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ReGIonAL RoUnD-UP noRtH AMeRIcA

Uranium find powers 92 Energy

Siobhan Lancaster
ess than six months after becoming the first Follow-up drilling to determine the extent of
L uranium company to debut on the ASX in the mineralisation at GMZ will be the main goal
more than a decade, 92 Energy Ltd is on the for 92 Energy in its next major exploration pro- sources prior to its $2.2 billion takeover by China
cusp of confirming a major discovery in Cana- gramme, which will kick off during the upcoming General Nuclear Power Group – believes the
da’s Athabasca Basin. Canadian winter. beleaguered yellowcake industry has finally
From just the fourth hole drilled into its Gemini Gemini is just 27km south-east of the pro- turned the corner.
project, 92 Energy struck 5.5m @ 0.12% ura- lific McArthur River uranium mine, while the Without doubt, the catalyst for the recent price
nium (1,200 ppm), including 1m @ 0.28% ura- Athabasca itself supplies about 20% of the uptick has been the arrival of the Sprott Physical
nium (2,800 ppm) and 0.5m @ 0.36% uranium world’s yellowcake. Uranium Trust (SPUT) which holds more than
(3,600 ppm). While she was not expecting a discovery $1 billion in assets and 24 mlb in reserve.
The company reported the discovery of so soon after 92 Energy’s arrival on the ASX, “SPUT has been buying on-market, which
basement-hosted uranium mineralisation start- Lancaster said the company appeared to have has really tightened the supply even more so
ed about 190m vertically below surface and timed its listing perfectly with strong sentiment than possibly where it was, and obviously it’s
was associated with a broad and strong zone returning to the uranium sector after a decade- had a really huge impact on the spot price of
of bleaching, clay and hematite alteration con- long slumber since the Fukushima incident. uranium,” Lancaster said.
trolled by fault breccias and other structures. “We really believe in the market and we really “Of course, this all flows into the long-term
This zone will be known as the Gemini Miner- believe in the fundamentals of the market,” she pricing for uranium, so it’s been rather fascinat-
alised Zone (GMZ) until its full extent is deter- said. “Obviously, the decarbonisation story, with ing to watch. We know from the last cycle that
mined. nuclear being a form of carbon-free energy, is when the uranium price starts to move, it moves
Shares in 92 Energy soared upon the an- great for the sector but you can’t ignore there’s very fast and basically this is potentially what is
nouncement of the breakthrough to a new high also a supply side issue which needs to be ad- happening again now.
of $1.15, up more than 280% since the start of dressed. “It will be very interesting to see how this all
September and 475% since listing in April, with “There’s been a 10-year lack of any sort of plays out over the next two years, hopefully it’s
the company quickly electing to bolster its bank exploration and development in the market, so a long cycle this time around. The dynamics for
balance via a $7.15 million placement. this all bodes very well for the fundamentals for the demand side of the market, potentially points
Speaking to Paydirt before departing Perth the uranium market and for the uranium price to that being the case but only time will tell.”
to join her team in Canada for an extended going forward. Lancaster also predicted activity in the
period, 92 Energy managing director Siobhan “We are the first uranium exploration com- Athabasca would continue to increase where
Lancaster described the discovery as an “ex- pany to list in the last 10 years and we’re going 92 Energy also has two other projects, Tower
traordinary result” for a greenfields exploration out there and we are really looking for that new and Clover, acquired from TSX-listed IsoEnergy
project. discovery…the fact that we are operating in the Ltd for the company’s $7 million IPO earlier this
“In any commodity it’s a tremendous thing to Tier-1 jurisdiction for uranium has also really as- year.
have a discovery hole, let alone with your fourth sisted us, and that we’re also a new story. This is “We’ve certainly seen it’s getting busier in the
hole ever,” Lancaster said. not an old project, it’s all brand new and it’s all ex- Athabasca,” she said. “Definitely a lot of ground
“This really is testament to our technically- ploration, and we’re looking for that upside you has been pegged in the last few months and
driven strategy and the prospectivity model that get from exploration success that you’ve seen we’re starting to see a bit of deal flow going
we did to determine where we were going to in other companies around the world.” through there as well.”
peg initially. Our team has just put in a tremen- The uranium price broke through $US50/lb
dous amount of work since we listed, including for the first time in late September and while it – Michael Washbourne
carrying out those VTEMs on site and putting has pulled back slightly since, Lancaster – who
together our initial drill targets.” cut her teeth in the sector with Extract Re-

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