Investors wait on uranium price rise with bated breath
Two more massive U3O8 mines approach
Deep Yellow's Tumas and Bannerman's Etango get ready to hit the ground running.
International uranium prices will trigger a race to be the next Namibian uranium mine in operation, as Australian firms Bannerman Energy and Deep Yellow separately flex and stretch, bulk up and prepare for the sprint to come between their respective Etango and Tumas projects.Early in July, Bannerman announced raising A$85 million (about N$988 million) through a share placement, “strongly supported by existing shareholders and a selection of new, high-quality institutional investors,” the company said. Net proceeds, together with existing cash, will be used to fund construction activities, infrastructure costs and general working capital as the company advances its flagship Etango Project towards a positive Final Investment Decision (FID), Bannerman announced.
Money muscle flexing
“Our enhanced balance sheet strength is a powerful enabler for us to execute our streamlined strategy of financing and constructing Etango. Against the backdrop of improving sector sentiment and nuclear utility activity, we will continue taking measured steps towards realising the company’s opportunity to deliver uranium into a sector pinch-point,” said Bannerman’s Executive Chairman, Brandon Munro.
Specifically, A$64 million is earmarked for early construction activities including earthworks and design, leading up to FID, while A$40 million is set aside for infrastructure costs on construction, water and power. Of cash reserves near A$140 million, another A$36 million is for general working capital and costs of the placement, according to the company.
Etango is a large-scale uranium mineral resource proven by extensive exploration and feasibility activity over the past 15 years.
In December 2022, a definitive feasibility study confirmed the Etango-8 Project has strong technical and economic viability for conventional open pit mining and heap leach processing of the deposit at 8Mtpa throughput, for an average annual output of 3.5 Mlbs U3O8.
In March 2024, a scoping study demonstrated the capacity to expand annual production to 6.7 Mlbs U3O8.
Construction and multi-year operation of the Etango Heap Leach Demonstration Plant has comprehensively de-risked the conventional acid heap leach process to be utilised on the Etango ore. All environmental approvals have been received for the proposed Etango mine and external mine infrastructure, based on a 12-year environmental baseline. Bannerman was awarded the Mining Licence for Etango in December 2023 and is progressing all key project workstreams towards a targeted positive Final Investment Decision (FID), “in parallel with strengthening uranium market fundamentals,” it says.
Tumas is proven
Meanwhile, Deep Yellow said in April that its own FID has been “deferred due to insufficient uranium price incentivisation to justify greenfield project development”.
The company has officially adopted a staged development approach, with detailed engineering and early works continuing.
International uranium prices appear to be on an upward trend, with a 9% surge on 16 June pushing beyond the May 2025 high of US$73 per pound. However, Deep Yellow’s latest optimisation work generated robust results at a uranium price of US$82.50/lb, “further endorsing the project’s economics and standing as a Tier-1, long-life uranium operation,” the company said in a 22 April news release.
“The additional detailed engineering completed in the past three months confirmed Tumas as a robust, long-life project. However, as previously stated, the key element to delivering a FID was always going to be the prevailing uranium market conditions that would justify the development of a greenfield uranium project.
Therefore, FID has been deferred to fully capitalise on the Tumas Project’s upside potential and thereby protect shareholder value. Deep Yellow will continue to move ahead with early works infrastructure development and detailed engineering, however full-scale project development will be delayed, allowing for what the board believes will be the inevitable improvement in global uranium prices due to increasing demand and the precarious nature of the supply outlook,” reads the release.