Vancouver — In a move to create an expanded uranium-focused junior, Bayswater Ventures (BVE-V, BVEVF-O) and Pathfinder Resources (PHR-V, PFDFF-O) have announced plans to merge.
The deal will consolidate uranium landholdings in Labrador’s Central Mineral Belt (CMB), the Thelon basin in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, and Newfoundland’s Hermitage Uranium Belt, as well as in Niger and Guatemala.
The proposed new company will hold almost 4,000 sq. km in the CMB, becoming the largest landholder in the uranium district, where a number of companies are exploring for iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) or Olympic Dam-type and granite-hosted (Rossing-type) deposits. The CMB holdings will be provided by Bayswater, which has tabled a 2006 budget of over $5 million to include airborne and ground geophysics and drilling on defined targets.
Landholdings by both Bayswater and Pathfinder in the South and North Thelon basin will see the new company emerge as one of the larger landholders in the region with over 7,800 sq. km. The Thelon basin, covering portions of both the Northwest and Nunavut Territories, has some similarities to the Athabasca basin in northern Saskatchewan and has been the focus of an increasing number of explorers.
In Niger, West Africa, Bayswater recently applied for two concessions and has a purchase agreement covering another two for total holdings of about 8,000 sq. km in the country, which has the world’s fourth-largest uranium resources after Canada, Australia and Kazakhstan. Three of the concessions are in the Arlit, Akouta region, where Cogema is actively mining roll-front, sandstone-hosted uranium deposits.
Pathfinder will also contribute its 357 sq. km in the Hermitage Uranium Belt in southwestern Newfoundland, where stratiform sedimentary and volcanic-hosted uranium mineralization has been identified.
The one-third interest held by Pathfinder in its Guatemala Uranium Venture will round out the new company’s project portfolio. An initial program of prospecting and surface sampling was recently completed on the sediment-hosted uranium environment.
Under the terms of the merger, each Bayswater share will be exchangeable for a share of the new company, while each Pathfinder share is good for 0.588 of a share. In addition, prior to the merger, Bayswater will subscribe to a $2-million private placement in Pathfinder (3.33 million shares at 60 apiece). Subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, the companies anticipate the merger will be completed by June.
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