Sweden to ditch uranium ban, unleashing giant projects

Sweden plans to remove a ban on mining uranium Jan. 1, boosting projects by District Metals (TSX-V: DMX; Nasdaq: DMXSE SDB; US-OTC: DMXCF) and Aura Energy (LSE: AURA; ASX: AEE), which have some of the world’s largest projects for the nuclear fuel.

In the central Sweden county of Jämtland, District Metals holds the Viken energy-metals deposit, ranked second globally. The company says it will decide on a preliminary economic assessment late this year, with geophysical work under way and the government’s uranium decision expected to influence study timing.

Aura has the nearby Häggån polymetallic deposit, ranked fourth on the planet. The company’s September 2023 scoping study outlined a 3.5-million-tonne base-case flow sheet, with economics presented with and without uranium pending policy. Aura applied for a 25-year exploitation permit for Häggån K no. 1 in September 2024.

“Sweden’s clear commitment to lifting the uranium mining ban marks a pivotal step for the country’s energy future and for companies like ours with advanced-stage uranium polymetallic assets,” District Metals CEO Garrett Ainsworth told The Northern Miner by email on Friday. “Our exploration and development plans in Sweden are aligned with the government’s push to unlock domestic uranium resources for the green energy transition.”

Shares gain

Shares in Aura Energy have gained 28% in the past week to 9.25 pence in London on Friday afternoon, valuing the company at £82.2 million (C$152 million). District Metals stock added 11% in a week to close at 93¢ Thursday in Toronto after a spike to $1.28. The company’s market capitalization is more than $187 million.

Sweden, which last mined uranium in the 1980s, has been signalling removing the 2018 ban through the government of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s since 2023. It sees mining as a way to help supply its nuclear fleet of six reactors that produce a third of the country’s electricity. It relies on imports for all of its uranium fuel. Nuclear power is seen as critical for achieving Stockholm’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2045. It’s part of a global resurgence in nuclear power to fight climate change.

Minister Pourmokhtari

“The ban in the environmental code on uranium extraction will be removed,” Climate and Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari said on Thursday in a statement that was translated from Swedish using ChatGPT. “Uranium will once again be classified as a concession mineral in the Minerals Act. These changes aim to enable the development of nuclear power and Sweden’s self-sufficiency in nuclear fuel.”

District’s Viken has 456 million tonnes indicated grading 175 ppm uranium oxide (U₃O₈) for 176 million lb. contained U₃O₈, according to an April NI 43-101 (Canadian rules) resource. It showed 4.33 billion tonnes inferred at 161 parts per million (ppm) for 1.54 billion pounds U₃O₈. The project is in a polymetallic alum-shale system that also carries vanadium, molybdenum, nickel, copper and zinc.

Aura’s Häggån hosts a JORC (Australian rules) resource dominated by vanadium but also containing about 800 million lb. U₃O₈ at a 100-ppm cut-off within a broader 2.55-billion-tonne vanadium resource updated in 2019.