Okapi entered the US energy space last year, and has just secured a controlling 51% interest in the high-grade Hansen and Picnic Tree deposits, which is adjacent to its existing Taylor and Boyer deposits, within the Tallahassee district of Colorado.
The eight-year option agreement would deliver it a JORC resource that has expanded to 49.8 million pounds, and increased the average grade by 10% to 540 parts per million.
The minnow now describes itself as a significant player in the US energy space, and is keen to consolidate further areas in the Tallahassee area, banking on a rapid increase in demand from domestic production due to the far-reaching impacts of Russian sanctions
Around half of uranium consumed in the US was sourced from Russia, or the former Soviet states of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in 2020, according to the Energy Information Administration, and that is a situation that is fast becoming unpopular with the Biden administration, particularly given allegations of Russian war crimes in Ukraine and recent political upheaval in Kazakhstan.
The Hansen sandstone-hosted deposits were originally discovered in the 1970s and has been extensively drilled and studied, with three feasibility studies into a mix of open pit and underground mining, with.
It was fully permitted to commence production prior to the collapse of the uranium market in 1982.
The binding agreement with vendor STB Minerals will deliver 22.2Mlb at 610ppm for a modest US$500,000 cash.
It will be funded from available cash, which was A$4.5 million at the start of the year.
Its option agreement requires it to pay US$250,000 annually, subject to any inflation adjustments, over five years, and allows it to explore and mine the Hansen area. Extending the option for a further three years increases the annual payment to a base $500,000pa.
The option can be exercised by a $5 million payment to STB.
Okapi director Ben Vallerine knows the area well, having headed up exploration for ASX-listed Black Range Minerals when it kicked off uranium exploration in 2006 and eventually secured the majority of the district by 2010, with resources of 90.4Mlb at 600ppm.
STB was the company that vended in half of Hansen to Black Range in 2010.
Vallerine will now help oversee metallurgical tests and initial conceptual mine design work, with the aim of establishing the viability of an in-situ recovery operation.
With some 50Mlb, the company says it has the critical mass for a standalone project.
Okapi also has interests in Utah, where it has just received approvals to drill 100 shallow holes within the Rattler project, which is just 85km from Energy Fuel's White Mesa mill, the only operating conventional uranium mill in the USA hence provides a near term, low-capital development opportunity.
The work is expected later this year.
In January it acquired a portfolio of high-grade exploration assets in Canada's uranium-rich Athabasca Basin.
Okapi also has gold interests in New South Wales. It had hoped to commence diamond drilling within the Enmore project last month to follow up its thick gold intercept from last year, however the heavy rains that have hit the state this year has damaged site access.
Okapi shares were up 25% today to 37.5c, valuing it at $35 million.
The stock has traded between 17c and 79c over the past year, and was as low as 4c in early 2020 when it was an African-focused gold play.