- Spot uranium price is at 16-year highs driven by strong physical market demand; long term outlook also strong
- TSX is home to some of the biggest uranium companies in the world
- More than 50 uranium stocks on the TSX, TSXV and the CSE
- Premier American Uranium (TSXV:PUR) listed December 1 with ground in two uranium-producing US regions
Our Canada Unearthed column wraps the news driving mining and exploration stocks listed in Canada, mostly on the TSX and TSX.V.
The TSX is home to some of the biggest uranium companies in the world, like Cameco (TSX:CCO), NexGen Energy (TSX:NXE), Energy Fuels (TSX:EFR) and Denison Mines (TSX:DML).
These producers and advanced project developers possess a collective market cap of C$35bn, with C$26bn capped behemoth Cameco the main player.
Meanwhile, the ASX has just two pure play uranium stocks with a market cap above A$1bn; Paladin (ASX:PDN) A$2.8bn, and Boss Energy (ASX:BOE) A$1.4bn.
TSX, its venture arm the TSXV, and the CSE also boast a depth the ASX can only aspire to, with more than 50 stocks at all stages of the exploration, development, and mining cycle.
You can expect that number to grow as the emerging uranium bull market gathers pace.
Newest cab off the rank is Consolidated Uranium spinout Premier American Uranium (TSXV:PUR), which listed December 1 with a bunch of ground in two prominent uranium-producing US regions: the Great Divide Basin of Wyoming and the Uravan Mineral Belt of Colorado.
These well-trod historical mining areas are becoming popular again as the uranium revival gathers pace, with ASX and TSX/TSXV stocks scouring these regions in the hunt for yellowcake.
PUR’s flagship asset in Wyoming is called Cyclone, where it has an initial exploration target of 7.9-12.5Mlb uranium.
Arguably more impressive than its projects are PUR’s backers and leadership team.
The tightly held stock is 47% owned by uranium investment firm Sachem Cove Partners, 14% by C$650m capped IsoEnergy (TSX:ISO), and 5% by C$160m capped Mega Uranium (TSX:MGA).
IsoEnergy – which just merged with Consolidated Uranium – is up +1200% since the 2018 discovery of the high grade (48.61Mlbs at 34.5%) U3O8 Hurricane deposit in the eastern Athabasca Basin.
Meanwhile, PUR CEO Tim Rotolo co-founded Sachem Cove and North Shore Indices, which launched a uranium mining ETF called URNM in 2019 when yellowcake was paying just US$25/lb.
URNM raised more than US$1 billion before the fund was sold to NYSE listed Canadian asset manager, Sprott Asset Management.
PUR says there’s a huge opportunity in the US, which accounts for ~30% of the world’s nuclear power generation. The country is now looking for new sources of supply as it looks to ban imports of uranium from Russia, a major producer and enricher.
Why not revive a formerly thriving domestic industry?
“We are excited to commence trading on the TSXV,” Rotolo says.
“As a company purposely built with the aim of revitalizing U.S. domestic uranium production, we believe we are uniquely positioned against one of the strongest backdrops for both U.S. uranium fundamentals and physical uranium prices, now nearing a 16 year high.”