Elevate Uranium raises $25M to accelerate pilot plant program and expand resource drilling

• Elevate’s placement at 35c per share attracts strong institutional investor demand to raise $25M
• Funds will be used to accelerate operations at the U-pgrade^TM pilot plant in Namibia
• Proceeds will also be used to expand resource drilling at its uranium projects

Special Report: Investors have demonstrated their confidence in Elevate Uranium and its plans to extend U-pgrade^TM pilot plant operations by providing binding commitments for a placement to raise $25 million.

The placement of about 71.43M shares at 35c each – a 6% discount to the 5-day volume weighted average price – attracted strong demand from existing shareholders and new high-quality domestic and offshore institutional investors.

On completion, it will increase Elevate Uranium’s (ASX:EL8) cash reserves to about $43.9M, placing it in a strong position to accelerate its strategy of de-risking its proprietary U-pgrade^TM beneficiation process and advance its Namibian and Australian uranium portfolio.

“We are extremely pleased with the strong support from new and existing shareholders, which we see as a clear endorsement of our strategy,” managing director Murray Hill said.

“This $25 million strengthens our cash position significantly, allowing us to simultaneously accelerate our proprietary U-pgrade^TM pilot plant while launching major resource growth drilling programs across Namibia and Australia.”

“We will also target strategic, opportunistic and accretive M&A growth.”

“With a strong uranium market thematic, a strong balance sheet, and a unique, low-cost processing technology, Elevate Uranium is incredibly well positioned to execute these critical work streams and deliver significant value for our shareholders.”

Use of funds

The increased cash position will be used to finalise a resource review of the Marenica uranium project in Namibia at an increased cut-off grade.

It will also expand the U-pgrade^TM pilot plant to confirm expected results on the Marenica project, provide design parameters and operation readiness for a commercial scale plant.

Additionally, EL8 will advance related project and technical studies as well as conduct resource, definition and expansion drilling at the project.

Other work programs on the cards include the execution of targeted brownfields and greenfields drilling programs across its Namibian and Australian uranium portfolios to generate a pipeline of new discoveries.

U-pgrade^TM and the Marenica project

EL8’s U-pgrade^TM process is a patented, physical beneficiation method designed to enhance surficial uranium ores by physically rejecting more than 95% of the waste material (gangue) before the expensive leaching stage.

This process concentrates the uranium, increases the ore grade significantly, and reduces the mass to be processed, which is expected to cut capital and operating costs by around 50% compared to conventional methods.

Testing on ore from the Marenica uranium project lifted grades from 93ppm uranium oxide to 5000ppm.

The pilot plant was constructed, factory tested and shipped from Perth. It is scheduled to arrive in Namibia in early November and be commissioned by the end of November.

Marenica has a contained resource of 61Mlb U₃O₈ (EL8’s share is 46Mlb) while the company’s Koppies discovery hosts another 66Mlb at 192ppm U₃O₈.

This article was developed in collaboration with Elevate Uranium, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.