re: Uranium>Silver

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I'm adding to Cameco on weakness because I feel like it has the most potential in the near term.

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Down about 10% on a position I took recently. Guessing you’d suggest adding more here?

If you believe in the Uranium value thesis? Almost everything with confirmed Uranium in the ground is likely to be a good buy now compared to what it should be two years from now.

That doesn't mean the market can't continue to crash and things can't get even cheaper. frick if I know about that.

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LAKEWOOD, Colo., May 19, 2022 /CNW/ - Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU) (TSX: EFR) ("Energy Fuels" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into binding agreements (the "Purchase Agreements") to acquire seventeen (17) mineral concessions (the "Transaction") between the towns of Prado and Caravelas in the State of Bahia, Brazil totaling 15,089.71 hectares (approximately 37,300 acres or 58.3 square miles) (the "Bahia Project")

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Based on significant historical drilling performed to date, it is believed that the Bahia Project holds significant quantities of heavy minerals, including monazite, that will feed Energy Fuels' quickly emerging U.S.-based rare earth element ("REE") supply chain. The Bahia Project has seen no previous mining, but several of the concessions have valid exploration and mining permits with the Government of Brazil. Therefore, the Company believes there is a clear path to moving the Bahia Project to production.

The Bahia Project is a well-known heavy mineral sand ("HMS") deposit with over 3,300 vertical historic exploration auger holes drilled to date, indicating significant concentrations of titanium (ilmenite and rutile), zirconium (zircon), and rare earth elements (monazite). Importantly, the mineralization is at or near the surface, meaning the material is expected to be relatively easy to recover using standard, low-cost sand mining techniques, including the use of front-end loaders, excavators and/or dredges. Due to the drilling method used historically, drilling performed to date only averages 5.86 meters deep, or the average depth of the water table in the region. There is no reason to believe that mineralization stops at the water table. Therefore, the Company believes mineralization is open at depth. Energy Fuels' primary interest is in the monazite which contains both rare earth elements and uranium. Preliminary assay data indicates the monazite sand contained in the HMS concentrate ranges between 0.62% and 12.82%1, and the uranium contained in the monazite is expected to be comparable to typical Colorado Plateau uranium deposits.

Energy Fuels plans to perform extensive exploration work over the next six months to further define and quantify the HMS resource at the Bahia Project. This is expected to include a comprehensive sonic drilling and geophysical mapping program to define the HMS grades and depths for the various mineral products, including the REE resources associated with the Bahia Project. The Company plans to engage industry leaders in mineral processing to complete a Preliminary Economic Assessment under NI 43-101 (Canada) and an Initial Assessment under SK-1300 (US) during late Q1 or early Q2 2023.

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LINK

Looks like good long term news for UUUU

I added to my UUUU position on two separate days during this last drop, but of course not the day it fell to almost $5.00/share

LINK

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Honeywell has said it intends to re-open the USA's only domestic uranium conversion facility, the Metropolis Works plant, in Metropolis, Illinois. Preparations for a 2023 restart will begin this year.

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Uranium must be converted from uranium oxide - the "yellowcake" that is shipped from uranium mines and mills - to gaseous UF6 before it can be enriched in fissile uranium-235 for use in nuclear fuel. In addition to Metropolis, commercial conversion plants are also in operation in Canada, China, France and Russia.

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Other notes from the sector:

1. Japan is restarting more reactors (brief commentary from today's Uranium Insider).
2. Cameco's recent press includes commentary about bottlenecks in the supply chain and processing of the Uranium sector. The exclusion of Russian related suppliers places additional constraints on consumers.
3. Global Atomic has progressed further with defining pounds in the ground and increased estimates accordingly (Crux Investor interview from a few days ago)

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It'll be interesting to see what this even means. The amount of domestic enrichment is minimal. Regardless, this seems very bullish for the long term; I guess we'll see what implications it has in the short term.

I stumbled on this thread not long after it was originally posted and used it to buy some DNN as it bumped $1. Since that time I've picked up quite a bit more as I've watched the administration wage war on oil and gas (not buying above $1.15). It was just over $2 not long ago, but I think it's got lots of room for growth due to the administration and the world push against Russian energy.

I just wish it paid a dividend. Oh well, I'm holding til $5 (unless it's skyrocketing).

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But the industry has tumbled into an unprecedented power crisis as EDF confronts troubles ranging from the mysterious emergence of stress corrosion inside nuclear plants to a hotter climate that is making it harder to cool the aging reactors.

The outages at EDF, Europe’s biggest electricity exporter, have sent France’s nuclear power output tumbling to its lowest level in nearly 30 years, pushing French electric bills to record highs just as the war in Ukraine is stoking broader inflation. Instead of pumping vast amounts of electricity to Britain, Italy and other European countries pivoting from Russian oil, France faces the unsettling prospect of initiating rolling blackouts this winter and having to import power.

EDF, already 43 billion euros (about $45 billion) in debt, is also exposed to a recent deal involving the Russian state-backed nuclear power operator, Rosatom, that may heap fresh financial pain on the French company. The troubles have ballooned so quickly that President Emmanuel Macron’s government has hinted that EDF may need to be nationalized.

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Inspections unearthed alarming safety issues — especially corrosion and faulty welding seals on crucial systems used to cool a reactor’s radioactive core. That was the situation at the Chinon atomic plant, one of France’s oldest, which produces 6 percent of EDF’s nuclear power.

EDF is now scouring all its nuclear facilities for such problems. A dozen reactors will stay disconnected for corrosion inspections or repairs that could take months or years. Another 16 remain offline for reviews and upgrades.

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NYT

This doesn’t seem good for uranium as this would theoretically ease some of the shortage

We'll see how the news cycle frames that. This week has also seen Germany resort to firing up Coal plants because of decreased natural gas imports.

For quite some time there have been lobbyists vehemently opposed to nuclear energy in Germany. We'll see if the increased use of the dirtiest and most carbon intensive energy source changes the calculations. What I would hope is they would make a decision to go nuclear to have both ESG and reliable baseload power.

In other Uranium news:

1. Global Atomic has financed their major Dasa project and says they will still be on track for production by the start of 2025.
2. UEC bought out UEX. Increasing their Uranium properties and didn't overly (13-14%) dilute their stock in the process.
3. Most of the worthwhile Uranium producers and developers are at approximately their six month lows. The URNM ETF also falls into this category. The market could still go further down but if the Uranium thesis holds it will eventually diverge from the market as a whole.