Global Atomic shares jump on Niger project reassurance

Global Atomic (TSX: GLO) saw its shares jump by more than 20% on Wednesday after the company reiterated that its flagship uranium project in the Republic of Niger is advancing on schedule and has strong support of the new regime.In a corporate update, the Toronto-listed miner said it had “many successful meetings” at the African Mining Indaba Conference, where several new parties indicated a willingness to participate in the final funding solution for Dasa.Global Atomic said last October that an unnamed US development bank had expressed interest in issuing a loan of $295 million that would cover 60% of the project. Around that time, the company closed a public offering totalling C$40.3 million, followed by another C$35.6 million private placement this January. These are expected to fund the Dasa project’s development until the bank funds are available.Once in production, the proposed underground mine at Dasa is expected to output 68.1 million lb. of uranium oxide (U3O8) over a 23-year period, based on a throughput of 1,000 tonnes per day.Global Atomic currently has offtake agreements for about 8.8 million lb. of yellowcake over the first seven years of production, equating to about 1.3 million lb. a year. In Wednesday’s release, the company noted that about 90% of those were sold to US utilities.Meanwhile, the plant construction at Dasa is proceeding on schedule, with earthworks nearing completion and civil works underway. The company anticipates that the plant commissioning remains on track for early 2026.Government supportGlobal Atomic also emphasized that its Dasa project has “strong support” from Niger’s new military-led government, noting that the mines minster reaffirmed to the company at last week’s Mining Indaba that his government has “no intention to nationalize” the uranium project.This represents a contrast to the setbacks other uranium miners have faced in the African nation. Last year, the Nigerien government revoked the Imourare mine permit held by France’s Orano, and later seized control of its Somair operations. Fellow Canadian miner GoviEx Uranium (TSXV: GXU) had its Madaouela project licence taken away.The project seizures came in the midst of a resurgence in the global uranium market last year, which sent prices of the nuclear fuel to the highest in 15 years.Shares of Global Atomic closed 23.4% higher at market close Wednesday. Trading at C$0.58 apiece, it remains near a 52-week low of $C0.43. The company has a market capitalization of C$152.8 million. Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com