Uranium prices began exhibiting strength in March, continuing an upward trend throughout April and May, marking the first time the U3O8 spot value was above US$30 since 2016.
June saw prices begin to pullback from the US$33.93 four-year high, but the energy fuel has been able to hold above US$30 for four consecutive months.
Like so many other sectors, the uranium industry has also been severely impacted by the unprecedented pandemic, more so than other resource spaces. Particularly due to the persistently low spot prices that preceded the coronavirus.
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Those factors make the current environment challenging. Companies are finally seeing positive price activity that incentivizes activity, but were grappling with implementing safety protocols, while simultaneously dealing with logistic and transportation challenges.
Despite some expected delays sector majors have released Q2 and half year results, below the Investing News Network has gathered highlights from the top North American producers by market cap.
1. Cameco (TSX:CCO,NYSE:CCJ)
Market cap: C$5.3 billion; share price: C$13.87; year-to-date move: +19.47 percent,
Multinational company Cameco was heavily effected by COVID-19 measures, spending C$37 million in additional care and maintenance costs after suspending operations at its Cigar Lake mine in Saskatchewan.
With its last remaining solely owned asset on curtailment Cameco produced no uranium in Q2 and has been reliant on spot market purchases to fulfill contracts.
Highlights from Cameco’s Q2 results:
- Net loss of C$53 million, adjusted net loss of C$65 million
- Strong balance sheet with C$878 million in cash and short-term investments
- 39 percent increase in sales volume
- Planned September restart of Cigar Lake mine
Although Cameco has planned for a fall re-opening in Saskatchewan, the company will likely not meet its previous production targets for 2020.
“We will not be able to make up the lost production and are therefore targeting our share of 2020 production to be up to 5.3 million pounds in total,” the financial report noted.
For comparison, during the first half of 2019, the company produced 7.5 million pounds of U3O8. For the same period in 2020, Cameco’s output totaled 2.1 million, with all of the production coming in Q1.
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2. Energy Fuels (TSX:EFR,NYSEAMERICAN:UUUU)
Market cap: C$281.2 million; share price: C$2.26; year-to-date move: -7 percent
Diversified miner Energy Fuels owns a portfolio of more than a dozen all-American assets. Specializing in uranium and vanadium production the company currently operates White Messa in Utah and has two in-situ recovery projects on standby in Texas and Wyoming.
During Q2 the US firm made an entrance into the rare earth market, a space that has featured prominently in the US and China trade war.
While the majority of the company’s recent focus has been the rare earth space, the first half of 2020 also signaled a limited uranium production restart at the White Messa asset in Utah.
Highlights from Energy Fuels’ Q2 results:
- US$28.3 million in cash and marketable securities
- 83,000 pounds uranium recovered
- Uranium inventory of 575,000 pounds; vanadium inventory of 1,675,000 pounds
- Operating loss of US$6.5 million
With White Messa back in operation, the company forecasts total production will total 125,000 to 170,000 pounds for 2020.
“Assuming current production and sales guidance, we expect to continue to build and hold between 640,000 and 690,000 pounds of uncommitted uranium in inventory at the end of 2020,” reads the Q2 overview.
As an US-based producer, Energy Fuels has also been a supporter of the country’s efforts to strengthen its domestic nuclear fuel supply chain over the last two years. In early August company CEO and president of Uranium Producers of America, Paul Goranson, testified before a US senate committee in support of the American Nuclear Infrastructure Act.
One of the proposals is for the US the build a domestic uranium stockpile through an annual expenditure of US$150 million for a decade.
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3. Ur-Energy (TSX:URE,NYSEAMERICAN:URG)
Market cap: C$125.4 million; share price: C$0.73; year-to-date move: 0 percent
Operating in Wyoming, Ur-Energy’s primary asset is the Lost Creek in-situ recovery site. As US-producer Ur-Energy is also hopeful about the national effort to bolster domestic uranium production.
After more than two years of study, Q2 2020 saw the anticipated release of the Nuclear Fuel Working Group report, a by-product of the Section 232 uranium import investigation. The company which helped to initiate the investigation in 2018, recapped the report’s findings in its Q2 results.
“Ur-Energy continues to be an active participant and a stakeholder in the ongoing processes to secure and protect our industry,” it reads. “ We have confidence the Working Group and the Administration will implement the report’s recommendations in ways which will, in fact, reinvigorate our industry and allow us to return to full production levels at Lost Creek.”
Hghlights from Ur-Energy’s Q2 results:
- 4,119 pounds uranium recovered
- Inventory of 268,552 pounds
- US$4.1 million unrestricted cash position
- Closed direct offering for US$4.6 million
During the second quarter of the year sold 167,000 pounds of purchased inventory. The company has not sold any of its produced uranium during the first half of the year and does not anticipate there will be a sales from its produced coffers in the later half.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Georgia Williams, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: Energy Fuels is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.
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