GTR - US uranium scoping study due this quarter
Our US uranium Investment GTI Energy (ASX: GTR) just put out an update on it’s ISR uranium project in Wyoming, USA.
GTR confirmed that all of the key inputs for it’s upcoming scoping study had been completed.
The final financial modelling stages were now being completed.
GTR IS working toward a scoping study for its most advanced project - Lo Herma.
Lo Herma is where GTR holds the majority of its resources (8.57m lbs) and it's the project that is closest to processing infrastructure.
(GTR, across its three projects has a 10.23m lb uranium JORC resource)
GTR’s scoping study is due THIS QUARTER…
One thing that stood out to us from today’s announcement was that GTR was considering two different scenario’s when doing its modelling:
- A standalone processing plant for it’s project AND
- A central processing facility which GTR can feed it’s uranium into.
This is important because GTR’s Lo Herma sits ~16km away from Cameco’s Smith Ranch-Highland plant (the USA’s biggest ISR uranium production facility).
Proximity to existing infrastructure is important because it reduces the amount of capital required to get a project into production.
Hypothetically, GTR could just send its uranium off to Cameco’s facility for toll treating without the need to develop a whole new processing plant.
It could also just produce pre-cursor materials that someone like a Cameco buys from GTR.
We should know more about which of these options is most feasible when the scoping study comes out next quarter.
Corporate activity coming into Wyoming…
A few weeks back one of our other Portfolio companies Global Uranium and Enrichment (ASX: GUE) announced it’s entry into permits next door to GTR.
GUE came into Wyoming with it’s JV partner, NASDAQ listed Snow Lake Resources on a 50–50 basis.
That transaction was ~US$22.5M for 100% of the project which has a 24.4 – 51.3 Mlbs uranium exploration target.
Based on that price paid, GTR looks interest at it’s current ~A$9M market cap.
Especially considering it already has a JORC resource and is planning drill programs to increase the resources.
We also noticed GUE and it’s JV partner have already started picking up more ground in the area.
Here is where GTR’s assets sit relative to GUE/Snow Lake, Uranium Energy Corporation and Cameco:
Overall, we think there is a lot more to play out in Wyoming, especially now with Trump in office looking to increase mineral production in the USA.
Why we like the type of uranium GTR is going for - ISR uranium
GTR’s projects are all prospective for ISR uranium.
ISR stands for In Situ Recoverable... uranium, also called Insitu Leach (ISL) mining
ISR uranium projects have:
- among the lowest cost from both a CAPEX and OPEX perspective, AND;
- far lower environmental impact versus conventional hard rock mining.
ISR projects are very different to the standard method of mining which is to dig a large hole in the ground and extract minerals/metals.
Instead ISR projects are more similar to oil & gas projects - they involve pumping acid solution into the ground where the uranium resource is, dissolving the resource and then pumping it back up to surface to be processed.
We think the cost & environmental advantages is what makes ISR projects marginally more attractive then most hard rock assets…
(Source)
Below is a visual representation of the differences (left is a conventional hard rock uranium mine and on the right an ISR mine).
The visual differences between the two types of mining are enough to understand where these cost advantages come from.
Particularly with regards to the cost of extracting the waste rock material from conventional uranium mining before the miner can get to the valuable uranium.
Below is a chart showing the CAPEX differences between ISR and conventional mines:
(Source)
It's also no surprise to us that the world’s biggest producer of uranium (Kazakhstan) is also operating mostly ISR mines.
(Source)
What’s next for GTR?
Scoping study for Lo Herma project (Q2-2025) 🔄
The Lo Herma scoping study should give us a first look at overall project economics for GTR’s projects.
We are especially interested in seeing if there are major economic advantages to being so close to a permitted processing facility (the one owned by Cameco ~16km away).
