Hathor Exploration Limited is a

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

exploration company based in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. Its exploration office is located in

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as t ...

, Canada. Hathor's exploration projects concentrate on properties within the

Athabasca Basin The Athabasca Basin is a region in the Canadian Shield of northern Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada. It is best known as the world's leading source of high-grade uranium and currently supplies about 20% of the world's uranium. The basin i ...

of Northern

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

, Canada. In 2009, Hathor Exploration was reported as having the sixth most significant exploration project in Saskatchewan (based on expenditures) and the 51st out of 100 in Canada at their Midwest NorthEast property in the Athabasca Basin, by Natural Resources Canada. The name

Hathor Hathor ( egy, ḥwt-ḥr, lit=House of Horus, grc, Ἁθώρ , cop, ϩⲁⲑⲱⲣ, Meroitic: ) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky ...

was inspired by the ancient Egyptian goddess, who besides being one of the most important and popular deities throughout the history of Ancient Egypt, was also the patron goddess of miners in ancient Egyptian culture.

History

The company was founded on June 28, 1996, in Alberta as Longview Minerals Ltd. Following its inception, the company then moved out of Alberta and was renamed pursuant to the

Canada Business Corporations Act The ''Canada Business Corporations Act'' (CBCA; french: Loi canadienne sur les sociétés par actions) is an act of the Parliament of Canada regulating Canadian business corporations. Corporations in Canada may be incorporated federally, under t ...

under the name of Sixgill Minerals Ltd. on September 26, 1996. On May 28, 1997, the company changed its name to Hathor Exploration Limited. In 2006 Hathor Exploration completed the acquisition of Roughrider Uranium Corp. which led to the discovery of the Roughrider Deposit of the Midwest NorthEast property, and then in 2009 and 2011 respectively acquired Northern Continental Resources Inc. and Terra Ventures Inc. giving the company full control of both the Russell Lake and Midwest NorthEast properties. On August 26, 2011,

Cameco Cameco Corporation (formerly Canadian Mining and Energy Corporation) is the world's largest publicly traded uranium company, based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. In 2015, it was the world's second largest uranium producer, accounting for 18 ...

announced its intention to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Hathor Exploration Limited, and made an all-cash offer to shareholders of $3.75

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...

per Hathor share. This announcement initiated a bidding process between Cameco Corp. and

Rio Tinto Rio Tinto, meaning "red river", may refer to: Businesses * Rio Tinto (corporation), an Anglo-Australian multinational mining and resources corporation ** Rio Tinto Alcan, based in Canada ** Rio Tinto Borax in America *** Rio Tinto Borax Mine, a ...

which came to an end on November 30, 2011. Rio Tinto succeeded in its bid to acquire Hathor Exploration by obtaining 70.21% of the outstanding Hathor common shares on a fully diluted basis through their all-cash offer of $4.70

per Hathor share. On January 12, 2012, Rio Tinto announced that it had successfully acquired 135,290,661 Hathor common shares, representing 100% of the outstanding Hathor common shares on a fully diluted basis. As a result, Hathor de-listed from the

Toronto Stock Exchange The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; french: Bourse de Toronto) is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in t ...

Roughrider deposit and discovery

The most significant assets attributed to Hathor Exploration is the Midwest NorthEast Project and the Roughrider Deposit's multiple zones of uranium mineralization. The Roughrider Deposit's West Zone was discovered in February 2008 with drill hole MWNE-08-12 which showed concentrations of up to 5.29% U₃O₈ over 3.3m. As of May 17, 2011, the Roughrider Deposit contained a NI 43–101 compliant combined resource (indicated and inferred) of 57.94 million pounds U₃O₈ (Resource estimates prepared by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc., a division of SRK Consulting), where intercepts have shown grades of up to 81.9% U₃O₈. The resource estimates to date have only included the West and East zones of the Roughrider Deposit and not the recently discovered Far East Zone. The West Zone of mineralization currently accounts for 27.81 million pounds U₃O₈ at an average grade of between 1.98% (indicated) & 11.03% (inferred) U₃O₈, while the larger East Zone currently accounts for 30.13 million pounds U₃O₈ of the total estimated resource at 11.58% U₃O₈. With all current resource estimates taken into account, the Roughrider Deposit is currently the third-highest grade uranium deposit in the world, following

's McArthur River and Cigar Lake Deposits. The (RRZ) of mineralization is located in the same region which also accommodates several other significant uranium deposits. Roughly 4 km to the southwest is the Midwest uranium deposit owned by

AREVA Resources Canada Inc Orano Canada (formerly AREVA Resources Canada Inc.) is a uranium mining, milling, and exploration company headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Orano is a subsidiary of the Orano Group, an international nuclear energy company headquar ...

, Denison Mines Corp. and OURD Canada Co., Ltd. which contains 41.7 million pounds of U₃O₈ at a grade of 5.47%, and only 900 meters to the southwest is the Midwest A discovery (formerly known as the Mae Zone) which contains an additional 19.5 million pounds of U₃O₈ at a grade of 1.57%, and is also owned jointly owned by

, Denison Mines Corp. and OURD Canada Co., Ltd.

Corporate activities

As a result of negotiations regarding either the acquisition and/or management of various properties Hathor Exploration Limited had previously entered into joint venture agreements, with Forum Uranium Corp., Northern Continental Resources Inc., Triex Minerals Corporation, Terra Ventures Inc., and ESO Uranium Corp. on various projects across Canada. In March 2009, Hathor Exploration spun-out its Eskay Creek precious metals project to form the new company called Standard Exploration Ltd. (until October 7, 2010, known as MAX Minerals Ltd.) which now oversees all aspects of that project. In December, 2009 Hathor Exploration completed its acquisition of Northern Continental Resources Ltd. where through a financial agreement, Hathor became the owner of 100% of the interest in the Russell Lake property which is located 15 km northeast of the

Key Lake The Key Lake mine is a former uranium mine in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is north of Saskatoon by air on the southern rim of the uranium-rich Athabasca Basin. Key Lake was initially developed to open-pit mine two nearby uranium ore deposits: the ...

mine/mill complex and 12 km southeast of the

McArthur River uranium mine The McArthur River Uranium Mine, in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, is the world's largest high-grade uranium deposit. The McArthur River deposit was discovered in 1988. The property is located as the crow flies north of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan ...

, which was previously divided between the two companies. On August 5, 2011, Hathor Exploration took full ownership and control of the issued and outstanding securities of Terra Ventures Incorporated. This arrangement consolidated a 100% interest in the Roughrider uranium deposit and 100% interest in the Russell Lake exploration project, located at either end, respectively, of the eastern corridor of the Athabasca Basin.

Corporate governance

Corporate personnel at the time that the company was delisted from the

were: * Mike Gunning, president,

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and director * James P. Malone, director and chairman of the board, chairman of the special committee * Jay Fredericks, vice president of project development * Alistair McCready, vice president of exploration * Andriyko Herchak,

chief financial officer The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...

* Benjamin Ainsworth, advisor to the board, special projects and new business opportunities * John Currie, director and chairman of the compensation committee * Martin Glynn, director and chairman of the audit committee

References

External links