Kopore Metals to acquire project in uranium-rich Niger

Kopore Metals Limited (ASX:KMT) has entered into a binding share sale agreement with Endeavour Financial AG to acquire 100% of Endeavour’s uranium project in the Agadez region of Niger.
Under the deal Kopore will acquire Endeavour’s wholly owned subsidiary EF Niger Exploration SARL.
The Project comprises three granted exploration permits (Permits) and one exploration licence application in the highly prospective Tim Mersoi Basin, considered one of the world’s major uranium producing areas.
The Permits host the same geology that is represented at Orano’s Cominak (now shut down) and Somair mines and the Imouraren (Orano), Madaouela (Goviex) and Dasa (Global Atomic) projects.
According to the World Nuclear Association, Niger was the 6th largest producer of uranium in 2021 and has been an exporter of uranium since the early 1970’s.
The company has agreed to purchase 100% of the issued capital in EF Niger Exploration SARL (Target), a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavour that holds the Niger Project Permits. In consideration, the company will pay US$100,000 to Endeavour (as reimbursement for historic shareholder loans) and issue Endeavour (or its nominees) 120,000,000 company shares at a deemed issued price of $0.02.
Under the terms of the Transaction, the company has agreed to spend a minimum of US$2 million on the Permits within the first 24 months (subject to any force majeure extension), with US$1.5 million of that amount to be spent on a drilling programme.
This obligation falls away if the company declares a Mineral Resource of at least 16Mlb of U3O8 at a minimum grade of 200ppm U3O8 on any of the permits.
The Permits
The Permits represent a 726km2 landholding across three tenements in the uranium rich Tim Mersoi Basin. The most prominent uranium prospect on the project area is the Takardeit prospect, which has been reported by former owners of the Permits (where a maiden Mineral Resource estimate completed in 2010 reported an Inferred Mineral Resource of 23 million tonnes @ 210ppm, with an estimate of 11 million pounds of U3O8 at 120ppm cut-off grade.
The mineralisation reported on this prospect is shallow and constrained below by a shale layer but remains open at both eastern and western ends.
Managing Director, Caroline Keats, said the opportunity to acquire highly prospective tenements in Niger’s uranium-rich Tim Mersoi Basin is a unique opportunity for Kopore and marks the first step in the company’s diversification into clean-energy focussed assets.
“The Tim Mersoi Basin is one of the most significant areas of producing sandstone-hosted uranium deposits in the world, with historical production generating nearly 145,000 tonnes of uranium since 1971.
“The tenements being acquired by Kopore are all in the same region as other uranium mines and other major uranium deposits, with one of the targets already recording a maiden Inferred Mineral Resource of 23Mt at 210ppm U3O8 for 11Mlbs using a 120ppm cut-off.
“The region is also infrastructure rich, with power, water, sealed roads and a nearby international airport in the city of Agadez.
“Post-acquisition, we’re planning to undertake fieldwork and ground mapping before commencing a drilling program which will aim to upgrade the historical mineral resource to comply with JORC Code 2012 and to then increase it.
“The uranium tenements will be complementary to Kopore’s exploration assets in Botswana’s Kalahari copper belt and its earn-in and joint venture with Horseshoe Metals in tenements surrounding the historic high-grade copper-gold Horseshoe Lights Mine in WA.”