ASX Resources Quarterly Wrap: Uranium plays making headway
Enthusiasm for ASX uranium stocks have been revived during a strong reporting season
Boss and Paladin enjoyed big share price runs on their quarterly reports
We survey quarterly reports to bring you highlights from up and comers Elevate Uranium, Aura Energy, Greenvale Energy and Core Energy Minerals
Excitement has returned to the uranium market in recent days, with results from the leading ASX stocks in the market exciting investors.
Heavily shorted after a big drop in uranium spot prices, Boss Energy (ASX:BOE) and Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) – the latter of which has seen major challenges ramping up its Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia – both surged and sent investors flooding into other ASX stocks after posting strong quarterly results.
Boss Energy is on track to hit guidance of 850,000lb at its Honeymoon mine in South Australia this financial year after producing ~295,000lb in the March quarter, beating analyst estimates.
It's also shown prices for producers could be better than subdued spot prices (US$64.50/lb) indicate, pulling in an average sale price of US$84/lb for the quarter – above term pricing of US$80/lb.
Boss is up ~27% YTD. Paladin is down ~25% YTD, but up over 35% in the past five trading days.
But we're interested at the speculative end of the market, and their recent wins have created a sense of enthusiasm for other ASX uranium stocks. A number have updated the market on the actions they're taking towards becoming producers during final days of the ASX's reporting season.
We've picked out some highlights from across the market, starting with Namibian developer Elevate.
Elevate Uranium (ASX:EL8)
During the March 2025 quarter, Elevate Uranium continued to make strong progress on the design and construction of the containerised U-pgrade demonstration plant that will beneficiate ore from its Koppies uranium project in Namibia.
The company noted that work is on schedule and the work is expected to be completed by the end of H1 2025.
U-pgrade can remove gangue waste material and concentrate uranium mineral into a low mass, high grade concentrate before leaching while the demonstration plant is designed to confirm, at a scalable size and operating on a continuous basis.
Results from the demonstration plant will be used to inform the design of a full-scale commercial U-pgrade plant.
It also continued to progress greenfields exploration drilling at the Namib IV tenement within its Koppies project with the goal of defining a maiden uranium resource in 2025.
Additional resources defined at Namib IV will add to the total Koppies resource base and be used to extend the potential life of mine or allow an increased production rate.
EL8 completed 308 holes totalling 8639m during the quarter at the project.
Additionally, the company carried out drilling testing exploration targets outside of the known resource area at its Marenica uranium project with 204 holes totalling 6477m completed during the March 2025 quarter.
The program is expected to o be completed early in the June Quarter and has produced some encouraging results that will be followed up in the future.
It also appointed former Centerra Gold president and chief executive officer Scott Perry as its chairman replacing Andrew Bantock who retired after seven years in that role.
Perry had successfully transformed from a single-asset operation into a C$3 billion intermediate producer with multiple operations and projects across Canada, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey.
Separately, the company reported that resources at its 20.8% owned Bigrlyi joint venture project in the Northern Territory increased by 12% 23.9Mlb U3O8 following the inclusion of their 2024 drill results.
$110m capped Elevate's shares have lifted close to 40% in the past five trading days.
Aura Energy (ASX:AEE)
During the March 2025 quarter, Aura Energy made significant strides in the development of its flagship Tiris uranium project in Mauritania.
The company's contracted hydrogeological specialists Knight Piésold Consulting defined a ground water supply of 74L/s, 57% in excess of the project's water requirements with sufficient groundwater expected for the project's life.
It also made significant progress with potential financiers and strategic partners to secure funding for Tiris.
Aura and its advisors Orimco and Macquarie Bank continue to actively pursue these funding opportunities though they remain non-binding at this stage.
The proposed 2Mlb per annum development will be the first yellowcake producer in the north-west African jurisdiction.
Capex is estimated at US$230m while all in sustaining cost is expected to be US$35.7/lb.
This will generate NPV of US$499m and IRR of 39% after tax with a payback period of just 2.25 years at a price of US$80/lb.
Aura shares have run close to 20% higher in the past week.
A major win for Greenvale Energy during the March 2025 quarter was its acquisition of the 90km2 Oasis uranium project in QLD, which added a new high-potential asset to its existing uranium portfolio.
Oasis was originally discovered in the 1970s during a uranium exploration push by international companies such as Esso before Glengarry Resources came along and validated the historic Esso data to confirm continuous high-grade mineralisation with intercepts up to 1m at 0.72% U3O8 (15.8lb/t).
It covers about 90km of fault bound alkaline intrusive and metamorphic terrane and contains eight additional high-priority targets which have never been drill tested.
Ground-based exploration activities will kick off at the project during the June 2025 quarter as soon as weather conditions permit.
This will include initial geological field prospecting, upgrading the existing resource to JORC compliance, follow-up geophysical and geochemical surveys, and drill testing.
During the quarter, the company raised $1.8m through a share placement to sophisticated investors to fast-track maiden exploration at Oasis along with further testing at its Alpha Torbanite project.
It also sold its 75% interest in EP145 in the Amadeus Basin, Northern Territory, to Mosman Oil and Gas for $250,000.
Core Energy ramped up activity across its growing portfolio of uranium explorations assets during the quarter, marked by the lodgement of regulatory approvals for maiden drilling at the Cummins project in South Australia.
The company hopes to receive the final drilling approvals in the coming week, allowing it to kick off drilling in this current quarter.
The acquisitions of both the Cummins and Harris Greenstone assets, as well as the granting of the Brooker project, unlocked a new chapter in the company's evolution.
CR3 executive director Tony Greenaway said this leaves the company well-positioned in one of the world's premier uranium jurisdictions with over 2,800km² of highly prospective ground.
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The Canberra Times has contacted a spokesperson for comment. A parliamentary inquiry into the ratification of the AUKUS treaty last year heard that a provision allowing the US and the UK to withdraw with a year's notice could have "significant implications" for Australia. The inquiry heard there were no specified terms in the treaty or in agreement documents to suggest Australia would have full ownership of the second-hand US-built boats, which are due to be sold and delivered by 2032. Opposition defence spokesman Angus Taylor said he was concerned about the future of AUKUS and called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to meet with Donald Trump to secure its terms. "We'll continue to make the case for AUKUS, and we must. It is a good arrangement and the right arrangement to ensure we get peace in our region through deterrence," Mr Taylor said on Friday. Mr Albanese is expected to hold his first in-person meeting with the US president on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada next week, which has yet to be confirmed. The potential meeting comes after Labor rebuffed US Defence Secretary Peter Hegseth's call for Australia to increase its military spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP from the current level of just over 2 per cent. ACT senator David Pocock and an alliance of parliamentary crossbenchers are calling on the Albanese government to urgently establish a formal inquiry into the AUKUS submarine deal. It comes after revelations the Trump administration will review the terms of the trilateral pact to ensure it meets "American First criteria", which has sparked doubts about the future of the landmark deal. Eight crossbench MPs wrote to Defence Minister Richard Marles on Friday, raising concerns about the $368 billion deal that could see Australia buy at least three Virginia-class nuclear-attack submarines from the US by the 2030s. The MPs said there has been insufficient parliamentary oversight of the pact and said Australians wanted to know more about its strategic and financial implications. "With the UK and now the US reviewing AUKUS, Australia is now the only country not actively considering whether the agreement in its current form best serves our national interest," Senator Pocok said in a statement. "Given the scale and cost of this deal, a transparent review is not just sensible; it's overdue." Australia is investing billions of dollars to support the US's submarine production base under AUKUS, which is estimated to be 20 years behind schedule. Independent MP Allegra Spender said there needed to be an open discussion about the "very clear risk" that the US will not be able to guarantee the transfer of the boats without diminishing its naval capabilities. "AUKUS is the centrepiece of our defence and foreign policy strategy, but it's been adopted by the major parties with very poor public engagement," Ms Spender said. "AUKUS will shape Australia's future for decades with enormous implications both financially, economically, and strategically, but in discussions at the community level, there are consistent questions and concerns that have not been addressed." Defence Minister Richard Marles has said he remains confident the deal will go ahead and that the US review was a "perfectly natural" thing for a new administration to do. "We've always known that increasing the production and sustainment rate in the United States is a challenge, but we're confident that we can meet that challenge," Mr Marles said on Friday. The Canberra Times has contacted a spokesperson for comment. A parliamentary inquiry into the ratification of the AUKUS treaty last year heard that a provision allowing the US and the UK to withdraw with a year's notice could have "significant implications" for Australia. The inquiry heard there were no specified terms in the treaty or in agreement documents to suggest Australia would have full ownership of the second-hand US-built boats, which are due to be sold and delivered by 2032. Opposition defence spokesman Angus Taylor said he was concerned about the future of AUKUS and called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to meet with Donald Trump to secure its terms. "We'll continue to make the case for AUKUS, and we must. It is a good arrangement and the right arrangement to ensure we get peace in our region through deterrence," Mr Taylor said on Friday. Mr Albanese is expected to hold his first in-person meeting with the US president on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada next week, which has yet to be confirmed. The potential meeting comes after Labor rebuffed US Defence Secretary Peter Hegseth's call for Australia to increase its military spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP from the current level of just over 2 per cent.
