LONDON (Alliance News) - Highlands Natural Resources PLC Wednesday said it has more than doubled the amount of land on which it has mining rights in the US state of Utah after acquiring a string of mining claims over land that it hopes hosts uranium.
Highlands said it has acquired 33 mining claims in Grand County, Utah, which cover a total area of 682 acres, pushing its total acreage in Utah up to 1,219 acres.
Highlands acquired its first acreage in Utah earlier this month after evaluating oil and gas well logs that showed the potential for the area to host uranium, and has now increased its land holding after acquiring further mining claims on Wednesday.
The company has paid a total of USD7,326 for the latest 33 mining claims, which was satisfied in cash.
"We believe this area to be highly prospective for uranium, and this transaction which doubles our acreage is testament to our excitement regarding the opportunity. We will provide updates regarding our plans for the area in due course, and will focus on adding value to this asset in tandem with our activities towards commercialising the DT Ultravert refrac technology, which has the strong potential to dramatically reduce costs associated with lifting production from existing wells," said Chief Executive Robert Price.
DT Ultravert is a technology owned by Diversion Technologies aimed at making re-fracking wells easier, giving oil companies another option to drilling a completely new well. Highlands owns a 75% stake in patent applications covering that technology, which is not yet ready for commercial use, and has previously said it has taken a gamble investing in it.
Highlands Natural shares were down 1.3% to 15.30 pence per share on Wednesday morning.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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