Uranium

Uranium exploration and production activity across North America and Southern Africa is accelerating as global demand for nuclear fuel intensifies, driven by energy-transition imperatives, data-centre electricity requirements and renewed focus on energy independence. TSX-V-listed Manhattan Uranium Discovery Corporation has secured approval to drill at Nevada's Apex project, the state's largest past-producing uranium mine, while the company is also advancing a fully funded 5 000 m, 25-hole drill programme at the Murmac and Strike projects in Saskatchewan's Athabasca basin, set to start in June 2026. In Canada, TSX- and NYSE-listed Cameco has increased its ownership of the Cigar Lake mine to 57.4% for $115-million and resumed full production at the McArthur River mine and Key Lake mill following flooding disruptions in May, maintaining its full-year consolidated production outlook of between 19.5-million and 21.5-million pounds of triuranium octoxide. Denison Mines' Wheeler River project in Saskatchewan – the basin's largest undeveloped uranium project – has become the first large-scale Canadian uranium mine in more than 20 years to receive all regulatory approvals and started construction in March 2026, targeting first production by mid-2028.

ASX-listed Peninsula Energy has secured a $56-million funding package to accelerate development at the Lance project in Wyoming, comprising a $15.7-million institutional placement, a $10.2-million entitlement offer and a $30-million convertible note facility with Washington H Soul Pattinson & Co. The company maintains production guidance of between 400 000 lb and 500 000 lb of triuranium octoxide for 2026 and between 500 000 lb and 600 000 lb for 2027, though cash operating costs are expected to rise to between $30-million and $35-million a year owing to lower production from Mine Unit 3, higher acid use and prices, and increased wellfield maintenance costs. Peninsula plans to spend $30-million on Mine Unit 5 development and $10.8-million on initial development at Mine Unit 6, with the first header house acidification in a new mining unit typically requiring about 12 months from the start of development.

In Southern Africa, uranium production is firming up as Namibia – the world's third-largest uranium extractor after Kazakhstan and Canada – continues to expand output, with Paladin Energy's Langer Heinrich mine reporting production of 1.29-million pounds of triuranium octoxide at an average recovery rate of 92% during the three months to March 31, 2026, at a cost of production of $40.3/lb and an average realised price of $68.3/lb. The Rössing uranium mine is extending mine life to at least 2036 as it turns 50 this year, while the Husab mine also contributes to Namibia's 12% share of global uranium supply. In South Africa, Neo Energy Metals and Sibanye-Stillwater have extended the deadline for securing Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources approval for the carve-out of the Beatrix 4 Shaft mining right, inclusive of the Beisa uranium project, to December 6, 2026, with the transfer approval deadline extended to June 2027; Neo Energy CEO Theo Botoulas says engagement with the DMPR is constructive and the company's December 2027 first-production target at New Beisa remains unchanged.

The UN Economic Commission for Africa has launched a €15-million, five-year regional project to strengthen critical minerals value chains across the Southern African Development Community, running from 2026 to 2031 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. ECA Southern Africa regional director Eunice Kamwendo highlights that the mining industry currently contributes between 7% and 25% of GDP in several Southern African countries and notes the region's importance in the global energy transition, citing Zimbabwe's lithium resources, Mozambique and Namibia's graphite and uranium production, and South Africa's position as a major producer of manganese and platinum-group metals. The project, implemented by a consortium led by ECA and comprising the African Minerals Development Centre, Germany's Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Project Consult, Wits Enterprise and World Wildlife Fund Germany, aims to support sustainable industrialisation, value addition, job creation and environmental protection.

American Lithium Corporation has welcomed Peru's Supreme Decree declaring uranium and lithium as minerals of national importance and announcing an inaugural forum titled 'Uranium and Lithium: Pillars of energy leadership for mining, technological and smart city development in Peru and the world', scheduled for July 7 and 8, 2026, in Lima. The decree formally recognises uranium and lithium as critical and strategic minerals of increasing international relevance, citing their central role in the energy transition, electro-mobility, clean energy storage and smart city development. American Lithium holds the Falchani lithium project, one of the world's largest hard-rock lithium and cesium deposits, and the Macusani uranium project, the largest undeveloped uranium project in Latin America, both situated on the Macusani Plateau in south-eastern Peru with robust preliminary economic assessments completed.