Nuclear Power Related Media Thread, page-4244

William - why do you carry on about this like a "two bob watch". I thought we had agreed that. I have been through the SLX annual reports and this is a condensed history

1, From 1997 to 2003 uranium enrichment development was in the hands of USEC (now Centrus) - silex had an exclusive license with them
2. From 2003 to 2006 they were left in the wilderness and put most of their funds to work completing that programme of work left over from their USEC contract which was to complete measurement of the enrichment factors that could be obtained. During this period they attempted to get another partner (they did - GEH) but continued development at their Lucas heights facility - the Australian government gave them virtually no help. They did pursue Si enrichment with Suminoto but this only gave ~10% improvements in conductivity (which as MG said) did not provide a economic case for production (this had to wait until SQC came along in 2019 for Quantum Computers)
3. In 2006 - 2014 they got GEH as a sponsor until July 2014. In 2008 Cameco joined the GEH consortium (24%). Until July 2014 SLX was a sub-contractor to GEH and all their development on uranium enrichment development was in GEH's control (i.e NOT SLX). It was from about 2010 that SLX got involved in data loggers, solar and translucent - SLX DID NOT CONTROL URANIUM ENRICMENT DEVLOPMENT.
4. In July 2014 GEH stated that they would slow down development of uranium enrichment and withdrew from SLX laser development - SLX then withdrew their team from Wilmington and re-sited them in Lucas Heights; thus retaining the core team - GEH refused to pay for this effort. Following the GLE restructure announced in July 2014, Phase II activities previously conducted at Oak Ridge, Tennessee have been consolidated into the Test Loop facility in Wilmington, North Carolina. The ongoing test and optimisation activities in Wilmington continue to produce positive results, including the successful demonstration of key technology process improvements which have the potential to lower operating and capital costs of a commercial production facility.

5. 2016 So as to continue laser development (and keep the core team in place) SLX sold off all their "other" enterprises by about end of 2016 - they really could not have done it much quicker. GEH continued to site the test loop in Wilmington and continue "slow" development of the separator (and test loop). Meanwhile SLX focused all their assets on laser development in Lucas Heights - and made considerable progress. GEH still controlled the uranium enrichment product and eventually decided to halt work (since they could not find a buyer - MG has said that the reason was that potential buyers were not convinced the 16 micron laser could be commercialized).

On 29 April 2016, Silex signed a term sheet with GEH securing anexclusive option to acquire GEH’s 76% interest in GLE, and the right to assignin part or in whole the acquisition terms to third parties. Under the termsheet signed with GEH, Silex further agreed to reimburse GEH its pro-rata shareof funding for the Wilmington operation for CY2016.Thisis in addition to Silex funding the development of commercial-scale lasersystems at its Lucas Heights facility in Sydney. GLE shareholder Cameco (24%owner of GLE) remains supportive of Silex’s efforts to restructure GLE.

Ongoing laser system development activities in Sydney resulted in the initial demonstration of a prototype commercial-scale plant laser system during the year.

The combined funding from Silex for the Wilmington operation and the laser development activities in Sydney was expected to be up to $10m during CY2016.

There was an increase in expenses from continuing operations of $1.8m compared to the
prior year. This was mainly due to $2.6m of Development expenditure in the current year relating to Silex’s reimbursement of GEH’s pro-rata share of funding for the Wilmington operations. This was offset by a reduction in other expenses of $0.8m as a result of the Company’s lower operating cost structure. In addition, there was a $1.4m increase in Other income which was mainly due to $1.5m for the R&D tax incentive for Silex’s Lucas Heights operations.
6. 2017 - Laser system development activities in Sydney included test andreliability of the prototype commercial-scale plant laser system and theongoing development of plant control systems required for theintegrated prototype commercial technology demonstration to be conducted inWilmington in the 2020 timeframe.
Revenue (Interest income) reduced by $0.3m as average cashbalances and interest rates declined. Other income reduced by $0.5m which wasdue to a $0.5m reduction in Research and Development tax incentive income.There was an increase in expenses from continuing operations of $4.7m comparedto the prior year. This was mainly due to $6.7m of Development expenditure inthe current year relating to Silex’s reimbursement of GEH’s pro-rata share offunding for GLE’s Wilmington operations ($2.6m in the prior year). In addition,Employee benefits expense increased by $0.6m largely as a result of an increasedsupport for continuing operations and the GLE restructure.
The SILEX technology maturation program continued to advance atboth the GLE, Wilmington and Silex, Sydney project sites, with severalengineering scale-up and economic validation deliverables achieved during theyear. Activities at the Test Loop facility in Wilmington included thecommissioning and demonstration of key process equipment components whichresulted in the confirmation of significant efficiency improvements and thepotential to lower operating and capital costs. Laser system development activitiesin Sydney included the commissioning and demonstration of a prototypeproduction-scale laser system and the development of associated controlsystems, all of which will be combined for a major integrated demonstration ofthe prototype commercial technology to be conducted in WilmingtonNorthCarolina operations in addition to funding Silex’s laser development activitiesat its Lucas Heights facility south of Sydney. This funding support for the 6months ending 31 December 2017 is expected to be approximately $6.5 million7. SLX accounts 2018 - After the Company’s June 2018 announcement regarding its withdrawalfrom the restructure of GLE, the future of this program is currently uncertain.
Despite concerted efforts to restructure licensee GLE, on 12 June2018 Silex announced that it had terminated the Term Sheet with GE-HitachiNuclear Energy (GEH) with regard to Silex potentially acquiring GEH’s 76%interest in GLE. The overarching factor which contributed to the decision toterminate the Term Sheet is the current negative state of the global nuclearfuel markets. As a result of termination of the Term Sheet, Silex’s fundingobligations for GLE’s operations (approximately $0.6m per month) ceased anddevelopment activities at GLE’s Wilmington Test Loop facility were suspended.

The Company is also reducing the scale of its technologydevelopment activities at its Lucas Heights facility and reducing operations with the relocation of the small corporate office fromSydney city to the Lucas Heights facility in October 2018
8. Ann 12 June 2018 The SILEX technology remains one of the most exciting developmentsin the nuclear industry for several decades, and after 20 years of cooperativedevelopment with the US, was just three years from reaching a key demonstrationof full-scale 24/7 operation. Silex’s funding obligations for GLE’s operations under that Term Sheet (approximately A$600k per month) ceased upon notice of termination. Unless circumstances change dramatically in the short-term, Silex also intends to give notice to GLE of termination of the SILEX technology license, pursuant to the Amended and Restated Technology Commercialisation and License Agreement, signed in 2013. “the unique ability to produce a highly flexible range of fuels for the next generation of advanced small modular reactors will now not be realised” 9.SLX accounts 2019 - In February 2019, Silex announced the signing of a new Term Sheetbetween Silex and Canadian uranium miner Cameco Corporation (Cameco) and GEH toprovide a framework for the parties to arrive at a mutually acceptablerestructure of GLE. The new Term Sheet outlined the proposed transaction theparties would enter into for the purchase of GEH’s 76% interest in GLE, whichupon closing would result in Silex acquiring a 51% interest in GLE and Camecoincreasing its interest in GLE from 24% to 49%. Silex has pursued therestructure of GLE to enable the Company to have greater involvement in thetechnology commercialisation program in the future.
10 SLX ann 16 Dec 2019 The Term Sheet includes the following binding terms:
i) Funding for the continuing Wilmington Test Loop activities ofUS$300,000 per month, to be paid pro-rata by the Purchasers, that is, 51% forSilex (equating to US$153,000 per month) and 49% for Cameco (equating toUS$147,000 per month) retrospectively from 1 September 2018 until Closing ortermination of the binding Purchase Agreement should Closing not be attained;and
ii) A termination fee of US$500,000 payable by Silex to GEH in theevent Silex terminates the Term Sheet (without cause) before execution of thebinding Purchase Agreement. The GLE team in Wilmington are focused on scaling up separator andgas handling equipment in the Test Loop faciliTheAgreement includes the following key terms and provisions:
i) Deferred annual purchase payments to GEH totalling US$20million (consisting of four annual payments of US$5 million) triggered afterthe first year GLE generates US$50 million in revenues (Silex’s pro-rata sharetotalling approximately US$13.4 million);
ii) A Site Lease for the Wilmington, North Carolina Test Loopfacility for an initial term of 3 years with options to extend;
iii) A Transition Services Agreement which provides for varioussite support services from GEH until GLE transitions these services to its ownaccount;
iv) Continued funding for the Wilmington Test Loop activities of~US$330,000 per month, to be paid pro-rata by the Purchasers, that is, 51% forSilex (equating to ~US$170,000 per month) and 49% for Cameco (equating to~US$160,000 per month) until Closing or termination of the Agreement (shouldClosing not occur);
v) A payment from Silex to GEH of US$1.125 million being forreimbursement of costs held over from the previous term sheet signed betweenthe parties; and
vi) A termination fee of US$1 million payable by Silex to GEH inthe event Silex terminates the Agreement (without cause) before closing of theAgreement, except for termination due to the inability to obtain satisfactoryUS government approvals, or if the GLE-DOE tails agreement is terminated for any reasonbefore Closing whilst the Silex team in Sydney continues to make good progresswith the scaling up of the laser systems to full-scale commercial prototypes. Lasersystem development activities in Sydney included design optimisation for theprototype commercial-scale plant laser system. Activities in Wilmingtonincluded the preparation of the Test Loop facility for future deployment ofprototype plant-scale equipment required for pre-commercial testing

Frankly I really don't think the company could have done much more than they have done and "bleating" about what they could have done is both inaccurate and counter productive. IMO they did an excellent job with as lot of foresight. Currently we have an excellent deal and future. When we needed the funds (in 2015) we had them and went on a "starvation" diet to aviod what would have been a very highly dilutive capital raising and possible bankrupcy. This is what happend to CRISLA (now LIS Technologies) which was a real competitor at the turn of the century - we survived - they went into a warehouse and the team disbanded. A similar thing happened to Klydon (in South Africa) - now ASP Isotopes - they had the stationary wall centrifige (possibly now our separator is based upon this) but never introduced a laser (from their filing (see HERE) itappears that lasers are only "in development".