Uranium Exploration Australia (UXA) has signed a heads of agreement for the purchase of all of the business and assets of the specialised prompt fission neutron (PFN) borehole logging business from GeoInstruments Logging LLC (GIL) situated in Texas, US. The purchase will complete UXA’s ownership of PFN technology and logging worldwide and provides the company with a fully operational borehole logging business in the US, which is currently providing PFN logging services to a number of clients, complementing UXA’s Australian PFN business.
PFN technology is becoming increasingly used within the North American and Australian uranium mining and exploration industries, and played a significant role in the discoveries of two of Australia’s largest uranium deposits, the Beverley mine and Four Mile deposits in South Australia. Commenting on the acquisition, Dr Russell Penney, Managing Director of UXA said, “The purchase of a US based logging business represents a significant growth step for UXA enabling it to extend its PFN logging and service business to the expanding uranium mining and exploration industry in the western United States and beyond.”
Under the terms of the agreement signed with GIL’s owner John Turner, Geoscience Services USA (a wholly owned subsidiary of UXA) will pay the total cash price, subject to due diligence, of up to $1.88 million for the assets and business, which includes three fully equipped and operational PFN borehole logging trucks, a number of other service vehicles, assignable operating licences, staff, logging contracts, 13 gamma and PFN logging tools. UXA has paid a non-refundable deposit of $25,000 (part of the total consideration) and has ninety days to complete its due diligence and financing, gain any approvals required and prepare a mutually acceptable fully termed agreement.
The PFN borehole logging tool is unique in that it directly measures the content of uranium in boreholes, overcoming the problem of dis-equilibrium which limits and may even mislead the interpretation of uranium concentrations using only gamma logging tools. PFN tools are being extensively used in Australia and the US to establish uranium grades at a number of uranium mines and exploration projects.
In January 2010 UXA completed the purchase of the worldwide PFN intellectual property and manufacturing business from Jim Turner and GeoInstruments Inc in the US. In Australia, UXA provides a full range of commercial wire-line logging services to the mining and exploration sectors, principally focused on uranium, coal and coal seam gas, through its wholly owned subsidiary Geoscience Associates Australia.