Uranium One

Uranium One Inc. (former names: Southern Cross Resources Inc. and SXR Uranium One Inc.) is a Canadian uranium mining company with headquarters in Toronto, Ontario.[3] Since 2013, it is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Russian state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom.[4]

Uranium One Inc.
FormerlySouthern Cross Resources Inc.
SXR Uranium One Inc.
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryMining
PredecessorsSouthern Cross Resources Inc.
Aflease Gold and Uranium Resources Ltd.,
Founded2 January 1997 (1997-01-02)
Headquarters
Toronto, Ontario
,
Canada
Key people
Eduards Smirnovs (CEO)[1]
ProductsUranium
Gold
Number of employees
201–500[2]
ParentRosatom
Websiteuranium1.com

History

The company was established as Southern Cross Resources Inc. on January 2, 1997 in Toronto, Canada. It was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange on August 25, 1997. In 2005, Southern Cross Resources Inc. reverse merged with South African Aflease Gold and Uranium Resources Ltd. under the name SXR Uranium One Inc.[5][6] After merger, the company received secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Aflease Gold and Uranium Resources Ltd. became a subsidiary of SXR Uranium One and was renamed Uranium One Africa Ltd. The main uranium asset of Aflease was the Dominion mine.[6] The gold assets of Aflease were divested by 2008 and Uranium One Africa was sold in 2010 to Gupta family.[7]

In 2007, SXR Uranium One Inc. acquired UrAsia Energy,[8][9] a Canadian firm headquartered in Vancouver which owned stakes in uranium mines in Kazakhstan,[10] from Frank Giustra, and dropped SXR from its name.[11][12] In the same year, Uranium One bought the Shootaring Uranium Mill from the United States Enrichment Corporation. It was sold to Anfield Energy in 2015.[13] Also in 2007, Uranium One acquired Energy Metals Corporation which owned the Hobson uranium processing plant in Texas, and uranium exploration properties located in Wyoming and Texas. The Hobson uranium processing plant and assets in Texas were sold to Uranium Energy Corporation in 2009.[14]

In 2009, the Rosatom subsidiary ARMZ acquired 16.6% of shares in Uranium One in exchange for a 50% interest in the Karatau uranium mining project, a joint venture with Kazatomprom.[15] In 2010, Uranium One acquired 50% and 49% respective interests in southern Kazakhstan-based Akbastau and Zarechnoye uranium mines from ARMZ. In exchange, ARMZ increased its stake in Uranium One to 51%.[16][17] In 2010, Uranium One acquired Irigaray uranium processing plant, the Christensen Ranch satellite uranium processing facility and associated uranium exploration properties in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming from the joint venture of AREVA and Électricité de France.[18] In December 2010, ARMZ increased its stake in Uranium One to 51.4%. At the time of the 2010 sale, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission estimated that Uranium One held the rights to approximately 20 percent of the licensed uranium ore production capacity in the United States which in its entirety amounted to 0.2% of the world's uranium production.[19][20] By 2017 additional mining licenses had been issued to other operators, shrinking Uranium One's share of U.S. production capacity to approximately 10 percent.[19]

ARMZ took complete control of Uranium One in January 2013 by buying all shares it did not already own.[4] In October 2013, Uranium One Inc. was delisted from the Toronto and Johannesburg exchanges and became a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Rosatom.[21][22] From 2012 to 2014, an unspecified amount of Uranium was reportedly exported to Canada via a Kentucky-based trucking firm with an existing export license; most of the processed uranium was returned to the U.S., with approximately 25% going to Western Europe and Japan.[23][24] In 2015, Uranium One relocation of certain head office functions such as finance, internal audit and some technical services to Moscow. In 2017, Uranium One established a trading company Uranium One Trading in Zug, Switzerland. However, in January 2018, trading functions of the company were transferred to Techsnabexport, an export arm of Rosatom.[25]

In 2010–2013, Uranium One acquired Mantra Resources, the developer of Mkuju River mine in Tanzania. The Mkuju River project was suspended in 2017 due to the low uranium price.[26] In 2015, Uranium One Australia, the owner of the Uranium One's Australian operations, including the Honeymoon Uranium Project, was sold to Boss Resources.[27] In August 2018, Uranium One closed its Willow Creek mine in Wyoming.[28]

Operations

Through its subsidiaries and joint ventures Uranium One owns Akdala, South Inkai, Karatau, Akbastau and Kharasan uranium mines in Kazakhstan, the conserved Willow Creek uranium mine in the United States, and the Mkuju River uranium project in Tanzania.

Ownership

Uranium One Inc. is an indirect subsidiary of the Russian state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom. It is directly owned by the Amsterdam-based Uranium One Holding N.V. (89.07%) and Moscow-based Uranium One Group (former name: Uranium Mining Company; 10.93%). Uranium One Holding is wholly owned by Uranium One Group. Uranium One Group is owned by Rosatom direct subsidiaries Atomenergoprom (71.084%) and ARMZ (28.916%).[29]

Conspiracy theory
Main article: Uranium One controversy

A conspiracy theory launched during the 2016 presidential election campaign accused Bill Clinton, the Clinton Foundation, Hillary Clinton, the Obama administration, high level officials in Russia, the State Department, Uranium One, and the FBI of allegedly compromising national-security interests, bribery, and suppressing evidence.[30][31][32] All parties have denied the accusations, and no evidence of wrongdoing has been found after five years of allegations, an FBI investigation, a House Intelligence Committee inquiry, and the 2017 appointment by the Justice Department of the U.S. Attorney in Utah, John Huber, to evaluate the FBI investigation.[30][31][32][33][34] Huber's inquiry ended in January 2019 without any findings of consequence.[34]

See also

References
  1. "Eduard Smirnovs". uranium1.com. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  2. "Uranium One Inc". AnnualReports.com. March 30, 2016. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  3. Commodities (July 29, 2018). "Company Overview of Uranium One Inc". Financial Post. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  4. Commodities; Mining (January 14, 2013). "Uranium One bought by top Russian shareholder ARMZ for $1.3-billion". Financial Post. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
  5. Stueck, Wendy (July 6, 2005). "S. African firm nabs uranium miner". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
  6. "Court sanctions Southern Cross takeover of Aflease". Mail and Guardian. December 6, 2005. Retrieved November 8, 2018.
  7. Steyn, Lisa; Donnelly, Lynley (March 24, 2016). "Price pressure on Gupta uranium mine". Mail and Guardian. Retrieved November 8, 2018.
  8. Stewart, Sinclair; Hoffman, Andy (May 27, 2009). "Uranium One ensnared in Kazakh scandal". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
  9. "Uranium One Completes Acquisition of UrAsia Energy". www.newswire.ca (Press release). Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  10. Hoffman, Andy (May 29, 2009). "Who sold key asset to Uranium One?". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  11. "Federal Corporation Information - 636424-1". Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
  12. Hoffman, Andy (June 5, 2007). "Uranium just got hotter". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
  13. "Hidden Value in Anfield Energy: The Shootaring Uranium Mill". Oil & Gas 360. June 26, 2018. Retrieved November 8, 2018.
  14. "Uranium Energy buys Texan venture". World Nuclear News. October 10, 2009. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  15. "Kazakh tie-in for Uranium One and ARMZ". World Nuclear News. June 15, 2009. Retrieved June 24, 2009.
  16. "Uranium One to Acquire Two More Kazakh Mines from ARMZ and To Pay Special Dividend to Minority Shareholders of at least US$ 1.06 per Share" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 27, 2010. Retrieved June 9, 2010.
  17. "ARMZ takes hold of Uranium One". World Nuclear News. June 9, 2010. Retrieved June 9, 2010.
  18. "Uranium One acquires Wyoming assets". World Nuclear News. August 11, 2009. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  19. Kessler, Glenn (October 31, 2017). "The repeated, incorrect claim that Russia obtained '20 percent of our uranium'". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  20. Ritch, John (November 21, 2017). "This Uranium Deal Was No Scandal". The New York Times. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
  21. WISE Uranium Project "Following the completion of the Going Private Transaction, and an internal reorganization by ARMZ's parent corporation, Russia's State Atomic Energy Company 'Rosatom' in December 2013, Uranium One is now a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Rosatom and is no longer controlled by ARMZ." updated April 1, 2015, accessed April 23, 2015
  22. "About Us". www.uranium1.com. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  23. Solomon, John; Spann, Alison (November 2, 2017). "Uranium One deal led to some exports to Europe, memos show". TheHill.com. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  24. Becker, Jo; McIntire, Mike (April 23, 2015). "Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amid Russian Uranium Deal". NYTimes.com. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  25. ""Росатом" сливает доходы: Трейдинг природного урана передают "Техснабэкспорту"" [Rosatom merges revenues: Natural uranium trading is transferred to Techsnabexport]. Kommersant (in Russian). January 11, 2018. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  26. "Uranium One applies to suspend Mkuju River project". World Nuclear News. July 10, 2017. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  27. "Russia sells Australian mining arm to Boss Resources". World Nuclear News. September 1, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  28. "Uranium One mothballs US mine". Nuclear Engineering International. August 21, 2018. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  29. "Uranium One letter to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission" (PDF). Uranium One. September 14, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  30. Chang, Alvin (November 17, 2017). "This simple chart debunks the conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton sold uranium to Russia". Vox. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
  31. Jacobson, Louis; Kruzel, John (October 24, 2017). "What you need to know about Hillary Clinton, Russia, and uranium". Vox. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
  32. Harshaw, Tobin (November 14, 2017). "Clinton Uranium 'Scandal' Doesn't Have Much Fuel". Bloomberg. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
  33. Maxwell, Tani (2017-10-28). "Mueller's charges have Republicans freaking out over a report tying Hillary Clinton to a Russian uranium deal". Business Insider. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  34. Barrett, Devlin; Zapotosky, Matt (January 10, 2020). "Justice Dept. winds down Clinton-related inquiry once championed by Trump. It found nothing of consequence". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
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