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MINERAL RIGHTS AND PROPERTIES
12 Months Ended
Jul. 31, 2018
Mineral Industries Disclosures [Abstract]  
Mineral Industries Disclosures [Text Block]
NOTE 5:
MINERAL RIGHTS AND PROPERTIES
 
Mineral Rights
 
At July 31, 2018, we had mineral rights in the States of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Wyoming, in Canada and in Paraguay. These mineral rights were acquired through staking and purchase, lease or option agreements and are subject to varying royalty interests, some of which are indexed to the sale price of uranium.
 
At July 31, 2018, annual maintenance payments of approximately $2,011,000 were required to maintain these mineral rights.
 
Mineral rights and property acquisition costs consisted of the following:
 
 
 
July 31, 2018
 
 
July 31, 2017
 
Mineral Rights and Properties
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Palangana Mine
 
$
6,285,898
 
 
$
6,285,898
 
Goliad Project
 
 
8,689,127
 
 
 
8,689,127
 
Burke Hollow Project
 
 
1,495,750
 
 
 
1,495,750
 
Longhorn Project
 
 
116,870
 
 
 
116,870
 
Salvo Project
 
 
14,905
 
 
 
14,905
 
Anderson Project
 
 
9,154,268
 
 
 
9,154,268
 
Workman Creek Project
 
 
1,657,500
 
 
 
1,520,680
 
Los Cuatros Project
 
 
257,250
 
 
 
257,250
 
Slick Rock Project
 
 
646,650
 
 
 
615,650
 
Reno Creek Project
 
 
31,527,870
 
 
 
-
 
Diabase Project
 
 
546,938
 
 
 
-
 
Yuty Project
 
 
11,947,144
 
 
 
11,947,144
 
Oviedo Project
 
 
1,133,412
 
 
 
1,133,412
 
Alto Paraná Titanium Project
 
 
1,433,030
 
 
 
1,433,030
 
Other Property Acquisitions
 
 
91,080
 
 
 
91,080
 
 
 
 
74,997,692
 
 
 
42,755,064
 
Accumulated Depletion
 
 
(3,929,884
)
 
 
(3,929,884
)
 
 
 
71,067,808
 
 
 
38,825,180
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Databases
 
 
2,410,038
 
 
 
2,410,038
 
Accumulated Amortization
 
 
(2,405,192
)
 
 
(2,392,196
)
 
 
 
4,846
 
 
 
17,842
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Land Use Agreements
 
 
404,310
 
 
 
404,310
 
Accumulated Amortization
 
 
(354,388
)
 
 
(315,356
)
 
 
 
49,922
 
 
 
88,954
 
 
 
$
71,122,576
 
 
$
38,931,976
 
 
We have not established proven or probable reserves, as defined by the SEC under Industry Guide 7, for any of our mineral projects. We have established the existence of mineralized materials for certain uranium projects, including the Palangana Mine. Since we commenced uranium extraction at the Palangana Mine without having established proven or probable reserves, there may be greater inherent uncertainty as to whether or not any mineralized material can be economically extracted as originally planned and anticipated.
 
The Palangana Mine has been the Company’s sole source for the uranium concentrates sold to generate sales revenues during Fiscal 2015, Fiscal 2013 and 2012, with no sales revenues generated during Fiscal 2018, Fiscal 2017, Fiscal 2016, Fiscal 2014 and prior to Fiscal 2012. The economic viability of the Company’s mining activities, including the expected duration and profitability of the Palangana Mine and of any future satellite ISR mines, such as the Burke Hollow and Goliad Projects, located within the South Texas Uranium Belt, and the Reno Creek and North Reno Creek Projects, has many risks and uncertainties. These include, but are not limited to: (i) a significant, prolonged decrease in the market price of uranium; (ii) difficulty in marketing and/or selling uranium concentrates; (iii) significantly higher than expected capital costs to construct the mine and/or processing plant; (iv) significantly higher than expected extraction costs; (v) significantly lower than expected uranium extraction; (vi) significant delays, reductions or stoppages of uranium extraction activities; and (vii) the introduction of significantly more stringent regulatory laws and regulations. Our mining activities may change as a result of any one or more of these risks and uncertainties and there is no assurance that any ore body that we extract mineralized materials from will result in profitable mining activities.
 
The estimated depletion and amortization of mineral rights and properties for the next five fiscal years are as follows:
 
Fiscal 2019
 
$
39,376
 
Fiscal 2020
 
 
11,350
 
Fiscal 2021
 
 
1,542
 
Fiscal 2022
 
 
1,500
 
Fiscal 2023
 
 
290,632
 
Total
 
$
344,400
 
 
During Fiscal 2017, we abandoned the Nichols Project located in Texas and certain non-core mineral interests at projects located in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico with a combined acquisition cost of $297,942. As a result, an impairment loss on mineral properties of $297,942 was reported on the consolidated statements of operations.
 
Mineral property expenditures incurred by major projects were as follows:
 
 
 
Year Ended July 31,
 
 
2018
 
 
2017
 
 
2016
 
Mineral Property Expenditures
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Palangana Mine
 
$
1,047,635
 
 
$
880,633
 
 
$
1,273,002
 
Goliad Project
 
 
105,264
 
 
 
114,286
 
 
 
92,588
 
Burke Hollow Project
 
 
675,605
 
 
 
1,020,965
 
 
 
1,034,888
 
Longhorn Project
 
 
14,401
 
 
 
32,796
 
 
 
10,149
 
Salvo Project
 
 
36,056
 
 
 
37,551
 
 
 
34,289
 
Anderson Project
 
 
68,167
 
 
 
68,303
 
 
 
178,212
 
Workman Creek Project
 
 
31,300
 
 
 
31,265
 
 
 
32,820
 
Slick Rock Project
 
 
52,218
 
 
 
44,231
 
 
 
53,861
 
Reno Creek Project
 
 
1,278,959
 
 
 
-
 
 
 
-
 
Yuty Project
 
 
425,298
 
 
 
365,517
 
 
 
388,840
 
Oviedo Project
 
 
119,082
 
 
 
331,798
 
 
 
569,077
 
Alto Paraná Titanium Project
 
 
175,768
 
 
 
800,023
 
 
 
-
 
Other Mineral Property Expenditures
 
 
522,398
 
 
 
580,275
 
 
 
701,831
 
Revaluation of Asset Retirement Obligations
 
 
-
 
 
 
(187,255
)
 
 
(308,398
)
 
 
$
4,552,151
 
 
$
4,120,388
 
 
$
4,061,159
 
 
 
Palangana Mine, Texas
 
We hold various mining lease and surface use agreements granting us the exclusive right to explore, develop and mine for uranium at the Palangana Mine, a 6,987-acre property located in Duval County, Texas approximately 100 miles south of the Hobson Processing Facility. These agreements are subject to certain royalty and overriding royalty interests indexed to the sale price of uranium and generally have an initial five-year term with extension provisions.
 
During Fiscal 2017 and Fiscal 2016, the asset retirement obligations (“ARO”) for the Palangana Mine was revised due to changes in the estimated timing of restoration and reclamation of the Palangana Mine. As a result, a credit amount of re-valuation of ARO totaling $187,255 (Fiscal 2016: $308,398) was recognized as a result of a downward adjustment to fully depleted underlying mineral rights and properties, which was recorded against the mineral property expenditures for the Palangana Mine.
 
During Fiscal 2018, Fiscal 2017 and Fiscal 2016, we continued with reduced operations at the Palangana Mine to capture residual uranium only. As a result, no depletion for the Palangana Mine was recorded on our consolidated financial statements.
 
At July 31, 2018, capitalized costs of the Palangana Mine were $6,285,898 (July 31, 2017: $6,285,898), less accumulated depletion of $3,929,884 (July 31, 2017: $3,929,884), for a net book value of $2,356,014 (July 31, 2017: $2,356,014).
 
 
Goliad Project, Texas
 
We hold various mining lease and surface use agreements granting us the exclusive right to explore, develop and mine for uranium at the Goliad Project, a 1,139-acre property located in Goliad County, Texas. These agreements are subject to certain fixed royalty interests based on net proceeds from sales or indexed to the sale price of uranium and have an initial five-year term with extension provisions. At July 31, 2018, capitalized costs totaled $8,689,127 (July 31, 2017: $8,689,127).
 
 
Burke Hollow Project, Texas
 
We hold various mining lease and surface use agreements granting us the exclusive right to explore, develop and mine for uranium at the Burke Hollow Project, a 19,335-acre property located in Bee County, Texas. These agreements are subject to fixed royalty interests based on net proceeds from sales and have an initial five-year term with extension provisions. At July 31, 2018, capitalized costs totaled $1,495,750 (July 31, 2017: $1,495,750).
 
 
Longhorn Project, Texas
 
We hold various mining lease and surface use agreements granting us the exclusive right to explore, develop and mine for uranium at the Longhorn Project, a 651-acre property located in Live Oak County, Texas. These agreements are subject to certain royalty interests indexed to the sale price of uranium and have an initial five-year term with extension provisions. At July 31, 2018, capitalized costs totaled $116,870 (July 31, 2017: $116,870).
 
 
Salvo Project, Texas
 
We hold various mining lease and surface use agreements granting us the exclusive right to explore, develop and mine for uranium at the Salvo Project, a 1,514-acre property located in Bee County, Texas. These agreements are subject to certain royalty interests indexed to the sale price of uranium and have an initial five-year term with extension provisions. At July 31, 2018, capitalized costs totaled $14,905 (July 31, 2017: $14,905).
 
 
Anderson Project, Arizona
 
We hold an undivided 100% interest in contiguous mineral lode claims and state leases in the Anderson Project, a 8,268-acre property located in Yavapai County, Arizona. At July 31, 2018, capitalized costs totaled $9,154,268 (July 31, 2017: $9,154,268).
 
 
Workman Creek Project, Arizona
 
We hold an undivided 100% interest in contiguous mineral lode claims in the Workman Creek Project, a 4,036-acre property located in Gila County, Arizona. The Workman Creek Project is subject to a 3.0% net smelter royalty requiring an annual advance royalty payment of $50,000 for 2016 and 2017, and $100,000 thereafter. We have an exclusive right and option to acquire one-half (1.5%) of the net smelter royalty for $1,000,000 at any time until January 21, 2024. Additionally, certain individuals hold an option to acquire a 0.5% net smelter royalty exercisable by paying the Company the sum of $333,340 at any time until January 21, 2024.
 
During Fiscal 2018, we paid $75,000 in cash and issued 46,134 shares with a fair value of $61,820 as advance royalty payments for the Workman Creek Project. During Fiscal 2017, we issued 46,800 shares with a fair value of $48,672 as advance royalty payments for the Workman Creek Project, which were capitalized as Mineral Rights and Properties on our consolidated balance sheet.
 
At July 31, 2018, capitalized costs totaled $1,657,500 (July 31, 2017: $1,520,680).
 
 
Los Cuatros Project, Arizona
 
We hold an undivided 100% interest in a state lease in the Los Cuatros Project, a 640-acre property located in Maricopa County, Arizona. At July 31, 2018, capitalized costs totaled $257,250 (July 31, 2017: $257,250).
 
 
Slick Rock Project, Colorado
 
We hold an undivided 100% interest in contiguous mineral lode claims in the Slick Rock Project, a 5,333-acre property located in San Miguel County, Colorado. Certain claims of the Slick Rock Project are subject to a 1.0% or 3.0% net smelter royalty, the latter requiring an annual advance royalty payment of beginning in November 2017.
 
During Fiscal 2018, we paid advance royalty payments totalling $31,000, which were capitalized as Mineral Rights and Properties on our consolidated balance sheet.
 
At July 31, 2018, capitalized acquisition costs totaled $646,650 (July 31, 2017: $615,650).
 
 
Diabase Project, Canada
 
During Fiscal 2018, we completed a definitive purchase agreement (the “Diabase Purchase Agreement”) with Nuinsco Resources Limited (“Nuinsco”) to acquire 100% of the Diabase project (the “Diabase Project”), which covers an area of 54,236 acres in ten claim blocks located on the southern rim of the Athabasca Basin uranium district in Saskatchewan, Canada (the “Diabase Acquisition”).
 
In accordance with ASC 360: Property, Plant and Equipment, the Diabase Acquisition was accounted for as an asset acquisition. Consideration paid in connection with the Diabase Acquisition totaled $546,938, consisting of $239,120 in cash, 164,767 shares with a fair value of $232,321 and transaction costs of $75,497, which were capitalized as Mineral Rights and Properties on our consolidated balance sheet.
 
Concurrently with the closing of the Diabase Acquisition, Uranium Royalty Corp. (“URC”), a private entity that our company has the ability to exercise significant influence on, was granted an exclusive right and option to acquire a 100% royalty on the Diabase Project by paying $125,000 Canadian dollars to the original royalty holder of the Diabase Project at the closing date, and $1,750,000 Canadian dollars on or before the date four years after the closing date.
 
Paraguay Projects
 
During Fiscal 2018, we have had communications and filings with the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (“MOPC”), the mining regulator in Paraguay, whereby the MOPC is taking the position that certain concessions forming part of the Company’s Yuty, Oviedo and Alto Parana projects are not eligible for extension as to exploration or continuation to exploitation in their current stages. While we remain fully committed to our development path forward in Paraguay, we caused our legal counsel to file an appeal with the Administrative
 
Courts in Paraguay to reverse the MOPC’s position in order to protect our continuing rights in those concessions. In the interim we continue to conduct our business in a manner to comply with all applicable mining laws in Paraguay.
 
 
Yuty Project, Paraguay
 
The Yuty Project is a 289,680-acre property under one exploitation concession located in Paraguay. The Yuty Project is subject to an overriding royalty of $0.21 per pound of uranium produced from the Yuty Project. At July 31, 2018, capitalized costs totaled $11,947,144 (July 31, 2017: $11,947,144).
 
 
Oviedo Project, Paraguay
 
The Oviedo Project is a 464,548-acre property under one exploration permit located in Paraguay. The Oviedo Project is subject to a 1.5% gross overriding royalty over which we have an exclusive right and option at any time to acquire one-half percent (0.5%) for $166,667 and a right of first refusal to acquire all or any portion of the remaining one percent (1.0%). At July 31, 2018, capitalized costs totaled $1,133,412 (July 31, 2017: $1,133,412).
 
 
Alto Paraná Titanium Project, Paraguay
 
On March 4, 2016, we entered into a share purchase and option agreement (the “Share Purchase and Option Agreement”) with CIC Resources Inc. (the “CICRI”) pursuant to which we acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of JDL Resources Inc. (“JDL”; the “JDL Acquisition”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the CICRI. Pursuant to the Share Purchase and Options Agreement, we were granted an option to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of CIC Resources (Paraguay) Inc. (“CIC”; the “CIC Option”), another wholly-owned subsidiary of CICRI. CIC is the beneficial owner of Paraguay Resources Inc. which is the 100% owner of certain titanium mineral concessions (collectively, the “Alto Paraná Titanium Project”), located in the departments of Alto Parana and Canindeyú in the Republic of Paraguay.
 
On July 7, 2017, we exercised the CIC Option to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of CIC (the “CIC Acquisition”), whereby we acquired 100% interest of the Alto Paraná Titanium Project, which covers an area of 174,200 acres under five mining permits.
 
In accordance with the terms of the Share Purchase and Option Agreement, we issued 664,879 shares with a fair value of $1,070,455 (the “CIC Consideration”) to settle certain payables totaling $1,021,453, which were comprised of the CIC Option exercise payment of $275,000 and the property maintenance costs of $746,453 incurred by CIC since the execution of the Share Purchase and Option Agreement. As a result, a loss of $49,002 on settlement of liabilities was recognized on the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss.
 
In accordance with ASC 360: Property, Plant and Equipment, the CIC Acquisition was accounted for as asset acquisitions as it was determined that the operations of CIC do not meet the definition of a business as defined in ASC 805: Business Combinations.
 
Upon exercise of the CIC Option, the fair value of consideration previously transferred for the JDL Acquisition and its allocation to the identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed from CIC are summarized as follows:
 
Consideration transferred
 
 
 
Consideration previously transferred
 
$
1,303,388
 
CIC Option exercise payment
 
 
275,000
 
Transaction costs
 
 
57,926
 
 
 
$
1,636,314
 
Assets acquired and liabilities assumed
 
 
 
 
Cash
 
$
34,972
 
Prepaid expenses
 
 
18,727
 
Due from JDL
 
 
279,489
 
Mineral rights & properties
 
 
1,433,030
 
Accounts payable & accrued liabilities
 
 
(26,954
)
Asset retirement obligation
 
 
(102,950
)
 
 
$
1,636,314
 
 
In addition to the CIC Consideration, we have also granted CICRI a 1.5% net smelter returns royalty (the “Royalty”) on the Alto Parana Titanium Project. We have the right, exercisable at any time for a period of six years following exercise of the CIC Option, to acquire 0.5% of the Royalty at a purchase price of $500,000.