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Highlights
- International Energy Agency expects to observe a growth of 53% in nuclear energy power generation from 2021 to 2050.
- Silex Systems acknowledged the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 in the United States.
- Aura Energy has concluded Resource Upgrade Program for Tiris project.
A highly radioactive element Uranium is an abundant source of energy. Pitchblende, carnotite, uraninite, autunite and torbernite are few important uranium minerals. Natural uranium occurs naturally in the Earth’s crust as a mixture of uranium-238 and uranium-235. Uranium isotope U-235 is of greater significance as it produces a lot of energy when split under certain conditions.
Australia has the largest uranium resources in the world, followed by Kazakhstan, Canada, Russia and Namibia. Kazakhstan had the largest share in the world uranium production in 2021. It was followed by Namibia and Canada.
The mines in Kazakhstan, Canada and Australia produced around two-thirds of the world's uranium production last year.
Uranium Market
The standard contract unit for spot prices of Uranium is 250 pounds of U3O8 which is traded on New York Mercantile Exchange. The spot prices of Uranium experienced a setback in September 2022 due to strengthening of US dollar on the backdrop of higher-than-expected inflation data. The Federal Reserve increased the interest rate by 75 basis points.
The fundamentals of the market continued to strengthen as the global governments had growing acceptance about role of nuclear energy in the world’s energy transition from fossil fuels. The UN Economic Commission for Europe also highlighted the need for investment in nuclear energy to produce low and zero carbon energy.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) released 2022 World Energy Outlook in October and increased its forecast for nuclear power. Based on current government policies, it expects to observe a growth of 53% in nuclear energy power generation from 2021 to 2050.
After having read about the latest uranium market trends, let’s look at five uranium stocks listed on ASX that gave double and triple digits annual returns.
Silex Systems Ltd. (ASX:SLX)
Silex Systems is an Australia-based technology company focused on commercializing its laser isotope separation technology for application in uranium production and enrichment, silicon enrichment.
The company acknowledged the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 in US in Aug 2022. It included a US$700 million funding to support High Assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU) Availability Program. Silex announced that it will try to become potential participant in HALEU Availability Program through its Global Laser Enrichment (GLE). Silex along with Cameco is looking to accelerate commercialization of SILEX technology to respond to the evolving market.
Silex completed the eight-month testing program of first full scale laser system module for uranium technology. It is required for GLE’s commercial pilot demonstration. It confirmed the ability of laser systems to operate reliably for extended periods.
GLE expects to complete pilot demonstration project by mid 2020s, which will be followed by a feasibility study of proposed Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility (PLEF). The PLEF will be used for producing natural grade uranium in the late 2020s.
Image Source: © Vladvitek | Megapixl.com
Berkeley Energia Ltd. (ASX:BKY)
Berkeley is Spain based high impact, clean energy producing company. It fully owns Salamanca project in Spain and aims to bring it into production. The site is known for its world class uranium deposits.
The company released its September quarterly report in October 2022. It had the update regarding global nuclear power and uranium market. Few selected nuclear reactor activities were also brought into notice. These included updates from Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, UK and South Korea.
The report also contained summary and update of Salamanca project. The project hosts 89.3 Mlb of uranium. Berkeley only needs Nuclear Safety Council (NSC) II approval to commence the construction of the mine.
During the quarter, an independent group audited the company’s Environmental Management and Mining Sustainable System against the ISO Standards 14001 and UNE 22470-80. Berkeley was able to pass it successfully and several strengths were highlighted.
Aura Energy Ltd. (ASX:AEE)
Australia based uranium exploration company, Aura Energy has major uranium and polymetallic projects in Africa and Europe. It is currently focused on resource expansion and uranium production at Tiris project. The company also has vanadium-uranium project in Sweden.
Aura released its quarterly report in October 2022. It provided a detailed update on Tiris project. A significant progress was made in the quarter towards planned development of Phase 1 Tiris Uranium project. The drilling continued at the site and total of 430 m were drilled across 66 holes. The samples were sent for analysis to Ireland.
The FEED study also continued and remains on schedule to get completed by first quarter of 2023. The first stage of engineering was completed.
Aura also concluded Resource Upgrade Program which allow the plans for Phase 2 Expansion to proceed.
Data Source: ASX as of 10 January 2023
Marmota Ltd. (ASX:MEU)
Marmota Limited is a South Australian mining exploration company engaged in the exploration of copper, gold, and uranium deposits. The company has Junction Dam uranium project in Broken Hill Australia.
The updates about Junction Dam project were released in the quarterly activities report in October 2022. Previously, three phases of drilling were carried out and they confirmed high grades of uranium mineralization.
The JORC Inferred Resource estimated 5.4 million pounds of uranium deposits with average grade of 557 ppm U3O8. The Saffron deposit at the site has assay grades of 8143 ppm U3O8.
Boss Energy Ltd. (ASX:BOE)
Boss Energy is located in South Australia. The company is actively trying to position its Honeymoon Project to produce 3.3 million pound per annum.
The company made a strong progress in the September quarter at Honey Project. Twelve of the planned eight six pre-start wells were successfully drilled. BOE expects to achieve first production in December quarter of next year.
