Nuclear energy is gaining traction as a reliable non-carbon fuel source and as uranium prices have reached historic highs over the last few months. Here’s a list of eight uranium companies to watch as the world looks for more sources of the nuclear fuel.
Aura Energy
Aura Energy (ASX: AEE; LSE: AURA) is focused on its Tiris open-pit uranium project in northeastern Mauritania, about 1,450 km from the capital of Nouakchott. The company has an 85% stake in the project with the government of Mauritania owning the remaining 15%.
An updated definitive feasibility study released in March 2023 outlined an initial mine life of 16 years with average production over the first 10 years of 2 million lb. U3O8 annually. Life-of-mine production will total 25.5 million lb. U3O8. The study used a base case uranium price of US$65 per pound.
The company describes Tiris as “one of the lowest capex, lowest operating cost uranium projects that remain undeveloped in the world,” with a capex of US$178.2 million, which could be paid back in four and a half years. The mine offers a post-tax net present value (at an 8% discount rate) of US$22.6 million and an internal rate of return of 28%. Average all-in sustaining costs were pegged at US$28.77 per pound. Aura estimates a construction period of 18 months following a final investment decision.
Tiris has measured and indicated resources of 62.1 million tonnes at 216 parts per million (ppm) U3O8 for 29.6 million lb. of contained U3O8. Inferred resources add 34.5 million tonnes grading 237 ppm U3O8 for 18 million lb. U3O8.
The resource zones lie beneath flat land surfaces covered by surficial hamada and thin aeolian sand deposits. The shallow overburden covers the basement rocks, which only appear as scattered outcrops.
Aura Energy signed a US$10-million offtake financing agreement with London-based commodities firm Curzon Uranium Trading in 2021. The agreement includes an up to US$10-million facility.
Aura Energy has a market cap of about A$122.5 million (US$79.7 million).
Bannerman Energy
Bannerman Energy (ASX: BMN; US-OTC: BNNLF) is focused on its Etango uranium project in western Namibia’s Erongo region, about 30 km southeast of the port city of Swakopmund.
Namibia granted Bannerman a mining licence for Etango in December 2023, following the completion in December 2022 of the Etango-8 feasibility study.
The study evaluated open pit mining and heap leach processing at Etango at a throughput rate of 8 million tonnes per year. The operation would have an initial mine life of 15 years producing an average of 3.5 million lb. U3O8 per year (total life-of-mine production of 52.6 million lb. U3O8) at an all-in sustaining cost of US$38.1 per lb. U3O8. Preproduction initial capex was tagged at US$317 million.
Using a base case uranium price of US$65 per lb. U3O8, the study estimated the project would generate a post-tax net present value (at an 8% discount rate) of US$209 million and a post-tax internal rate of return of 17%.
In March, the company released a scoping study evaluating the viability of two options: a post ramp-up expansion in throughput capacity to 16 million tonnes per year (Etango-XP), and the extension of the mine life to 27 years from 15 at the same throughput of 8 million tonnes per year (Etango-XT). Bannerman said the company is committed to the development of Etango-8, but that the scoping study demonstrated that both the expansion and mine life extention options are technically and economically viable.
According to a November 2021 JORC-compliant resource estimate, Etango-8 hosts 32.4 million measured tonnes grading 201 ppm U3O8 for 14.3 million lb. contained U3O8 and 345.7 million indicated tonnes grading 195 ppm for 148.5 million lb. U3O8. Inferred resources add 140.6 million tonnes at 200 ppm U3O8 for 62 million lb. contained U3O8.
Bannerman has a 95% stake in the project with One Economy Foundation, a Namibian charitable organization, owning the remaining 5%.
Bannerman Energy has a market cap of A$582.3 million (US$381.9 million).
CanAlaska Uranium
CanAlaska Uranium (TSXV: CVV; US-OTC: CVVUF) is a project generator with interests in about 5,000 sq. km of Canada’s uranium-rich Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan. It is currently working with Cameco (TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ) at the West McArthur joint-venture project and with Denison Mines (TSX: DML; NYSE-AM: DNN) at the Moon Lake South JV — both in the eastern portion of the basin.
This year CanAlaska is planning a $7.5-million drill program at West McArthur; another $2.7 million program of geophysics and drilling at Moon Lake South; and several drill programs on partner-funded projects.
In March, the company reported drill results from West McArthur’s Pike Zone of 11.5 metres grading 10.84% U3O8 starting from 798 metres downhole, including 9.5 metres of 12.99% U3O8 in drillhole WMA082-6. Hole WMA082-5 returned 4.5 metres of 1.4% U3O8 from 804 metres, including 2 metres of 2.78% U3O8. CanAlaska is sole-funding its 2024 West McArthur program, further increasing its majority ownership in the project. It currently holds an 83.5% stake.
Exploration at West McArthur, which is adjacent to the Fox Lake deposit that Cameco discovered in 2013, is focused on the Pike Zone, a basement-hosted uranium discovery made last summer.
At the Moon Lake South JV, assay results from last year’s winter drill program returned a high-grade intersection of 2.46% U3O8 over 8 metres from 418 metres depth, including 3.71% U3O8 over 4.5 metres, about 30 metres above the unconformity, in drillhole MS-23-10A.
The Moon Lake South property hosts a 5-km-long northeast-trending conductive corridor called the CR-3 conductor, which is 2 km west of the K-trend that hosts the Gryphon deposit on Denison’s adjacent Wheeler River property. Denison owns 75% of Moon Lake South and is project operator, and CanAlaska holds the remaining 25%.
In February, the company started a 2,500-metre drill program at its 40%-owned Geikie uranium project, also in the eastern Athabasca. The project is sole-funded by Basin Energy (ASX: BSN) under an option earn-in agreement.
CanAlaska has a market cap of about $97 million.
EnCore Energy
In November, enCore Energy (TSXV: EU; NASDAQ: EU) became the newest uranium producer in the United States at its Rosita in-situ recovery (ISR) uranium central processing plant (CPP) and wellfield, about 98 km west of Corpus Christi in Texas. The Rosita plant has a production capacity of 800,000 lb. U3O8 a year.
Rosita produced 2.6 million lb. U3O8 between 1990 and 1997, but the plant was closed due to low uranium prices. Production resumed in June 2008, but technical difficulties and a sharp decline in prices shut it down again four months later.
EnCore owns three of the 11 fully licensed ISR plants in the U.S. — Rosita, Alta Mesa, and Kingsville Dome — all of them within a 130-km radius in Texas. Together they have a nameplate processing capacity of 3.6 million lb. uranium per year.
The company’s goal is to produce 3 million lb. U3O8 a year by the end of 2026 and 5 million lb. annually by the close of 2028.
This year the company plans to put Alta Mesa back into production. Alta Mesa has a production capacity of 1.5 million lb. U3O8 annually.
Alta Mesa produced nearly 5 million lb. U3O8 between 2005 and 2013, when it was shut down because of low uranium prices.
In addition to its central processing plant, Alta Mesa has significant resources and one of the largest uranium mineral properties in the U.S. encompassing about 810 sq. km. EnCore estimates less than 15-20% of Alta Mesa has been explored.
In mid-March the company reported the highest-grade drill results to date since drilling restarted at Alta Mesa. In terms of grade thickness, the results far exceeded the accepted cutoff figures for ISR production in South Texas of around 0.3, ranging up to 8.4 (11 ft. of 0.76% U3O8 from 518 metres).
Elsewhere in the U.S., enCore is working towards production on two additional ISR assets: the Gas Hills project in Wyoming and the Dewey-Burdock project in South Dakota. The company also has uranium resource endowments in New Mexico.
Late last year the company announced it was selling Boss Energy, an Australian ISR uranium producer, a 30% stake in Alta Mesa for US$70 million. The funds will be used to accelerate development and production across its portfolio.
The company has a market cap of roughly $1.1 billion.
F3 Uranium
F3 Uranium Corp.’s (TSXV: FUU; US-OTC: FUUFF), formerly known as Fission 3.0, is focused on its 100%-owned Patterson Lake North (PLN) project near the southwestern edge of Canada’s Athabasca Basin.
In the fall of 2022, F3 discovered the high-grade JR Zone on the PLN property with drill hole PLN22-035 assaying 59.2% U3O8 over 1 metre within a 15-metre interval of 6.97% U3O8 starting from 258 metres downhole.
Since then, notable drill intercepts from the JR Zone have included 14.5 metres of 9.4% U3O8 starting from 239 metres, including 5 metres of 26.7% U3O8 in drill hole PLN23-060. Final assay results from the 2023 drill program released in February were highlighted by 2 metres of 42.4% U3O8 starting 226 metres downhole in PLN23-110, including 1.5 metres of 55.4% U3O8 and 0.5 metre of 66.8% U3O8.
The JR Zone is about 23 km northwest of Fission Uranium’s (TSX: FCU; US-OTC: FCUUF) Triple R deposit.
In January, F3 Uranium announced it would spin out its 14 other uranium exploration projects in the Athabasca into a new company called F4 Uranium Corp.
The company reasoned that PLN overshadowed the projects (Murphy Lake, Cree Bay, Hearty Bay, Clearwater West, Wales Lake, Todd, Smart Lake, Lazy Edward Bay, Grey Island, Seahorse Lake, Bird Lake, Beaver River, Bell Lake and Flowerdew Lake) and that by spinning them out into F4, shareholders of F3 would not suffer dilution for non-PLN project spending.
In February, F3 reported that it had signed a non-binding letter of intent with Canadian GoldCamps (CSE: CAMP) to option F4 Uranium’s Murphy Lake project, 30 km northwest of Orano’s McLean Lake deposits and 5 km south of IsoEnergy’s (TSXV: ISO; US-OTC: ISENF) Hurricane deposit. Under the letter, Canadian GoldCamps can earn up to a 70% stake in the project.
F3 Uranium has a market cap of approximately $199 million.
Laramide Resources
Laramide Resources (TSX: LAM; ASX: LAM; US-OTC: LMRXF) is focused on uranium exploration and development in Australia and the U.S. Its flagship Westmoreland project in northwestern Queensland near the Northern Territory border is one of the world’s largest uranium development assets held by a junior company.
Currently, mineral resources have been defined across three deposits or zones at Westmoreland — Redtree, Huarabagoo and Junnagunna. Indicated resources total 36 million lb. U3O8 contained in 18.7 million tonnes averaging 0.089% U3O8 and inferred resources add 15.9 million lb. U3O8 contained in 9 million tonnes averaging 0.083% U3O8. About 80% of the resource is within 50 metres of surface.
A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) in 2016 envisioned an open pit mining operation that would produce about 3.5 million lb. U3O8 annually over 13 years. Westmoreland is 350 km from the city of Mt. Isa and 260 km from the port city of Karumba.
Westmoreland’s three deposits or zones follow the Redtree dyke zone (about 10 km) on a northwest trend as discrete orebodies. The PEA labelled them as South, Central and North pits, but the company says mineralization in the 2.5-km corridor between the deposits includes higher grades (greater than 0.1%) that are associated with the footwall contact of intrusive dolerite dykes and have seen little drilling. The company wants to investigate whether the three known zones or deposits can be linked.
Laramide is also exploring its Murphy uranium project in the Northern Territory. Drillhole NEWM204 in the 2006-07 reconnaissance drill program at the Mageera prospect returned 4 metres grading 0.42% U3O8. The company believes that Mageera, formerly called NE Westmoreland, is likely to be a geological analogue of Westmoreland.
Laramide plans to drill up to 12,000 metres across multiple targets at Westmoreland and into the Murphy project this year, with about 1,500 metres earmarked for the Mageera prospect.
In the U.S., Laramide’s assets include the Crownpoint-Churchrock ISR project; the La Jara Mesa project in New Mexico and the La Sal underground project in Utah.
Laramide Resources has a market cap of about $177 million.
Purepoint Uranium Group
Purepoint Uranium Group (TSXV: PTU; US-OTC: PTUUF) has nine exploration projects — two joint ventures and seven 100%-owned projects — in the Athabasca Basin.
Its flagship project Hook Lake is jointly owned by Cameco (39.5%), Orano Canada (39.5%) and Purepoint (21%).
The project, on the southwestern edge of the basin in the Patterson uranium district, is adjacent to and on trend with discoveries including Fission Uranium’s (TSX: FCU; US-OTC: FCUUF) Triple R deposit and NexGen Energy’s (TSX: NXE; NYSE: NXE; ASX: NXG) Arrow deposit.
The high-grade discovery of the Spitfire target at Hook has yielded intercepts of 53.3% U3O8 over 1.3 metres and a 10-metre interval of 10.3% U3O8. Purepoint has operated the joint venture since 2007.
Purepoint is also the operator at its 27%-owned JV with Cameco at the Smart Lake project in the southwestern portion of the basin, about 60 km south of the former Cluff Lake mine.
The company has a busy exploration program planned this year with field programs at its two joint ventures and four of its wholly owned projects.
The company kicked off a 2,500-metre drill program at Hook Lake in February to test the Carter Corridor with five holes. The Carter Corridor represents a reactivated fault zone that lies between the Clearwater Domain granitic intrusive rocks to the west and runs parallel to the Patterson structural corridor to the east. Purepoint notes that the 25-km strike length of the Carter structural/conductive corridor is “almost entirely located” within the Hook Lake JV.
It also plans to drill at its Red Willow and Turnor Lake projects and undertake geophysical programs at Smart Lake, Russell South and Tabbernor. Russell South, on the southeastern edge of the basin, is about 20 km northeast of Cameco’s Key Lake mine, and adjoins Rio Tinto’s (LSE: RIO; NYSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) Russell Lake property and Skyharbour Resources’ (TSXV: SYH; US-OTC: SYHBF) Moore Lake project.
Purepoint has a market cap of about $22.5 million.
Uranium Energy Corp
Uranium Energy Corp. (NYSE-AM: UEC) has ISR uranium projects in Texas and Wyoming, along with uranium assets in Canada and two ISR assets in Paraguay.
The company, which acquired UraniumOne for $110 million in cash in April 2022, plans to restart its Wyoming hub-and-spoke ISR project in August. The Christensen Ranch wellfields will be the first spoke to feed the project’s Irigaray central processing plant (CPP). The Wyoming operation currently has 11 satellite projects with 66.2 million measured and indicated lb. U3O8, in 58.5 million tons grading 0.069% U3O8 and another 15.1 million inferred lb. U3O8 in 10.9 million tons grading 0.064% U3O8.
The Wyoming hub-and-spoke operation has a licensed capacity of 2.5 million lb. U3O8 per year, but the company plans to increase that to 4 million pounds.
Satellite ISR projects in Wyoming include Reno Creek, about 80 km from the Irigaray CPP, which is licensed for 2 million lb. per year; Moore Ranch, about 64 km from Irigaray, which is licensed for 3 million lb. U3O8 annually; and Ludeman, 193 km from Irigaray.
The company also has a hub-and-spoke production strategy in Texas, where its fully permitted Hobson CPP is licensed for a production capacity of 4 million lb. U3O8 per year. Hobson’s satellite projects include the Burke Hollow ISR wellfield, about 97 km from the Hobson CPP, and the past-producing Palangana ISR mine, which is fully permitted.
In the Athabasca Basin, Uranium Energy has about 110 million measured and indicated lb. U3O8 and another 71 million inferred pounds across several projects. In January, it intersected 6.28% U3O8 over 2.9 metres from its 100%-owned Roughrider project.
It has acquired a portfolio of other uranium projects (Henday; Milliken; and Carswell) from Rio Tinto. It also owns the Christie Lake project, the only exploration project not controlled by Cameco and Orano along the McArthur-River-Cigar Lake Corridor.
Uranium Energy is also the initial shareholder and has a major equity stake in Uranium Royalty Corp. (TSX: URC; NASDAQ: UROY), the first and only pure play royalty company of the energy metal.
Uranium Energy Corp has a market cap of roughly US$2.7 billion.
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