Uranium stock Lotus Resources [ASX:LOT] announced the inaugural mineral resource estimate for its Livingstonia uranium deposit of 6.9Mt at 320 ppm U3O8.
The Livingstonia deposit boosts Lotus’s total mineral resource estimate to 49.4Mt.
Despite the news, LOT shares were flat in late afternoon trade, treading water at 28 cents a share.
However, uranium stocks are back on investors’ radar after global energy pressures force countries to reassess their nuclear power stances.
While Lotus shares are down 10% year to date, the uranium stock is nonetheless up 33% over the past 12 months.
Other ASX uranium stocks like Paladin Energy [ASX:PDN] and South Australian Boss Resources [ASX:BOE] are up 45% and 66% respectively in the past 12 months.
Source: Tradingview.com
Lotus announces uranium resource increase
Lotus announced that its inaugural mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Livingstonia uranium deposit of 6.9Mt at 320 ppm U3O8 has increased LOT’s total global MRE to 51.1Mlbs U3O8.
Lotus said the increased resource came about following ‘recent exploration success’.
In a possible reason for the flat market response, Lotus admitted that the Livingstonia resource is not included in LOT’s current a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS).
Lotus thinks the deposit does have the ‘potential to become a satellite operation in the future, once the Kayelekera resource has been depleted’.
Lotus expects its DFS to be completed ‘mid-2022’.
Source: Lotus
LOT share price outlook — the great clean energy push
Lotus Managing Director Keith Bowes commented on today’s update:
‘The acquisition of the Livingstonia prospect last year consolidated the Company’s ownership of our southern project area, a known uranium mineralised district that has had very limited exploration work completed over the years.
‘Following the small-scale drill program last year, it is pleasing to now produce a JORC (2012) compliant Mineral Resource estimate, which is broadly in line with our expectations.
‘As we have previously commented, Livingstonia is not part of the current production strategy at the Kayelekera project nor our DFS work, however it has the potential to become a satellite operation in the future, once the Kayelekera resource has been depleted.
‘The results show that there are additional feed materials available for the Kayelekera processing plant and that the life-of-mine is not limited by what currently exists on the mining tenement.’
Lotus’s announcement comes after a positive week for uranium stocks worldwide, who are stirring once more as the world considers its energy options following rising prices and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The price of uranium — for years so low as to drive away marginal producers — is rising once more.
And miners are restarting operations.
For instance, Paladin Energy recently raised $150 million to restart the Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia, with work potentially restarting next month.
Operations at Langer Heinrich were suspended in 2018 because of low uranium prices:
Source: Wall Street Journal
Nuclear is once more being considered as an option to bolster countries’ energy security.
As a comprehensive report by Energy Options Network (EON) notes:
‘An inherent advantage over technologies that only produce electricity (like wind and PV) is nuclear’s capacity to produce both electricity and heat, affording it the ability to take advantage of all hydrogen production technology options.’
And with Europe steadfastly holding to its resolution to abandon Russian oil, nuclear may see a resurgence soon.
And there is one small Aussie uranium stock that could help with Europe’s energy transition.
Ryan Clarkson-Ledward, our small-caps expert, has profiled this potential saviour in a recent research report.
To hear more about it, click here.
Regards,
Kiryll Prakapenka
