Uranium has broken out, with the spot price rising to a 16-year high of US$106 per pound in early 2024. Despite a pullback, uranium prices in April still remain 30 percent higher than last year's average.
Although the market's turnaround has taken time, experts are predicting a bright future as countries around the world pursue clean energy goals. Against that backdrop, some ASX-listed uranium companies have been making moves in 2024.
Below the Investing News Network has listed the top uranium stocks on the ASX by year-to-date gains. Data was gathered using TradingView's stock screener on April 10, 2024, and all companies included had market caps above AU$50 million at the time. Read on to learn more about these firms and what they've been up to so far this year.
1. Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN)
Company Profile
**Year\-to\-date gain* 56\.12 percent; market cap: AU$4\.54 billion; current share price: AU$1\.53*
Paladin Energy owns a 75 percent stake in the active Langer Heinrich uranium mine in Namibia, and also has an exploration portfolio that spans both Canada and Australia.
First brought into production in 2006, operations at Langer Heinrich were suspended in 2018 as ultra-low uranium prices averaging US$24 per pound U3O8 made the mine uneconomical. The dramatic rebound in the uranium market over the past year prompted Paladin to return Langer Heinrich to commercial production in April 2024.
Shares in company reached AU$1.53, its highest point of 2024 so far, on April 9. This is up by more than 56 percent since the start of the year, and up nearly 300 percent since hitting a yearly low of AU$0.515 in May 2023.
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2. Lotus Resources (ASX:LOT)
**Year\-to\-date gain* gain 45\.95 percent; market cap: AU$1\.24 billion; current share price: AU$0\.42*
Lotus Resources is another ASX-listed uranium miner working to revive operations at a former mine. The company’s flagship asset is the Kayelekera uranium mine in Malawi, which it acquired from Paladin Energy in 2020.
Kayelekera has been on care and maintenance since 2014 due to the years-long low price environment for the nuclear fuel. In August 2022, Lotus completed a definitive feasibility study for restarting the mine, which it is targeting for Q4 2025.
Last November, Lotus completed a merger with A-Cap Energy, adding the Letlhakane uranium project in Botswana to its portfolio. The company’s plans for the project in 2024 include fast-tracking delivery of a scoping study through the completion of infill drilling aimed at optimizing the mine plan and upgrading the mineral resource estimate.
Shares of Lotus Resources reached a year-to-date high of AU$0.44 on March 21.
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3. Bannerman Energy (ASX:BMN)
**Year\-to\-date gain* 44\.19 percent; market cap: AU$596\.08 million; current share price: AU$3\.85*
Uranium development company Bannerman Energy has honed its efforts on its Namibia-based Etango uranium project, which it says is one of the world’s largest undeveloped uranium assets. The company has been moving forward at Etango for 15 years and is currently targeting a final investment decision for this year.
Bannerman's latest news on its progress at Etango came on March 18 with the announcement that the company has completed a scoping study on the viability of expanding or extending the base case 8 million tonnes per annum of production outlined in the definitive feasibility study completed in December 2022. In addition, the company is currently advancing Front End Engineering and Design, offtake marketing and strategic financing workstreams.
Bannerman's share price reached AU$4.00, its highest point of 2024 so far, on April 8.
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4. Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL)
**Year\-to\-date gain* 31\.46 percent; market cap: AU$1\.22 billion; current share price: AU$1\.40*
Deep Yellow's portfolio of uranium assets spans Namibia and Australia, with its two most advanced projects being Tumas and Mulga Rock. The former is located in Namibia, while the latter is in Western Australia; according to the company, together they have a potential production capacity of over 7 million pounds per year of U3O8.
Deep Yellow released a definitive feasibility study (DFS) for Tumas in early February 2023, outlining output of 3.6 million pounds of U3O8 annually along with 1.15 million pounds of V2O5. The property's mine life is set at 22.25 years, but additional resources could increase it to over 30 years. In December, Deep Yellow did a review of the DFS, updating costs and forecast financial outcomes to reflect the more settled economic environment. Tumas received a mining licence from the Namibian government that same month. The company is targeting late Q3 2024 for a final investment decision.
In terms of Mulga Rock, the company has been working on an evaluation program geared at boosting the project's value by looking at its critical minerals potential. In late February 2024, the company updated the mineral resource estimate for the Ambassador and Princess deposits, resulting in a 26 percent increase in the project's total contained uranium and justifying an update to the DFS. Deep Yellow expects to start a revised DFS for Mulga Rock in Q2 2024.
Shares of Deep Yellow reached their 2024 peak on February 2, coming in at AU$1.76.
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5. Boss Energy (ASX:BOE)
**Year\-to\-date gain* 20\.1 percent; market cap: AU$2\.01 billion; current share price: AU$4\.84*
Boss Energy is focused on restarting its fully permitted Honeymoon uranium mine in South Australia. Production at the asset was suspended in 2013 due to low prices, but the company is now looking to bring it back online to take advantage of uranium's move upward. A JORC-compliant resource for the Honeymoon restart area stands at 36 million pounds of U3O8, and the property's mine life is estimated at over 10 years with output of 2.45 million pounds of U3O8 annually.
News throughout the past year was focused on activities geared at bringing Honeymoon back online, and Boss ultimately started mining operations at Honeymoon back up again in mid-October 2023. The same month, Boss and Coda Minerals (ASX:COD) were awarded four exploration tenements under a mineral rights sharing arrangement. The tenements make up the Kinloch project, which is located 130 kilometres south of Honeymoon.
Boss signed its first binding sales contract for production from Honeymoon in late December 2023. It will sell 1 million pounds of uranium to a US utility for seven years starting in 2025 and ending in 2031.
Then, in late February of this year, Boss announced the completion of a transaction that it said will make it a multi-mine uranium producer in the first half of 2024 — it entered into an agreement to acquire a 30 percent stake in enCore Energy's (TSXV:EU,NASDAQ:EU) Alta Mesa in-situ recovery project in Texas. In mid-March enCore announced its highest grade drill results to date at Alta Mesa, and reported that "at the Alta Mesa Uranium CPP, enCore has met most of the key objectives for the refurbishment of the processing circuits necessary for the planned early 2024 restart."
Boss Energy's share price reached its highest point of the year so far on February 2, when it hit AU$6.11.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.