A mystery company known as Yarri Mining Pty Ltd plans to take stoc market listing hopeful Energy and Minerals Australia Ltd (EMA) to court over a highly sought after uranium deposit, which is claimed to be the biggest outside of the control of the mining
A mystery company known as Yarri Mining Pty Ltd plans to take stoc market listing hopeful Energy and Minerals Australia Ltd (EMA) to court over a highly sought after uranium deposit, which is claimed to be the biggest outside of the control of the mining giants.
The unknown outfit will argue its plaints for forfeiture in the Warden’s Court in August over two tenements that comprise the Mulga Rock uranium deposits, which was the subject of a near three-year legal battle between EMA and West Perth-based Uranium Equities Ltd.
The case was wrapped up earlier this year however it was during the proceedings in July 2006 that Yarri Mining lodged its plaints, claiming the minimum expenditure on the tenements had not been met.
EMA, an unlisted public company which opened its $5 million initial public offering this week, outlined in its prospectus that the minimum spend required over both tenements for the 2006 and 2007 expenditure period was $135,800.
The company declared it had spent over $400,000 in its claimed expenditure over the period.
EMA managing director Chris Davis said he did not know who was behind Yarri Mining Pty Ltd, but that it was a subsidiary of Yarri Mining Ltd, which is registered in South Kensington in the United Kingdom.
“We don’t know who they are exactly…it’s a faceless company,” Mr Davis said.
“We’ve had the expenditure reviewed by several sets of lawyers, they’re all quite comfortable with the expenditure we’ve made, the ASX are quite comfortable with us listing with the plaint, and so we believe the plaints to be without merit.”
According to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, Anthony Slater is the only registered director of Yarri Mining Pty Ltd. In the case against EMA, Yarri will be represented by Gary Lawton from Lawton Lawyers.
The tenements under contention contain three separate uranium deposits which collectively form the Mulga Rock deposits, and were discovered in the 1980s by the Japanese government-owned exploration company PNC Exploration Australia.
PNC spent around $11 million in exploration on the area before its divestment in 2000. The company calculated a non-JORC compliant resource of 46,500 tonnes of uranium, which in comparison is larger than Rio Tinto’s Kintyre uranium deposit which has a reported resource of some 36,000t.
EMA has claimed it is the largest uranium deposit outside of the control of BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.
“It’s bigger than Kintyre and smaller than [BHP’s] Yeelirrie,” Mr Davis said.
Mr Davis added that exploration of the uranium deposits will continue regardless of the plaints which had not deterred investors to date. EMA has managed to raise over $7 million from current and new investors after the plaints were lodged.
The IPO is due to close on May 2 and EMA is expecting to list on May 23.
