Dual-listed GoviEx Uranium has closed the first tranche of a fully subscribed nonbrokered private placement to raise gross proceeds of about C$5-million.

“The [uranium oxide] spot price is up over 30% from the beginning of this year and we are delighted by the strong support received from our lead institutional investor, as well as other long-term shareholders seeking exposure to our quality pipeline of mineral projects,” says GoviEx executive chairperson Govind Friedland.

“We believe we are at a key turning point in the uranium market and, with this equity raise and support from a number of astute institutions, including a single lead investor taking the majority of the placement, the company will be well funded to achieve our corporate objectives for the year.

"The first half of 2020 has brought with it major challenges and GoviEx has responded to them well. Despite the various Covid-19 restrictions around the globe, the company continues to advance its projects,” he adds.

He notes that global demand for uranium remains strong.

New reactor construction is ongoing and Covid-19-related supply restrictions, on top of existing production constraints from the major producers, have put pressure on the uranium spot price to the upside, Friedland points out.

Accordingly, the updated prefeasibility study for the company's Madaouela project, in Niger, continues to be advanced, with the team focusing on improvements to the planned operations and process design to potentially reduce capital and operating expenses and improve resulting project economics.

“Although Covid-19 has slightly impacted the timing for completion of the study, we remain confident to be able to announce results later this year,” says Friedland.

FALEA PROJECT UPDATE

Meanwhile, a recent gold geochemical sampling programme on the company’s Falea and Madini exploration licences, which form part of the Falea uranium/silver/copper project, in Mali, has highlighted significant gold in soils anomalies that show potential extensions of the Sirabaya West and the Siribaya-Bambadinka gold trends through, and potentially intersecting within, the Falea project.

The company believes these preliminary results, when combined with the known uranium/silver/copper mineralisation of the Falea project mineral resources, have significantly raised the exploration potential of these licences.

A significant portion of this current financing is anticipated to be allocated to testing this precious metal potential.