27 November 2024
Result of Annual General
Meeting
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Aura Energy Limited (ASX: AEE, AIM: AURA) ("Aura", the "Company") advises Resolutions 1 to 14
as set out in the Notice of Annual General Meeting of Shareholders
dated 25 October 2024 were carried by poll at the Company's Annual
General Meeting of Shareholders held yesterday.
As less than 25% of votes cast on
Resolution 1 were against the adoption of the 2024 Remuneration
Report, Resolution 15, the conditional spill resolution, was not
required to be put to the meeting and accordingly was
withdrawn.
In accordance with ASX Listing Rule
3.13.2 and section 251AA of the Corporations Act, details of the
proxies received, votes cast and the outcome in respect of each
resolution, please refer to: http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/8482N_1-2024-11-27.pdf
At the AGM the Company's Chairman,
Phillip Mitchell, made the following statement:
Good afternoon,
Thank you for joining us today,
either in the room in person in Perth, Western Australia - or
somewhere around the world, connecting via Zoom.
Welcome to the 2024 Annual General
Meeting for Aura Energy. I'm your Chair, Phil Mitchell.
To say this past year has been
transformative for Aura Energy would be an understatement - it has
been a critical year for our Company, in more ways than
one.
Beyond the terrific progress made
across our project portfolio, centred on the near-term development
at our flagship Tiris Uranium Project in Mauritania, we've enhanced
our team locally and globally to deliver on our clean energy
goals.
Importantly, we welcomed Aura's new
leader to the team, with Andrew Grove joining Aura as Managing
Director and CEO. It's been impressive to watch Andrew and his team
advance our key projects these past 11 months, displaying the
leadership skills, and the technical and financial expertise to
drive Aura through this exciting phase of our
development.
Personally, I've been delighted with
what we've achieved in 2024 and am very pleased to have Andrew on
board to continue taking us forward towards development and into
production.
The capacity of the team to develop
Tiris has been further strengthened with a number of other key
appointments.
These include Mark Somlyay, a
talented CFO with extensive experience in West Africa. Jan Booyse,
and his Project EQ team, who will undertake the pre-development
planning and the Owner's Team function for the Tiris development.
And most recently, Moctar Mohamed El Hacene was appointed to the
newly established role of Country Manager, Mauritania.
This is a critical appointment for
our Tiris project.
Moctar is a highly qualified
Mauritanian national with exceptional experience in mining and
international affairs. He previously served as Mauritania's
Petroleum and Mines Minister from 2007 to 2008, during which time
uranium was first discovered at Tiris. In addition to his role as
Country Manager Mauritania, Moctar has also been appointed as Tiris
Resources' Director-General; that's our 85%-owned Mauritanian
subsidiary and holder of the Tiris uranium project.
Moctar's tenure at Aura began on
November 1 after a decade with the United Nations' serving as
Director for the Economic Development and Integration Division's
economic and social commission for Western Asia - during which time
he was based in Lebanon.
His appointment reflects the
exciting progress being made at Tiris.
Further appointments are underway to
ensure the team has the capacity to successfully bring Tiris into
production in late 2026 to capitalise on the new wave of clean
energy demand worldwide.
Our company is now uniquely
positioned with a near-term, low-cost, high-margin uranium
development at Tiris.
Not forgetting our Tier One
polymetallic resource at the Häggån Project in Europe's leading
mining jurisdiction in Sweden.
And in a market that is increasingly
hungry for cleaner energy solutions - the future is bright for
Aura.
This year we made substantial
progress at both Tiris and Häggån, and we are focused on moving
Tiris into construction and production by the end of
2026.
Tiris Uranium Project
As you would be aware, the Tiris
Uranium Project is now fully permitted and construction ready
following the Mauritanian Government's granting of its final
material permit for the construction and operation of the project.
The Front-End Engineering and Design or FEED1 study for
Tiris was completed and our production target updated in September
20242, demonstrating the outstanding economics of Tiris
with:
· A
NPV8% of US$499 million
· An
internal rate of return (or IRR) of 39 per cent
· A
2¼ year payback period
This year, we also conducted a
successful exploration campaign which led to a 55% increase in
Tiris' global Mineral Resources: Tiris Mineral Resources are now
91.3 Mlbs U3O8, from 58.9 Mlbs U3O3.
We remain confident that there is
room for significant further growth in Tiris' resource base. As
with the rest of our business, exploration efforts in Mauritania
are very cost effective. The increased Mineral Resources for Tiris
driven by our exploration campaign was delivered at a discovery
cost of only US$0.14 per pound U3O8.
Importantly, we have also been
investigating options to expand the annual production base from
2Mlbspa U3O8 to 3Mlbspa U3O8 or greater after year three of
operations with any expansion capital potentially funded from
cashflow, the results of which will be released in the near future
but should demonstrate the significant value achievable at Tiris
through additional capital investment and future exploration
success.
Furthermore, we were very happy with
the result of our negotiations and discussions with our offtake
partners at Curzon Uranium Ltd (Curzon).
As we announced a few months ago,
Curzon agreed to restructure4 the historical uranium
offtake agreement, materially increasing the price receivable for
planned uranium production and releasing significant value for
Tiris.
Essentially, our average fixed
contract price pursuant to the Curzon offtake arrangements has
increased 70% to US$74.75/lb U3O8 up from US$44.09 per pound -
subject to FID by early 2025, which we're confident of
achieving.
Total contracted volumes reduce from
2.6Mlbs to 2.1Mlbs over the same seven-year term, delivering US$41
million of additional potential revenue to Tiris at a uranium price
of US$80 per pound.
As part of the restructure Curzon
took a US$3.5 million placement into Aura and was also paid a
US$3.5 million fee paid in Aura shares and we welcome Curzon as a
partner in the Project and significant shareholder in
Aura.
Tiris Funding
In June, Aura appointed Orimco to
arrange debt funding for Tiris. Orimco has vast experience
supporting projects throughout Africa and at the same time,
Macquarie Capital was appointed in Australia to identify and engage
with strategic investors for a potential equity investment in Tiris
and/or Aura
·
While this process is ongoing, I can offer a high-level
update: We have received confidential, non-binding
proposals from a number of investors and debt
providers and other parties continue to contact us expressing
willingness to co-invest
·
Both funding processes are on-going, with advisors continuing
to progress conversations with a number of parties proposed to be
engaged in both the debt and strategic investment
opportunities
· At
this time, discussions in respect of the proposals have not
sufficiently progressed to be announced to the market and there is
no binding agreement in place with respect to any funding
arrangement. Aura confirms that no assurance can be given that the
ongoing confidential discussions will result in any binding
agreement between the parties, and Aura will continue to maintain
its policy of keeping the market fully informed with its continuous
disclosure obligations
· Independent engineers have commenced
due diligence on all aspects of the project on behalf of the
lenders and investors
· We are working with
potential funding parties and hope to be in a position to make a
Final Investment Decision ('FID') on Tiris in Q1 2025 following
which there is an 18-month final design and construction program
with production aimed at commencing in late 2026
We are pleased with the progress to date and the
level of interest we've received from a strong mix of potential
funding partners.
1 ASX and AIM Release: 28 Feb 2024 - FEED study confirms
excellent economics for the Tiris Uranium Project
2 ASX and AIM Release: 11 Sept 2024 - Updated Production Target
improves economics at Tiris Uranium Project
3 ASX and AIM Release: 12 June 2024 - Aura increases Tiris
Mineral Resources by 55% to 91.3 Mlbs
4 ASX and AIM Release: 16 April 2024 - Offtake restructure
delivers significant value Curzon Restructure and Placement
Häggån Project
I'm pleased to report that this
morning, I am in Stockholm where we have meetings scheduled with
key ministerial and governmental officials as we liaise with the
Swedish Government, working through the legislative policy changes
that are required to implement its commitment to the further
development of nuclear power including its policy to roll back the
ban on uranium mining.
While here in Sweden I'd like to
remind you of Ebba Buisch, Sweden's Deputy Prime Minister quote
"That the most beautiful word I
know is baseload. Let's take politics out of energy policy and put
physics back in". In highlighting the importance of
baseload, the Deputy Prime Minister observed "There's a difference between terawatts and
terawatt hours and there's a lot of politicians and inanciers who
need to learn." The Deputy Prime Minister also observed
"By the way, for the inanciers
who are learning and looking for nuclear projects to fund...Sweden
is open for business"5
While this potential policy change
is still in the works, we continue to advance the project across
multiple fronts. Sweden, like the rest of Europe, sees nuclear
energy as critical to providing energy security with zero carbon
emissions.
At our Häggån Project in Sweden, we
continue to make good progress. Haggan represents a substantial
tier one polymetallic resource in Häggån comprised of vast
resources of future-facing metals such as vanadium, potassium,
nickel, zinc, molybdenum, and uranium.
In particular, during this past year
we have continued our engagement with local communities.
As we announced in September 2023,
our Haggan scoping study6 was based on less than 3% of
Häggån's two billion tonnes of Mineral Resources and it excluded
uranium - which underlines why we are so excited about Häggån's
long-term potential.
In August this year, we lodged an
Exploitation Permit Application for Häggån, and we expect our
applications to be considered favourably due to the amount of work
undertaken to date. Once granted we can also renew the larger
Häggån exploration permit. Our exploitation permit application for
Häggån K number 1, lodged with the Swedish Mining Inspectorate,
includes a preliminary assessment of the project that spells out
its economics and its environmental and community
impact.
Once granted, the permit will
provide Aura with a 25-year tenure- and paves the way for us to
carry out further environmental and social impact studies, with the
ultimate goal of developing a profitable mine that operates
sustainably, responsibly and in full compliance with Swedish
regulations.
The progress we're making at Häggån
and the very real near-term development of Tiris are perfectly
positioned to capitalise on global demand for uranium, which
continues to grow.
5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuMYOVP_zGE
Global Demand
As we highlighted in our recently
released annual report, there are around 155 nuclear reactors
around the world that are either under construction right now, or
that are planned to be constructed in the very near
future7.
During the past year, some key
government decisions were announced in support of the production of
nuclear energy, uranium mining and uranium conversion.
These include the developments in
Sweden that I mentioned earlier, as well as the United Kingdom's
plans to quadruple its nuclear energy capacity by 2050, and the US,
Canada, Japan and France collectively investing in new uranium
enrichment and conversion capacity.
And just a couple of weeks ago, the
outgoing Biden administration in the US unveiled the US
Government's plans to triple nuclear power amid increasing demand.
This follows announcements from major companies such as Microsoft
which plans to leverage nuclear power to support the rapid growth
in artificial intelligence.
Meanwhile, China's development of
its nuclear energy capacity continues at pace despite economic
challenges that the country is facing.
These developments have underpinned
uranium prices, which have stabilised at around US$80 per
pound.
We are not alone in our optimism and
excitement about the long-term direction of uranium
markets.
The World Nuclear Association's
Nuclear Fuel Report 20238 projects a 28% increase in
demand for uranium by 2030 and a further 51% increase in demand
between 2031 and 2040.
Our Future
The team at Aura are excited at the
prospects of our business and we hope you, our shareholders, are
equally excited.
We want to thank our shareholders
for their ongoing support - including those shareholders that
joined us on this journey as part of our A$16 million placement and
oversubscribed share purchase plan during the year.
This funding is helping us accelerate Tiris
towards FID, whilst unlocking future expansion opportunities in
both the resource potential and project scale.
There has been plenty of good news in 2024 but 2025 will be a
truly defining year for Aura as we ready ourselves for a final
investment decision for the Tiris Project.
With compelling economics, a terrific team in place, and a
stable and supportive Government and local community in Mauritania,
Tiris is poised to be a near-term, low-cost, high-margin producer
coming into a glowing uranium market driven by growing global
energy demand and the global push to meet Net Zero targets to
mitigate climate change.
Our focus for the coming months will be to finalise Tiris'
funding requirements as we approach FID.
In Sweden, we are building and nurturing relationships with key
stakeholders as we move through the required approval processes to
continue the development of the Häggån Project.
At the same time, we are we are closely watching and waiting as
the Swedish Government moves through its legislative processes to
rescind the country's ban on uranium mining.
I would like to thank Andrew and his executive team, and our
people in Australia, Mauritania and Sweden for their continued
professionalism and commitment to improving and delivering our
projects.
To conclude, on behalf of my fellow Board members at Aura, thank
you again for your support of Aura in 2024 and we look forward to
providing further exciting updates in the new year and beyond, as
we move from planning and developing, to building of the world's
next major uranium projects.
Thank you
Phillip Mitchell, Chair Aura Energy Ltd
6 ASX and AIM Release: 5 Sept 2023 - Scoping Study Confirms
Scale and Optionality of Häggån
7 Online article "Plans for new reactors worldwide" Nov 2024 -
World Nuclear Association (https://world-nuclear.org/information-
library/current-and-future-generation/plans-for-new-reactors-worldwide)
8 See World Nuclear Association website for the Fuel Report 2023
at www.world-nuclear.org
ENDS
Aura Energy Ltd has approved this
announcement.
This Announcement contains inside
information for the purposes of the UK version of the market abuse
regulation (EU No. 596/2014) as it forms part of United Kingdom
domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018
('UK MAR').
For
further information, please contact:
Andrew Grove
Managing Director and CEO
Aura Energy Limited
agrove@auraee.com
+61 414 011 383
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Paul
Ryan
Sodali & Co
Investor & Media
Relations
paul.ryan@sodali.com
+61 409 296 511
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SP
Angel Corporate Finance LLP
Nominated Advisor and
Broker
David Hignell
Adam Cowl
Devik Mehta
Grant Barker
+44 203 470 0470
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About Aura Energy (ASX: AEE, AIM:
AURA)
Aura Energy is an Australian-based
mineral company with major uranium and polymetallic projects in
Africa and Europe.
The Company is focused on developing
a uranium mine at the Tiris Uranium Project, a major greenfield
uranium discovery in Mauritania. 2024 FEED Study[1] and Updated Production Target[2] demonstrated Tiris to be a near-term low-cost 2Mlbs
U3O8 pa future uranium mine with a 25-year
mine life with excellent economics and optionality to expand to
accommodate future resource growth.
Aura plans to transition from a
uranium explorer to a uranium producer to capitalise on the rapidly
growing demand for nuclear power as the world shifts towards a
decarbonised energy sector.
Beyond the Tiris Project, Aura owns
100% of the Häggån Project in Sweden. Häggån contains a
global-scale 2.5Bt vanadium, sulphate of potash ("SOP")[3] and uranium[4] resource.
Utilising only 3% of the resource, a 2023 Scoping Study[5] outlined a 17-year mine life based on mining
3.5Mtpa.