WEST Perth-based minerals company, Murchison United NL, is set to be repositioned as a global uranium company after unveiling a strategic alliance with industrial and nuclear energy giant Areva NC. ASX-listed Murchison entered into a cooperation agreement with French-based multinational Areva to accelerate resource development programs at the Bir En Nar uranium project in Mauritania, north-west Africa. In a statement last week, Murchison’s managing director Mark Reilly said the move had laid the foundations to lift the Perth-based junior into the ranks of leading global uranium exploration companies. “This agreement represents the most significant development in our recent history and vindicates our strategy of refocusing the company as a dedicated uranium explorer in Mauritania and Guinea in West Africa over the past two years,” he said. “Our exploration in both countries has yielded immediate success, leading to significant uranium discoveries at Bir En Nar…and at Firawa in Guinea. Murchison will rely on Areva’s technical capacity and funding capabilities to advance and bring new uranium projects into production. Under the agreement, Murchison secured the rights to access and utilise Areva’s extensive geological database covering the Republic of Mauritania, including tenement holdings and technical services to assist accelerating Murchison’s exploration programs. Twenty-six of the 38 holes drilled so far at the Bir En Nar project have returned intercepts calculated at greater than 1,000 parts per million of uranium oxide equivalent (eU308).