ADVERTORIAL
The World Needs to Spend $73 TRILLION to Get Off Carbon-Based Poweri. Only One Industry is Ready to Deliver
Editorial Feature | Mar 16, 2023
Nuclear power isn’t just the most efficient power source we have today. Contrary to popular myths, it’s also as safe as wind power, produces fewer carbon emissions than solar, and is capable of powering entire cities.
Uranium prices have nearly doubled in the last 18 months. But the US produces almost none of this crucial strategic.
One small uranium explorer plans to change that. With a stake in the richest uranium field in the world, and 14 claims on a proven mine, this microcap is poised to take full advantage of the $4.2 billion allocated to developing nuclear power.
The Opportunity in Five Minutes
- The world is making a concerted effort to rapidly reduce consumption of carbon-based energy. Industry experts estimate the total cost will reach $73 trillion by 2050. That may seem like a lot of money — and it is. But it’s a tiny fraction of the cost of continuing business as usual.
- This transformation won’t be solved by a single clean energy source — but through a combination of them all. Solar, wind, and hydropower have their place — but no clean technology currently available can create large-scale multi-megawatt plants like nuclear.
- Nuclear power is, contrary to popular belief, one of the safest forms of power generation we have, second only to solar.
- Nuclear power is also one of the cleanest forms of power we have — with a lower carbon rate than solar, hydro, or even off-shore wind — which all consume carbon during manufacturing.ii
- Thanks to the marriage of need, safety, and availability, nuclear is undergoing a major boom — and with it, uranium. Investors like Warren Buffett, Li-Ka Shing, and David Shaw are pouring in. Uranium prices have nearly doubled in the last 18 months.iii The price of uranium is difficult to fix, as uranium isn’t spot-traded, but rather has prices set with long-term contracts signed by utilities. That said, it is currently valued at around $50/lb.
- Uranium production in the US is in a sorry state. In 2021, the US only produced 21,000 pounds of uranium — an 88% drop from 2019iv. Making matters worse, investment in uranium mining has been lagging, dropping 17% last year.
- One little-known company is leading the charge to reverse that. The Lucky Boy Mine in Arizona is located in the middle of a rich uranium field, and has been in operation on and off since 1956, going quiet during times of low uranium prices. The concentration of uranium found there is 1.2-1.7g/tonne — making this one of the richest known uranium fields in the US. The compnay is about to drill its 14 claims in the Lucky Boy Mine, and prove more of the metal already known to be in the ground.
- Project 92 — another of the company’s projects, in Saskatchewan— is close to Cameco’s McArthur River Mine, the richest mine in the world. In fact, this area in Saskatchewan — the Athabasca Basin — is home to the richest uranium deposits on earth, with multiple other mines near Project 92.
- And now they appear to be expanding their Saskatchewan holdings, issuing a letter of intent to acquire the “Fusion Uranium Zone Project”, which consists of 23 claims, totaling 20,064 hectares, in the highly prospective and historically active Uranium City.
- The company’s management team is second to none. CEO John McCleery has 40 years of experience in the mining and exploration sector, and has spearheaded numerous projects, including the largest molybdenum project ever discovered in Mexico. Chief Geologist Warren Robb has over 35 years experience in the field, and has found everything from gold to diamonds to base and strategic metals, across multiple continents.
Seasoned, well-rounded professionals like these are turning to uranium for a reason. Lithium may get the press, but uranium is just as crucial a metal for a clean energy future. Yet exploration and discovery is down, while demand is rising. This is the ideal set up for a uranium bull run — like the world saw in the 1950s and the 1970s. And it is just beginning today.
Why Nuclear? Why Now?
Our civilization is in the early stages of the greatest transformation it has ever attempted.
A mad dash to switch our complex energy system to clean fuel.
Just about every nation on earth has committed to becoming carbon-neutral over the next 20-30 years.
But just about every nation is behind where they need to be.
That’s why so many are now starting to throw serious money at the issue.
The world in total spent $755 billion transitioning to clean energy in 2021, up 27% from the previous yearv.
And the future holds further substantial increases. In total, researchers at Stanford University believe it will take $73 trillion to transition to clean energy by 2050.
Today, about 20% of US electricity comes from nuclear. That makes it, by far, the biggest source of carbon-free energy in America today. Still, in future years, that percentage needs to increase.
That’s because, despite impressive advances, solar can’t transition us from a carbon-based economy alone. Hydropower can’t do it alone. Neither can wind power.
Only utilizing every tool can we transition away from oil, coal, and natural gas.
And nuclear is an essential part of the mix.
Indeed — it might be the most potent tool in our toolbox.
Safe, Clean, and Efficient
How are planes like nuclear plants?
They both are subject of elevated, unfounded fears.
Just as planes are the safest form of transportation, nuclear is amongst the safest forms of energy production.
It is also one of the cleanest. Nuclear production gives off no emissions.
There is some carbon used in the construction of plants — but even including those costs, nuclear uses less carbon than solar, hydropower, or off-shore wind.
Spent fuel is solid, making it relatively simple to contain. And there’s a lot less of it than you think.
Nuclear power is approximately one million times as energy-dense as coal. All of the spent fuel the US has ever produced could fit on a single football field, 10 yards deepvi.
And, with recent advances in nuclear generation, much of that spent fuel can be recycled and used again. New tech allows us to wring 100 times as much energy out of uranium fuel as early generation power plants did.
It also doesn’t suffer the issues of other clean energy tech. Namely, nuclear works whether the sun is shining or not, whether the wind blows or is calm.
In fact, nuclear plants have the highest capacity of any fuel — even doubling coal plants.
That means nuclear can run at max capacity more than 92% of the time. In effect, 1 gigawatt nuclear plant could replace more than two gigawatt coal plants.
The IEA sees a 26% growth in nuclear power over the coming years, if we’re to have hope of achieving carbon neutrality.
That means we aren’t just at the start of a bull run for nuclear energy.
We’re also entering a bull run for nuclear fuel — uranium.
The Early Stages of the Bull
Uranium is an unusual metal.
As a strategic resource — with uses besides energy production — the uranium supply is tightly controlled.
There is no spot price. Instead, prices for uranium are set by long-term contracts signed by utilities.
Still, prices are monitored by investors.
And they’ve been shooting up — nearly doubling in the last 18 months.
This is part of a secular pattern that has ruled uranium prices ever since nuclear power was discovered. That is, until relatively recently.
Demand stagnated. And, consequently, investment in uranium resources has dried up.
In 2021, investment in exploration and discovery had dropped 17% from 2019 levels.
But, with demand for nuclear fuel now growing again, so is interest in uranium exploration.
This is the traditional starter’s gun for a secular bull — when demand rises, and supply is shrinking.
The Right Investment In A Secular Commodity Bull Run
A small but accomplished team of geologists spotted this opportunity, and pounced.
They launched a young company, that listed in late 2022. It’s management has experience with many metals — both base and strategic. But they know that now is the time to invest in uranium.
Their first project is in Arizona — the Lucky Boy Mine.
This is a proven uranium mine. It was first tapped in 1956, and produced as long as the uranium market was in a bull.
When it cooled, the mine was mothballed. It came awake again in the 1970s, but has been dormant since.
This isn’t because Lucky Boy is tapped out. Far from it.
Rather, the mine has only operated during uranium bull markets.
That’s why the management team purchased it, and is currently readying it for production again.
This location contains nearly all the uranium in Arizona. Formed during the precambrian age, the Dripping Springs Quartzite formation is exposed at the Lucky Boy Mine, bringing uranium close to the surface.
This location has produced uranium at 1.2-1.7 g/tonne, and is ready to do so again.
Beyond the known uranium in the ground, the company will begin drilling in the next 3-6 months in other nearby locations with similar, promising geology. All told, they own 1,000 hectares in this uranium-rich corner of Arizona.
It will be 6-9 months before the company will be able to give an estimated reserve calculation — which is why it still has a market cap under $20 million.
Similar companies, sitting on similar mines with proven reserves, have valuations over $1 billion.
Lucky Boy will be the first project to come online. But, once the company’s other project in Saskatchewan is developed, Lucky Boy may prove the junior property.
That’s because, in the uranium-rich Athabasca Basin, the company owns 6,000 hectares in the richest uranium deposit ever found.
To give an idea of just how uranium-rich this area is, Lucky Boy is a profitable mine with a concentration of 0.17% U3O8 (the uranium isotope that power plants need).
- In the Athabasca Basin, Cameco’s McArthur River mine comes in at 13.5% U3O8.
- Nearby, Cameco found another deposit near Fox Lake, with concentrations at 8.99% U3O8.
- And a project owned by CanAlaska adjacent to Project 92 has found concentrations as low as 2.5%, up to 25.4%.
These are exceptionally high numbers — much higher than found anywhere else in the world.
And the company’s Project 92 is right in the middle of it.
Exploratory drilling is planned for this year. Financing is already in place for all the necessary drilling. Most of the permitting and licensing is done.
The team is optimistic as they prep for exploration… so optimistic they’ve announced the intent to triple down on their Saskatchewan holdings.
New Acquisition To Increase Saskatchewan Assets By More Than 300%
According to a recent announcement the company has signed a letter of intent to acquire 23 mineral claims totaling 20,064 hectares near Uranium City, known as the “Fusion Uranium Zone Project.”
The Fusion Uranium Zone Project sits within a historic colony that was home to more than a dozen mines, aptly named Uranium City. The city grew rapidly in the 1950’s and 1960’s when uranium was in high demand for military purposes, as well as powering Canada’s Candu reactor.
The colony was shuttered in 1982, when the city’s last mine closed due to a break in demand for domestically sourced uranium.
That’s changing quickly now – as uranium producers clamor back into this once active region.
That means it’s only a matter of time before a discovery hits the news, drawing new attention to this highly prospective region.
But, as much promise as this massive project holds, it’s not even the real standout on this news release.
It seems that through this acquisition, the company also gains access to an extraction technology invaluable to recovery of these types of uranium deposits.
Using a method of in-situ leaching, this extraction technology is capable of recovering uranium located in non-porous, otherwise impermeable underground formations.
That asset could give them a major advantage over other producers in this region, and put a big acquisition target on the company as they move to prove out their resources.
What to do next?
Right now, uranium presents a high upside opportunity.
The mining sector’s card are face up on the table as demand only grows more intense. Yet, sizable new mines, the kind that this company could be sitting on, are hard to find.
Sign up with your email address to learn more about this early – entry opportunity, before drilling results come out.
i https://e360.yale.edu/digest/the-global-price-tag-for-100-percent-renewable-energy-73-trillion
ii https://www.energyforhumanity.org/en/briefings/energy/nuclear-and-carbon-emissions-the-facts/
iii https://markets.businessinsider.com/commodities/uranium-price?op=1
iv https://www.eia.gov/uranium/production/annual/
v https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/02/ranked-10-countries-energy-transition-investment/
vi https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/3-reasons-why-nuclear-clean-and-sustainable
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