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PART I
The "Company" or "Registrant" or "URI" is used in this report to refer to Uranium Resources, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries. This 10-K contains "forward-looking statements." These statements include, without limitation, statements relating to management's expectations regarding the Company's ability to remain solvent, capital requirements, mineralized materials, timing of receipt of mining permits, access rights, production capacity of mining operations planned for properties in South Texas and New Mexico and planned dates for commencement of production at such properties, business strategies and other plans and objectives of the Company's management for future operations and activities and other such matters. The words "believes," "plans," "intends," "strategy," "projects," "targets," or "anticipates" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update, revise or correct any of the forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements should be read in conjunction with the Company's disclosures under the heading: "Risk Factors" beginning on page 11.
Certain terms used in this Form 10-K and other industry terms are defined in the "Glossary of Certain Terms" appearing at the end of Part I hereto.
Item 1. Business.
The Company
Uranium Resources, Inc. (URI) is a uranium exploration, development and production company. We were organized in 1977 to acquire and develop uranium mines in South Texas using the in-situ recovery mining process (ISR). Since its founding, URI has produced over 8 million pounds U3O8 from five Texas projects, two of which have been fully restored and returned to the land owners. The Company currently has two fully licensed ISR processing facilities in Texas: Kingsville Dome and Rosita. In addition, through a joint venture with Cameco Resources ("Cameco") we are continuing an exploration program on the 53,524 acre Los Finados property in Kenedy County, Texas. Since 1986, the Company has built a significant asset base in New Mexico that includes 101.4 million pounds U3O8 of in-place mineralized uranium material on 183,000 acres of uranium mineral holdings. We have a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) license to build a 3 million pound U3O8 per year ISR processing facility at Crownpoint, New Mexico. As of February 29, 2012 we had 47 employees. As a result of low uranium prices, we ceased production in 2009.
Our Strategy
URI's vision is to be a leading U.S. uranium producer and developer. To that end, we are focused on developing our assets in New Mexico, consolidating uranium properties to gain production economies while also expanding assets in Texas in order to capitalize on our two processing facilities in South Texas. Key operational elements of the strategic plan for our Texas properties include (1) positioning the Company to return to production in Texas should the price of uranium return to a level sufficient to generate positive cash flow; (2) advance phase II of the Los Finados exploration project and determine the value of continuing through Phase III while enhancing the Company's exploration capabilities; (3) continue to maintain our restoration activities in South Texas in accordance with the Company's existing agreements and regulatory requirements and (4) analyze any synergistic opportunities and potential asset monetization prospects in Texas. In New Mexico, our strategic plan calls for continuing to advance our uranium consolidation activities, as well as maintain our discussions with entities that would benefit from the production of the uranium. In addition, we will continue our communication efforts with the local communities, State and local governments and the Navajo Nation to address legacy issues while continuing education efforts on the safety of today's uranium mining practices with the objective of bridging the gap that currently exists between uranium mining entities and others with stakeholder interests in the State.