Canadian mineral company ATHA Energy has reached an agreement with Inspiration Energy, granting the latter an exclusive option to acquire a 70% interest in its Plateau and Ledge properties in the Athabasca Basin.

As per the agreed terms, Inspiration can earn a 70% undivided interest in the Plateau property and Ledge property by issuing 4,330,228 of its common shares to ATHA and incurring $8m in exploration expenditures.

Additionally, during the option period, ATHA is entitled to anti-dilution projection, which means that Inspiration's issuing of new common shares from treasury will result in an upward adjustment to the number of shares that can be issued in order to retain a 9% shareholder interest.

Inspiration may exercise the option on the Plateau property by issuing an aggregate of 2,165,114 consideration shares to ATHA within two business days following regulatory approval.

It will also be required to cover exploration expenditures on the Plateau property.

Inspiration will be required to pay $400,000 by 1 September 2024, $400,000 by 1 September 2025 and an additional $3m by 1 September 2028.

For exercising the option on the Ledge property, Inspiration has to issue an aggregate of 2,165,114 of its consideration shares to ATHA.

It has to incur exploration expenditures on the Ledge property by initially paying $600,000 by 1 September, followed by an additional payment of $600,000 by 1 September 2025 and $3m by 1 September 2028.

Both option agreements can be terminated by ATHA if Inspiration fails to incur exploration expenditures and issue the consideration shares to ATHA.

ATHA Energy CEO Troy Boisjoli said: “With 4.8 million acres of exploration land in the high-grade Athabasca Basin and over eight million total acres in ATHA’s uranium exploration portfolio, our team has been deliberate in evaluating ways to drive shareholder value from our leading position in two high-grade uranium basins.

“The size and optionality of our portfolio allows our team to make significant investments into the high-discovery potential of our advanced, flagship exploration projects at Angilak (Nunavut) and Gemini (Saskatchewan), while partnering with other experienced exploration teams to advance projects from ATHA’s high volume of generative projects in our portfolio – allowing us to maintain the strength of our balance sheet while simultaneously advancing and retaining upside on early-stage assets."