(Wyoming Business Report, November 11) – According to a release from the company, the state bond loan was secured by assets at the uranium facility and will be repaid at the fixed rate of 5.75 percent per year on a quarterly basis starting in January. The principal will be tackled over 28 quarterly installments beginning in January 2015 and will be paid off within eight years of issuance. According to the release, the loan matures in October 2021.
Closing costs on the loan totaled about $782,000, or 2.3 percent of the loan amount.
“This is a pretty big deal,” said Robert DeMonbrun, senior vice president of Gates Capital Corp. in Castle Rock, Colo. He said his firm helped Ur-Energy close on the loan.
He said in a phone interview that despite depressed spot prices for uranium, Ur-Energy sold “a good percentage” of its uranium on long-term contracts at a higher price to U.S. nuclear generators. He added that the bond monies came from the Wyoming Permanent Mineral Trust Fund, which will then be replenished with severance taxes from the project.
“It’s kind of a good match,” DeMonbrun said.
Ur-Energy President and CEO Wayne Heili said that getting the company’s debt converted into the state bond loan will make it much more manageable and advance growth in Wyoming. He thanked the state administration and called it dedicated to the energy economy.
“As a productive part of that economy, Ur-Energy and its 75 Wyoming employees exemplify the type of project the Industrial Development Revenue Bond Program was designed for,” Heili said.
The Lost Creek Project opened for operations in August, and recently packaged its first dried yellowcake (uranium oxide).
