Uranium Week: Super Cycle Demand For Power

A critical source of scale, carbon-free baseload power

Both Pimco and Brookfield have articulated an expected US$7trn investment across infrastructure for the artificial intelligence build-out, including data centres.

These AI factories are large power consumers and come at a time when global electricity demand is growing at a faster clip than supply.

The combination of digitalisation, electrification and industrialisation are all powerful tailwinds for boosting electricity demand, including AI-related infrastructure.

Brookfield emphasises no one energy source can provide all future load demands, but across the suite, the alternative asset manager points to nuclear energy for its “scale and reliability”.

Global electricity demand is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 13% per annum from 2025 out to 2050. Demand is estimated to reach 20,000 TWh by 2050 from 760 TWh in 2025.

Demand growth is split across electrification at 14% of the pie, industrialisation at 12%, heating and cooling at 14%, and data centres at 17%.

Energy demand will be supported by nuclear production, identified by Brookfield as a “critical source of scale, carbon-free baseload power”.

The US government is noted for making nuclear a strategic priority, targeting the construction of ten new reactors by 2030. The government is investing a minimum of US$80bn to “kickstart” the program with Westinghouse (51% owned by Brookfield since 2017; Cameco owns 49%).

The asset manager believes hundreds of gigawatts of new nuclear capacity will need to come on stream.

Via its Westinghouse exposure, a “step change in nuclear reactor build-out” is occurring, which is well above anything seen this century.

U308 spot on the rise

Against a positive macro backdrop for nuclear energy, industry consultants TradeTech report the latest U308 spot price rose US$0.40/lb last week to US$85.90/lb.

Five transactions were conducted for a total of 500klbs of U308, with 300klbs transacted on Friday’s Juneteenth holiday in the US.

TradeTech suggests a willingness on the part of sellers to come to market, even against a backdrop of geopolitical rumblings in the latter part of the week.

The U308 spot price rose 0.5% last week to reach a 4.8% gain year-to-date and a rise of 10.8% on the year prior.

As indicated by TradeTech’s long-term U308 price indicator at US$95/lb as at May 31, there has been an ongoing willingness for utilities to secure supply.

At US$95/lb, this is the highest level since 2007.

The TradeTech mid-term price indicator stands at US$87/lb.

DevEx’s two pronged growth strategy 

Bell Potter initiated coverage of DevEx Resources ((DEV)), a Perth-based U308 group focused on the Alligator Rivers Uranium Province (ARUP) in the north-western area of Australia’s Northern Territory McArthur Basin.

The broker believes management will focus on an M&A-style growth strategy by targeting late-stage exploration and non-core assets within existing mining companies.

Potential hard-rock projects with established metallurgical processing routes, located in Australia or the Americas, are the target.

The geology in the McArthur Basin appears similar to the Athabasca Basin, which is home to some of the world’s biggest and highest-grade U308 deposits.

Given the McArthur Basin has received considerably less exploration spending than Athabasca, the analyst, by drawing the analogy, suggests there are potential major discoveries still to be made.

DevEx recently consolidated 9,200 square kilometres of exploration licences and applications in ARUP via the acquisition of holdings from Alligator Energy ((AGE)) and Rio Tinto ((RIO)).

The developer is starting a 17,000m drill program across the Nabarlek and Murphy West prospects.

As of March 31, cash on hand stood at $36.7m with no debt and, following the Alligator tenement acquisition, pro forma cash is expected to be $29m. DevEx also has a 21.6% shareholding in Lachlan Star ((LSA)), worth around $11m.

Bell Potter anticipates management will invest around -$20m through to the end of 2027 on its U308 exploration program. The last equity raising was in December 2025 at 14.5c per share via a $32m placement and a $6.9m share purchase plan.

The management team has a wealth of experience, Bell Potter notes, with Chairman Tim Goyder, a 15.75% shareholder, having been involved with Liontown Resources ((LTR)), Minerals 260 ((MI6)), and Chalice Mining ((CHN)).

Managing Director Marnie Finlayson was most recently Managing Director of Rio’s battery materials division and has more than 17 years of experience.

The management team’s goal is to create a 10Mlb p.a. producer within a decade.

The stock has received a Speculative Buy rating alongside a 41c target.

Bell Potter rates Alligator Energy as a Speculative Buy with a 7c target price.

Short positions on the ASX

Lotus Resources ((LOT)) remained the second most shorted stock at 22.99%, up slightly from 22.56% a week earlier, as at June 16, according to the latest ASIC data.

The increase, albeit only slight, comes after the shares rallied almost 27% last week.

Boss Energy ((BOE)) stands in fourth position at 14.36%, down slightly from 14.72% the prior week, and Paladin Energy ((PDN)) in thirteenth position at 10.73%, down from 11.06%.

Peninsula Energy ((PEN)) has a 0.7% short interest, down from 0.78% a week earlier, with the shares rising to 52c from 35c. They have subsequently retreated back to 47c.

For more weekly U308 updates from FNArena, see:

https://fnarena.com/index.php/2026/06/16/uranium-week-bannermans-etango-in-focus/

https://fnarena.com/index.php/2026/06/02/uranium-week-u308-spot-price-slips-in-may/

https://fnarena.com/index.php/2026/05/26/uranium-week-structural-bull-cycle-intact/

https://fnarena.com/index.php/2026/05/19/uranium-week-paladin-trips-over-higher-costs/

https://fnarena.com/index.php/2026/05/12/uranium-week-shorts-surge-in-u308-stocks/