Impact: Neutral to Slightly Positive
enCore Energy has announced results of a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) and a resource update for its 100%-owned combined Juan Tafoya and Marquez projects located in the Grants uranium district in New Mexico. This is a very realistic PEA that shows that this combined project will require higher uranium prices as it includes both a conventional underground mine and on-site conventional mill. Economics may improve should the project be amenable to in-situ recovery (ISR) or if ore is shipped to a third-party mill such as White Mesa. This PEA and resource update does show the future potential of these projects, but we would say this is likely a tertiary project for EU. Its key assets are ISR-amenable and include the Rosita and Kingsville Dome ISR plants in South Texas (1.6M lb/yr capacity) and the Crownpoint/Hosta Butte ISR projects in New Mexico that hosts 32.7M lb U3O8.
