the discretion of their respective trustees, as there are no vested rights.  As a result of the directors' interest in Hymrai, the Acquisition constitutes a related party transaction in accordance with AIM Rule 13.  Accordingly, Mr. van der Hoven and Mr. Wessels have excused themselves from the project review and the decisions over the Acquisition and the structure of the consideration.  The independent directors consider, having consulted with the Company's Nominated Adviser, Hanson Westhouse Limited, that the terms of the transaction are fair and reasonable insofar as its shareholders are concerned. 

The Company intends to commence an exploration programme during the nine month period following completion of the first phase of the Acquisition in order to rapidly extend existing exploration data to the point where the project may be commercialised.

Geology

The area held under the prospecting permit occupies 43 km2 and is adjacent to Areva's DR3 uranium resource, some 55km north of the town of Laingsburg in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Geologically the permit area covers sandstones, siltstones and mudstones of the Lower Permian Beaufort Group, which forms part of the Karoo Supergroup. Historic exploration during the 1970s and 1980s by previous operators estimated the resource of the neighbouring Areva DR3 deposit to be in excess of 1 Mt at an average grade of over 0.5 kg/t eU3O8. Uranium mineralisation in the area of interest is typically sandstone-hosted and occurs in the form of pods which are located in fossilised river-channel sandbodies. Exploration of the permit area during the early 1980s included geological mapping of surface outcrop and drill hole intersections. Examination of the results of this previous exploration programme as well as two recent field visits by GoldStone's geologists indicated the presence of several additional sandstone hosted uranium occurrences in the Hymrai permit area. The examination and re-interpretation of the historical exploration data obtained by GoldStone is ongoing.

Approval

Dr Lawrie Minter, who holds a PhD in palaeoplacer sedimentology has reviewed and approved the contents of this announcement.

Enquiries:

GoldStone Resources Ltd	00 27 21 794 4004
Nico van der Hoven (Chief Executive Officer)
Hanson Westhouse Limited	0113 246 2610
Tim Feather / Matthew Johnson

 

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