The positive sentiment coursing back into the uranium industry is boding well for exploration company DevEx, which is drilling around an historical high-grade uranium mine in Australia, says chairperson Tim Goyder.

“It has been gratifying to see positive sentiment flowing back into the uranium sector this year after a long period in the wilderness,” he said in his chairperson’s address on Friday.

Driven by a growing recognition of the role that uranium can play in the global green energy transition, uranium prices have risen sharply this year, recently touching 15-year highs of $80/lb.

Goyder said DevEx was in a unique position, being the only company currently drilling around an historical high-grade uranium mine in Australia, one which produced 24-million pounds at a grade of 1.94%, and delivering significant results.

“Our team, led by our MD Brendan Bradley, has made great advances this year in terms of understanding the controls on the mineralisation at Nabarlek. This means we have been able to successfully step-out from known mineralised positions, expand the scale of the system and, most importantly, understand where we still need to drill to unlock the full potential of this asset,” he said.

DevEx has recently expanded its exploration footprint in the Northern Territory by entering into an earn-in agreement over the Murphy West uranium project, giving the company access to a district-scale exploration opportunity in the McArthur basin.

In addition to uranium, DevEx has also made a discovery of ionic clay-hosted rare earths mineralisation at the Kennedy project in northwest Queensland.

“Kennedy is shaping up as a significant opportunity for the company – with drilling currently in progress to evaluate its scale and potential,” said Goyder.

Initial test work completed during the year confirmed that the mineralisation at Kennedy is ionic adsorption rare earth clays, containing the high-value magnet rare earth elements that are essential to modern electric vehicle and renewable energy technologies.

“This positions us to participate in a very exciting and highly strategic market, which is forecast to see enormous growth in the decades ahead,” he said.