Uranium One Inc. is a Canadian uranium mining company with headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. Since 2013 it is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Russian state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom. The sale to Rosatom triggered a series of right-wing accusations and conspiracy theories; no evidence of wrongdoing has been found.
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. 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. The gold assets of Aflease were divested by 2008 and Uranium One Africa was sold in 2010 to Gupta family. In 2007, SXR Uranium One Inc. acquired UrAsia Energy, a Canadian firm headquartered in Vancouver which owned stakes in uranium mines in Kazakhstan, from Frank Giustra, and dropped SXR from its name. 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. 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. 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. 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%. 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. 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. 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. ARMZ took complete control of Uranium One in January 2013 by buying all shares it did not already own. In October 2013, Uranium One Inc. was delisted from the Toronto and Johannesburg exchanges and became a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Rosatom. 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. 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. 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. In 2015, Uranium One Australia, the owner of the Uranium One's Australian operations, including the Honeymoon Uranium Project, was sold to Boss Resources. In August 2018, Uranium One closed its Willow Creek mine in Wyoming.
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. and Moscow-based Uranium One Group. Uranium One Holding is wholly owned by Uranium One Group. Uranium One Group is owned by Rosatom direct subsidiaries Atomenergoprom and ARMZ.
