Uranium stocks have been rising since November 2020 and are now very clearly in a strong bull run. We asked some of our InvestorIntel team members and experts about what’s their view as to why uranium stocks are booming.

If we look at the two leading US listed uranium miners their stock prices are both up around 150% over the past 3 months (see chart below). Some of the other uranium miners such as Western Uranium & Vanadium Corp. (CSE: WUC | OTCQX: WSTRF) and Fission Uranium Corp. (TSX: FCU | OTCQX: FCUUF) have seen impressive gains around 70% over the past 3 months.

What is going on, asks InvestorIntel CEO Tracy Weslosky. This is extraordinarily. Something is up! The impeachment vote? War mongers? The Biden factor? What?

Leading US uranium miners Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU) and Ur‐Energy Inc. (NYSE American: URG) are up about 150% the past 3 months

Looking at the chart below we can see uranium prices have picked up a little but not enough to explain the uranium miners stock prices surging. So why?

Uranium spot price 1 year history – Uranium prices started a new uptrend back in mid Nov. 2020

Source: Trading economics

Here are a few experts views sought this week by InvestorIntel:

Jack Lifton, host of The Technology Metals Show – “The USA imports 95% of the uranium it needs to operate its 25% of the worlds civilian nuclear reactors that provide almost 30% of American baseload (available at any time) electricity needs and accounts for more than half of all carbon free power generation in the USA. It’s imperative therefore that America produce uranium domestically for its security of supply of carbon free electric power. The US Congress has recognized this need and recently funded a program to buy domestic uranium.”

Peter Clausi – InvestorIntel Host, CBLT Inc. (TSXV: CBLT) CEO – “No matter where you are on the political spectrum, utilities and a nuclear fleet need uranium.”

Industry insider Fission Uranium President & COO Ross McElroy stated back in August 2020 – “I think we are in the start of a bull market right now. That’s happened because there’s been so many production shutdowns globally. All the major mines, even all the production in Canada has been shutdown. So, we know the demand is there and it continues to grow, supply is constricting and these are the things that are making the bottom of the bull market happen.”

Spot on Ross, you called it before most others.

Here is how investors can track the uranium miners

InvestorIntel readers can track the uranium sector at Uranium Watchlist”

InvestorChannel’s uranium Watchlist – January 14, 2021

Source

Uranium stocks that we follow closely at InvestorIntel include:

• Appia Energy Corp. (CSE: API | OTCQB: APAAF)
• Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE American: UUUU | TSX: EFR)
• Fission Uranium Corp. (TSX: FCU | OTCQX: FCUUF)
• Ur-Energy Inc. (NYSE American: URG | TSX: URE)
• Western Uranium & Vanadium Corp. (CSE: WUC | OTCQX: WSTRF)

Closing remarks

My view is that the uranium stocks are booming the past 2 1/2 months as a result of the Biden victory. The market thinks Biden will support nuclear energy as a way of reaching his 100% carbon-free electricity target by 2035. If Biden’s US$2 trillion green infrastructure and jobs plan gets passed through the Senate during the course of 2021, then it looks like the uranium miners will have a tremendous decade ahead.

In any event I also hear what insiders have been saying for some time, and that is that uranium demand continues to grow as supply constricts. This is also a positive for the underlying fundamentals of the uranium bull market.

Happy to hear what InvestorIntel readers think in the comments section below. Also if you think the uranium miners bull run can be maintained.

Further reading

• Aug. 11, 2020 – Fission Uranium’s President on why the uranium bull market starts now

Appia Energy Corp. (CSE: API | OTCQB: APAAF) (‘Appia’) has just completed a round of drilling at their 100% owned Alces Lake Property, in the Athabasca Basin area of northern Saskatchewan, Canada. The project has monazite ore containing valuable rare earths Neodymium (Nd), Praseodymium (Pr), Dysprosium (Dy), and Terbium (Tb). Alces Lake hosts the 2nd highest average rare earth element (REE) grade in the world at 16.65 wt% TREO.

The key result of the drilling campaign was that Appia was able to confirm the REE minerals system over a 875m strike length, as deep as 340m from surface, still open in all directions and in two sub-parallel trends.

The original trend includes the high grade REE zones of Wilson, Richard, Charles and Bell which now look to be all joined at depth over a strike length of 145m. As a result the 4 zones have now been combined into one larger zone and named the WRCB zone.

Another positive was that 15 out of the 18 drill holes intersected the REE mineralized system. Assay results from the drill campaign are expected to be released soon.

Source

Shown below from a different rotation is one of the newer trends which includes the Ivan/Dylan and the Mikaela/Dante zones. The other has the Cone Zone.

Alces Lake REE mineralization is running in two sub-parallel trends to the original trend

Source

Appia Vice-President, Exploration and Development, James Sykes, commented:

“This suggests that the System (total REE mineralized zones at Alces Lake), and both first-order lithological emplacement controls, could be present across the entire 45 km geological strike length of the Property at/near surface and continuing at depth.”

The Alces Lake Project’s rare earths start from or near surface and hence are suitable for an open pit mine. Permitting should be smooth being in northern Saskatchewan Canada and the CapEx and OpEx should be reasonably low given the good grades and near surface resource. The fairly recent development by the Government of Saskatchewan to develop a “first-of-its-kind” Rare Earth Processing Facility in Saskatchewan is also very promising for Appia.

Other properties owned by Appia (rare earths and uranium)

In total at Appia’s Athabasca Basin properties Appia has 57,048 hectares which includes Alces Lake, Loranger, North Wollaston, and Eastside properties. They all have uranium.

At Elliot Lake Camp, Ontario, Canada, Appia has 12,545 hectares with both rare earth element and uranium deposits over five mineralized zones.

Appia Energy Corp. is currently trading on a market cap of just C$27m. Given the high rare earths grades at Alces Lake, the planned nearby Saskatchewan Government Rare Earth Processing Facility, renewed interest by governments (the recent US Executive Order on critical materials), and Appia’s potential also with uranium; things are looking very promising for Appia Energy.

InvestorIntel’s Tracy Weslosky moderates a discussion with the Technology Metals Show host Jack Lifton and Appia Energy Corp.’s (CSE: API | OTCQB: APAAF) CEO, President and Director Tom Drivas on the Saskatchewan Research Council’s (SRC) plans to develop a “first-of-its-kind” Rare Earth Processing Facility in Saskatchewan, Canada.

In an InvestorIntel interview that can also be viewed on our InvestorIntel YouTube channel, Jack started, “This is the first time it has been done in North America,” he continued, “The Canadian companies that are associated with the SRC are going to be the leading companies in Canada in the rare earths space.”

Tom went on to say that Appia has a high-grade rare earths project in Saskatchewan. “Having a rare earths processing plant in Saskatchewan, in the same area where we are and in the same jurisdiction, is a game changer,” he added. Tom also explained how the processing facility is going to benefit Appia Energy and its shareholder.

To watch the full interview, click here

To learn more about Appia Energy Corp., click here

Disclaimer: Appia Energy Corp. is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.

Government announcement is more good news following Appia’s successful results and expansion

Any mining company will tell you that success is the result of a combination of good decisions and good fortune, and Appia Energy Corp. (CSE: API |OTCQB: APAAF) (“Appia”) has recently had both.

On August 28  the Saskatchewan Research Council (“SRC“) and the Government of Saskatchewan announced their plan to develop a “first-of-its-kind” Rare Earth Processing Facility in Saskatchewan, Canada – essentially in Appia’s Alces Lake high grade rare earths project’s backyard. This is a highly significant announcement as it has enormous potential to benefit Appia down the track, as they can potentially leverage of what is already provided by the local government. The facility is planned to be fully operational in late 2022 and will be capable of processing both hard rock ores (monazite and bastnaesite), and converting them into saleable individual rare earth oxides. This matches perfectly with Appia’s shorter term needs and would be North America’s first rare earths processing facility.

Speaking exclusively to InvestorIntel, Appia President and CEO, Tom Drivas, welcomed the news. “Appia congratulates the Saskatchewan Research Council and the Government of Saskatchewan for their initiative to develop a first-of-a-kind rare earth processing plant in Saskatchewan, Canada,” he told InvestorIntel. “Appia is very pleased and excited to learn that the Saskatoon rare earth processing plant will be up and running by the end of 2022, especially since it is in such close proximity to Appia’s high-grade critical rare earth Alces Lake project. Having the SRC plant in the same province as our project will substantially benefit Appia and its shareholders. Appia’s Alces Lake project’s rare earths are hosted in monazite, which the SRC plant will be processing. Appia has a well-established working relationship with SRC.”

This comes on the heels of a recent string of exploration and other news for Appia. In July 2020 Appia reported a 1.0 meter channel sample line grading 0.471 wt% total rare earth oxide (“TREO”) at Appia’s Loranger Property. Appia also found over 65 metres of continuous uranium mineralization at surface grading 0.018 wt% U₃O₈ at their Eastside Property.

“The composite U₃O₈ grades from Eastside are comparable to other world-class open pit uranium mines,” said Appia Vice-President, Exploration and Development, James Sykes, “such as the Rössing and Husab uranium mines in Namibia. Based on historic assay results and those obtained from Line 3 of Area 51, we believe zones with higher uranium grades are possible on the Property. The Property remains underexplored.”

On August 4 Appia announced that it had staked 8,014 additional acres at its high-grade rare earth Alces Lake Property, expanding the total property to an area of 17,577 hectares (43,434 acres). The new staking around Hawker ensures that all of the historic surface occurrences and potential geological trends are located within the Alces Lake Property. The two new land acquisitions now provide Appia with an additional 11 km of prospective trends to explore for additional high-grade rare earth element and uranium zones, bringing the total to 41 km along a continuous regional geological trend.

On August 6 Appia announced that they had discovered at least seven surface rare earth and uranium zones on the Alces Lake Project. Mr. James Sykes said: “We continue to discover more of the REE mineral system at surface, and for many kilometers outside of the main area where we’ve been focusing exploration for the past couple of years. This suggests we’re looking at a very large system across the property and also at depth.”

Some uses for rare earths and hence a strong decade ahead

Source

The Alces Lake Property (100% owned by Appia)

The Alces Lake property has monazite ore that is enriched in valuable critical rare earth elements, particularly Neodymium (Nd), Praseodymium (Pr), Dysprosium (Dy), and Terbium (Tb). These four elements account for between 23-25% of the TREO, or ~85% of the potential value at Alces Lake. Alces Lake hosts the 2nd highest average REE grade in the world. At a 4 wt% Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREO) cutoff, Alces Lake average grade is exceptionally high at 16.65 wt% TREO. The Alces Lake Project’s rare earths are near surface and hence suitable for an open pit mine. Permitting should be smooth being in northern Saskatchewan Canada and the CapEx and OpEx should be reasonably low given the good grades and near surface resource. Finally the recent development by the Government of Saskatchewan to develop a “first-of-its-kind” Rare Earth Processing Facility in Saskatchewan is extremely promising for Appia.

Appia Energy Alces Lake Project has one of the highest grade rare earths in the world with favorable monazite ore

Source

Closing remarks

Appia Energy continues to expand their rare earths and uranium resource potential via a very significant neighboring land acquisition and further exploration in their Summer campaign. Phase 1 has already uncovered numerous targets and phase 2 plans 2,000 to 3,000m of new diamond drilling on their Alces Lake Project.

The announced new SRC Saskatchewan rare earths processing facility is a potential game changer for Appia. All the pieces of the puzzle are coming into place – very high grade rare earths, expanded land package with exploration upside and success, and finally a nearby processing facility. As the renewable energy and EV boom take off this decade the demand for a secure supply of western-made rare earths will intensify. It is starting to look like Appia Energy can be a significant player one day with continued good results and good fortune.

“Alces Lake, Appia’s project which is located in northern Saskatchewan, has a number of surface and near surface zones with very unusual mineralization. There is upto 85% monazite right on the surface and upto 50% total weight percent rare earths. It is unique. It is high grade and it has the right mineralogy. All of the rare earths are contained in one mineral which is monazite, in the right province, in the right area and very close to pilot plant processing facilities…What we are working and like to see next is come up with our first resource and follow up with a PEA and prove to the market that we have an economically viable project.” States Tom Drivas, CEO, President and Director of Appia Energy Corp. (CSE: API | OTCQB: APAAF), in an interview with InvestorIntel’s Tracy Weslosky.

Tom went on to say that Appia’s has both rare earths and uranium assets and the company is on track with its exploration and drilling programs. He also said that MP Materials’ listing on NYSE will be very good for the rare earths industry and it will bring a lot of attention to Appia Energy. Appia’s market cap is less 1% of that of MP Materials but Appia has a similar project in Canada the initial grades of which look much better than MP Materials’ rare earths grade.

To access the complete interview, click here

Disclaimer: Appia Energy Corp. is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.

The electric vehicle (EV) sector has been one of the hottest sectors the past 3 months as investors chase everything ‘electric’. For example, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is up over 7 fold the past 14 months and is now the world’s most valuable car company. The past 3 months NIO is up 3 fold and Nikola is up 5 fold. The battery manufacturers have also surged.

So what’s next? Following the EV thematic one would say the EV metal miners should be next, and that includes the rare earths miners, as rare earths are a key component in the most powerful magnets used in EV motors. Last year Roskill reported that “Tesla extends EV range using ‘permanent magnets’ motors in Models S, X, and 3. This resulted in a 10% increase in the overall drivetrain efficiency of Tesla’s EVs, and hence an improvement in range. Roskill then expressed the following view:

“Permanent magnets that offer the best performance and optimisation potential in electric motors are rare earth neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets. Over 90% of EV models currently use NdFeB-based permanent magnet motors as part of the EV drivetrain.”

Additionally, the US Senate will soon consider various Acts, including the ORE Act, that aim to secure US supply of critical elements such as rare earths. This has the potential to be another catalyst for the rare earths sector in the near future.

One of the most promising rare earths junior miners is Appia Energy Corp. (CSE: API | OTCQB: APAAF). Appia is currently exploring and developing uranium and rare earth deposits at its Alces Lake Property, in the Athabasca Basin area of northern Saskatchewan, Canada. They also have a promising uranium-rare earths project in Ontario, Canada.

Appia 100% own the Alces Lake property spread over 14,334 hectares. The Alces Lake property has monazite ore that is enriched in valuable critical rare earth elements, particularly Neodymium (Nd), Praseodymium (Pr), Dysprosium (Dy), and Terbium (Tb). These 4 elements account for between 23-25% of the TREO, or ~85% of the potential value at Alces Lake. Alces Lake hosts the 2nd highest average REE grade in the world.

At a 4 wt% Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREO) cutoff, Alces Lake average grade is exceptionally high at 16.65 wt% TREO. By comparison rare earths producer Lynas Corporation’s Mt Weld mine has an average grade ~10 wt% TREO, and is perhaps the most successful non-Chinese rare earth mine in the world today.

Appia Energy’s Alces Lake property has exceptionally high grade critical rare earths in Northern Saskatchewan, Canada

Source: Appia Energy company presentation

The high grade TREO at the Alces Lake Project hosted in monazite is an ideal potential western located source of the most valuable key rare earths needed in future industries such as EV motors and catalysts etc.

Rare earths key uses include powerful magnets (21% of demand and growing) used in EVs, electronics, and wind turbines etc

The Alces Lake Project’s rare earths are near surface and hence suitable for an open pit mine. Permitting should be smooth being in northern Saskatchewan Canada and the CapEx and OpEx should be reasonably low given the good grades and near surface resource. There is also an existing pilot plant and extraction facility in Saskatchewan the Project can use to start up a small scale production of rare earth oxides.

Appia Energy’s Alces Lake ticks all the right boxes

Appia Energy President and CEO, Tom Drivas, stated exclusively to InvestorIntel:

“Appia is currently exploring its Alces Lake project located in Saskatchewan Canada. Alces Lake has a number of surface zones with up to 85% monazite and can become one of the highest grade critical rare earth producer  in the world. Appia could supply the critical rare earth needed to the developing industry in the US and Canada.”

Appia recently announced that they have begun further exploration at the Alces Lake property. It is expected that between late July and early August Appia will commence -2,000 to 3,000 m of a drilling program to potentially expand the resource.

Closing remarks

Appia Energy trades on a market cap of just C$14 million, which is very low given their super high grades, valuable critical rare earths, and good location. The only possible explanation can be the relatively early stage of the project.

Rare earths expert Jack Lifton recently stated Appia Energy’s Alces Lake “is probably the best choice for development into a producing rare earth magnet materials’ mine in North America.”

Finally, Appia also offer investors exposure to several other projects in Canada that are highly prospective for both rare earths and uranium. Early investors in junior miners such as Appia have the potential for tremendous returns, especially if the Alces Lake project achieves funding and production. The recent surge in EV related companies, the US Senate considering rare earths Acts, and Appia’s potential for excellent near term news flow should all serve as strong catalysts for the stock in the year ahead.

“Appia’s Alces Lake project in northern Saskatchewan has world class high-grade rare earths, about a quarter of them are critical rare earths (neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, terbium). We think that Appia could be feeding the North America in terms of rare earths as you know North America is looking to have their own supply of rare earths…We have monazite on surface that is running upto 85%. We have shown it to people in the industry and they have seen most of the other projects and they are basically telling us that this is one of a kind – they haven’t seen anything like it. So Alces Lake could be one of the better or best projects out there.” States Tom Drivas, CEO, President and Director of Appia Energy Corp. (CSE: API | OTCQB: APAAF), in an interview with InvestorIntel’s Tracy Weslosky.

Tom went on to say that rare earths are used in high-tech military applications, electric vehicles. He added “We think the demand is coming back. In long term there will increased demand for rare earths.” Tom also said that Appia has both uranium and rare earths.

To access the complete interview, click here

Disclaimer: Appia Energy Corp. is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.

As the electric vehicles (EV) decade begins the need for quality rare earths in top tier locations is becoming a key focus for governments, OEMs, and electric motor manufacturers. Safer supply chains that can provide critical rare earths such as Neodymium (Nd) and Praseodymium (Pr) for electric motor magnets are becoming critically important, as we saw this week with the US Senate bill on rare earths.

Appia Energy Corp. (CSE: API | OTCQB: APAAF) is currently exploring and developing uranium and rare earth deposits in its Alces Lake property, in the Athabasca Basin area of northern Saskatchewan, Canada. They also have a promising uranium-rare earths project in Ontario, Canada.

Alces Lake Rare Earth Project

What is unique about Alces Lake is that it hosts some of the highest  rare earth elements (REE) grades in the world (2nd highest average grade as shown on the chart below). At a 4 wt% total rare earth oxide cutoff, Alces Lake average grade is 16.65 wt% Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREO).

A grade comparison of global rare earth projects

Source

Alces Lake has excellent mineralogy with high value rare earths

At Alces Lake all the REEs have simple mineralogy and are hosted 100% within ‘monazite’, which means it can be economically extracted.

Even better is that the monazite is enriched in valuable critical rare earth elements, namely Neodymium (Nd), Praseodymium (Pr), Dysprosium (Dy), and Terbium (Tb). These 4 elements account for between 23-25% of the TREO, or ~85% of the potential value at Alces Lake.

Alces Lake has high-grade outcrops and drill hole intersections comprising an average of 27% monazite. Locally up to 85% monazite is naturally pre-concentrated

Source

Appia have access to a nearby pilot plant and extraction lab in Saskatchewan, Canada

The Alces Lake Project is located close to a pilot plant and REE extraction lab in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, which is the same Provincial jurisdiction as the Project. It has a capacity of 2,000 tonnes of material per annum. This gives Appia a significant advantage by having a low start up CapEx to commence some production via a fully permitted plant and extraction facilities at the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC). Unlike competitors this means the rare earths can be produced in North America and not China.

Considering environmental regulations, especially due to safe handling and disposal radioactive materials, the Province of Saskatchewan, and SRC, are miles ahead of other global jurisdictions because they permit high-grade uranium mines in the northern parts of the province.  A country like India, or USA, has policies in-place that are detrimental to processing monazite for REEs because of the presence of Uranium/Thorium.  In Saskatchewan, and working with SRC, a lot of these problems are already resolved, as Saskatchewan is a global jurisdiction that continuously leads efforts in safely working with radioactive materials.

Appia’s projects summary and strategy

Alces Lake Rare Earths Project

Based on mineralization discovered to date, Appia would “ideally” consider a surface and near-surface operation to start production, smaller than open pit scenario, easier to permit and manage, potentially low CapEx and OpEx. Given the nearby pilot plant and extraction facility in Saskatchewan the Project will be easier to put into small scale production of rare earth oxides.

Saskatchewan Uranium Projects

Appia also holds surface rights to exploration for about 57,048 hectares (140,968 acres) in Saskatchewan. Within this area Appia has high-grade uranium deposits in the prolific Athabasca Basin area; including Loranger, Eastside and North Wollaston properties.

Elliot Lake Uranium-REE Project

This Project is located in northern Ontario. Elliot Lake has a NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate of 8.0 million lbs contained metal U3O8 and 47.7 million lbs contained metal TREE Indicated; and 47.7 million lbs contained metal U3O8 and 133.2 million lbs contained metal TREE Inferred. Indicated TREE grades are 1,647ppm, and CRE 344ppm.

The next step for Appia is to raise additional capital to fully fund aggressive property-wide exploration on Alces Lake as well as the Saskatchewan uranium properties for the next 12 to 24 months, with a view of producing a mineral resource estimate at Alces Lake.

Experts view

Rare earths expert and host of the Technology Metals Show Jack Lifton quoted to InvestorIntel:“Appia Energy’s Alces Lake deposit in Saskatchewan is probably the best choice for development into a producing rare earth magnet materials’ mine in North America.”

Closing remarks

The rare earths sector looks highly likely to follow in the foot-steps of uranium, which recently got a huge boost from the US Government. A rare earths funding bill has now been put to the US Senate with the intent to help revive the U.S. rare earths industry.

Investors can look to capitalize on the positive sentiment in the rare earths sector, especially those companies in safe countries with lower start-up CapEx.

Appia Energy offers a North American high grade rare earths project with a low CapEx pathway to production via a third party existing fully permitted plant and extraction facility in Saskatchewan. Plus Appia also has uranium projects.

Rare earths expert Jack Lifton and the man who coined the term “technology metals” is also very positive on Appia Energy, making them a top tier junior for investors to consider.

Note from the Publisher: To become a member of the Technology Metals Report, go to TechnologyMetals.com

“China supplies 85% of the rare earths to the world. The world is nervous not only because China has control on supply but also, let’s take coronavirus as an example, if work stops in China then what happens to the supply.” States Tom Drivas, CEO, President and Director of Appia Energy Corp. (CSE: API | OTCQB: APAAF), in an interview with InvestorIntel’s Peter Clausi at PDAC 2020.

Tom went on to say that the US, Canada, Australia, and other countries want to see some supply outside of China but there are only a few projects that can compete with the Chinese. Tom also spoke on Appia’s Alces Lake property which has uranium and rare earths. Tom said it is one of the best projects in North America in terms of high grade critical rare earths. The company is drilling at the property and has got some zones right on the surface with grades upto 49% rare earths.

To access the complete interview, click here

Disclaimer: Appia Energy Corp. is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.

“Appia is concentrating on the Alces Lake Project…It has world-class grades. We see grades up to 49-50% rare earths and a quarter of that is critical rare earths like neodymium and praseodymium.” States Tom Drivas, CEO, President and Director of Appia Energy Corp. (CSE: API | OTCQB: APAAF), in an interview with InvestorIntel’s Alastair Neill at PDAC 2020.

Tom went on to say that the Alces Lake Project has up to 80% monazite right on the surface making it the highest grade deposit in North America in terms of monazite and in terms of rare earths one of the highest grades in the world. The company is currently working with Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) to advance the project into the next level in terms of processing.

To access the complete interview, click here

Disclaimer: Appia Energy Corp. is an advertorial member of InvestorIntel Corp.