First Uranium seeks C$150m cash

Beleagured uranium-gold producer returns from deathwatch as CEO Gordon Miller quietly slips off the board of directors.

JOHANNESBURG - 

Toronto- and Johannesburg-listed First Uranium, the world's worst performing uranium stock, has today announced a recapitalisation programme, mainly involving convertible notes, aimed at revving up a cash infusion of between CAD 135m and CAD 150m. The programme is to be supported by Johannesburg-listed Simmer & Jack, which holds 37.2% of First Uranium, and which could increase its stake to as much as 48% if conversion is eventually chosen.

The First Uranium recapitalisation is also to be partially supported by Gold Wheaton, to which First Uranium is running delinquent on prior promises of deliveries of gold, swapped for up-front cash payments. Simmers is to separately proceed with a capital raising; details are pending.

It is also clear from today's announcements that First Uranium CEO Gordon Miller will be stepping down. In mid-December, Simmers announced, along with a new proposed board, that its then-CEO and then-chairman, Gordon Miller and Nigel Brunette, would be stepping down. Brunette's role as chairman at First Uranium is apparently on countdown.

Today's announcements state that the current Simmers CEO, Deon van der Mescht, is moving to interim CEO of First Uranium; he resigns as CEO of Simmers, where he will be replaced by Nico Schoeman, as interim Simmers CEO.

When First Uranium announced three- and nine-month results to 31 December 2009, it issued a statutory warning that "certain conditions and events cast significant doubt upon the validity" of the assumption that it can continue as a going concern.

First Uranium, which operates the behind-schedule uranium and gold producing MWS retreatment entity, and also the refurbished Ezulwini mine, both in South Africa, saw its stock smashed up once again after its release in January of yet further cuts in forecast production, which in turn triggered a warning from Gold Wheaton that First Uranium may have to cough up penalties of USD 42m to Gold Wheaton.

First Uranium has several times slashed forecast production since April 2008, when for 2011 it anticipated production of 1.9m pounds of uranium, and 507,000 ounces of gold. The latest anticipated numbers for 2011 are 477,000 pounds of uranium and 189,000 ounces of gold.

First Uranium was spun out of Johannesburg-listed Simmer & Jack and listed in Toronto early in 2007. The stock price soon traded above CAD 13.00 a share, but declined, recently making record lows of CAD 1.07 a share. Due to constant dilutive stock issues, the Simmers stake in First Uranium has been whittled down to 37.2%. First Uranium has also raised USD 173m from Gold Wheaton from forward sales of gold it has not yet produced.

First Uranium's debt, mainly in the form of convertible debentures, has escalated, such that on 31 December 2009, it held net debt, including cash, of USD 146m. Since listing in Toronto, First Uranium has spent USD 546m on capital expenditure.

In January specialist analysts at RBC Capital Markets warned that First Uranium faced insolvency, unless, among other things, it completed a rights issue to raise between USD 125m and USD 150m. Such a capital raising would go no further than erasing its net debt, but would provide working capital for the meantime.

First Uranium suffered the choking off of more oxygen in January when the environmental authorization for part of MWS's operations was withdrawn; it was later reinstated on 25 February.

When First Uranium filed its Toronto prospectus in December 2006, the stated words there referred to "Near-Term Production Mining Projects". First Uranium, investors were told, "believes that its existing uranium and gold projects can be placed into production in the near-term. The Ezulwini Project is expected to produce gold in the second quarter of 2007 which management intends to have processed by means of a toll treatment arrangement with a nearby processing plant.

"The first gold to be milled and the first uranium to be produced at the Ezulwini Project are expected by the end of 2008".Ezulwini is a very old gold and uranium shaft that has been refurbished. First Uranium stated further that "the first uranium and gold production from the Buffelsfontein Project are expected by mid-2008". This project changed its name to MWS after further gold-rich uranium dumps and tailings dams adjacent to those belonging to Buffelsfontein were acquired.

SUBSCRIBE to Mineweb.com's free daily newsletter now.

Disclaimer

MINEWEB is an interactive publication, with rolling deadlines through each day, commencing in the Sydney morning,  and concluding, 24 hours later,  in the Vancouver evening.  If you believe your side of an issue deserves inclusion, but has failed to meet one of our deadlines, you are invited to notify the Editor in Chief in Johannesburg, and we will include you in our editing and expanding on our stories. Email him at alechogg@gmail.com

Print story      Email story      Subscribe to free newsletter

Back

 

responses to this article

Name
Subject
Comment