Global Uranium’s Maybell resource joins US ranks

[Ben Graham]

Global Uranium and Enrichment’s (ASX: GUE) estimate for the Maybell project in Colorado makes it the second largest initial hard rock uranium resource in the Southwest United States and in a historic mining district for the nuclear metal.

The JORC resource outlines 3.2 million inferred tonnes grading 849 parts per million (ppm) uranium oxide (U₃O₈) for about 6 million lb. U₃O₈, Global reported Wednesday.

“[The resource] confirms that the Maybell Uranium project remains a substantial uranium district in the United States,” managing director Andrew Ferrier said in a release. “These results not only validate our exploration target but also highlight the significant potential to substantially increase upon this maiden resource.”

The Maybell resource comes as various tailwinds continue to push the uranium sector in the US, including government support for nuclear energy and uranium mining, increasing demand for nuclear from industry, and rising production from domestic producers.  

Global’s resource is based on a 25-hole, 3,200-meter drill program done last year. It confirms high-grade mineralization in the sands of the productive Browns Park Formation. The district before yielded about 5.3 million lb. U₃O₈ at an average grade of 1,300 ppm.

Global Uranium’s exploration target at Maybell ranges between 4.3 million lb. and 13.3 million lb. U₃O₈, at grades between 587 ppm and 1,137 ppm, derived from a historic database of more than 3,000 drill holes.

Company shares closed A$0.01 or 1.43% lower in Sydney on Wednesday, giving it a market capitalization of A$31.4 million.

Hard rock peers

Maybell stands out as the second-largest initial uranium resource in the Southwest, behind Energy Fuels’ (TSX: EFR; NYSE-A: UUUU) Bullfrog project in Utah, which hosts 10.5 million lb. U₃O_8. and above that company’s La Sal complex with 4.2 million lb. U₃O₈.

By grade, Maybell is in third place, behind Pinyon Plain with 8,100 U₃O₈ ppm and Bullfrog with 3,700 ppm U₃O_8, but above La Sal with 400 ppm U₃O_8.

Maybell is also the first initial uranium resource in Colorado this year, one of the few JORC-compliant uranium resources in the Southwest and among the latest initial uranium resources in the region in the past few years.

Global Uranium also holds other North American uranium assets, notably its Tallahassee project, which hosts a JORC resource of 44.8 million tonnes at 530 ppm U₃O₈ for 52.2 million lb. U₃O₈, enhancing the company’s scale and strategic diversification.