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This story features LOTUS RESOURCES LIMITED, and other companies.
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The company is included in ASX300 and ALL-ORDS
Uranium equities weakened as commodity markets softened and Lotus Resources' restart challenges deepened.
- Kayelekera on pause as sulphuric acid shortages bite
- Paladin's high-grade discovery
- U308 term market more buoyant than spot
By Danielle Ecuyer
Lotus Resources scrambling for funding options
The travails of having portfolio exposure to U308 production were articulated by the Ord Minnett analyst this week, asserting Lotus Resources ((LOT)) has been a “dreadful investment”.
Arguably, post two equity raisings, $65m in September 2025 and $76m in February 2026, plus a $5m share purchase plan, and the collapse in the stock price to 66c from a high of $3.20 at the end of January, one can only concur with the broker.
The restart of Kayelekera has proven to be anything but smooth sailing, with management as recently as early May asserting confidence in the restart, despite multiple setbacks.
Macquarie highlighted the disappointments had stemmed not from the resource but from the ability to run the processing plant effectively.
Problems with the acid plant have been exacerbated by acid and diesel supply challenges from the Middle East.
Macquarie had pointed out earlier Lotus would be one of the most exposed to these risks.
That observation proved correct, with management at the end of last week announcing a pause at the Kayelekera mine due to a lack of sulphuric acid.
Commissioning problems with the acid plant have collided with third-party supply challenges from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to impose a double whammy in negative development for the company.
While Ord Minnett cannot hide its dismay around Lotus, the broker does point out that, prior to the latest mine outage, U308 production had been trending in the right direction.
First shipments have now been delayed until September. Management flagged it will be unable to meet the supply offtake obligations of 1Mlb in 2H2026 and flagged a cost burden from having to purchase product on the spot market of -US$10m.
Even after raising over $140m in equity, the U308 producer’s cash is sitting at US$26m, with first contractual receipts fading into late 2026.
Ord Minnett believes the company needs more funding but sees investors as unlikely willing participants, having experienced the substantial erosion in the share price.
Management is looking at alternative funding options. The estimated cash flow gap for a delay in revenue is around -US$150m, up from -US$100m previously.
Against this backdrop, short interest looms large on the share register at 22.81%, according to the latest ASIC-sourced data as at June 22.
Shorts have lifted from 18.53%, up 4.28 percentage points over the last month. Lotus is the second most shorted on the ASX after an Australian dollar medium-term bond issued by the Asian Development Bank.
Ord Minnett has a Hold rating and unchanged $1 target price but stresses a share price re-rating is a way off and needs U308 deliveries to re-start.
Lotus shares have been in a voluntary suspension since June 22, following a June 18 trading halt preceding the prior update on Kayelekera.
Patterson Lake South is the key for Paladin Energy
Paladin Energy ((PDN)), in contrast, served up some good news for investors last week.
The U308 explorer and producer confirmed a new high-grade uranium discovery (Atlas) at its Patterson Lake South project in Saskatchewan, Canada.
Seven of the eight drill holes found economic-grade U308, with the best result noted as 8.0m at 1.75% U308, including high-grade ore of 3.0m at 4.25%.
RBC Capital believes investors need to assess the Atlas early grades against a backdrop of consistent discoveries in the southwest Athabasca Basin, stating “initial drilling results almost always understate true deposit quality”.
The broker has a Sector Perform rating on the stock with a $9.70 target.
Ord Minnett is equally positive on the discovery and includes a conceptual satellite resource of around 0.5Mtat 1.6% U308, or around 18Mlbs, in its earnings model. Its forecast net asset value rises 25c per share to $3.50.
The stock is upgraded to Hold from Sell due to the sell-off in the share price while retaining a $9.50 target price. To date, Paladin remains the most successful of ASX-listed U308 producers, albeit the ramp-up in Langer Heinrich has yet to show earnings and remains low grade.
Ord Minnett believes Paladin’s potential upside comes from its high-grade Patterson Lake South project, noting the regulatory process in Canada is slow.
Production is not expected to start until 2032, with a three-year construction period.
U308 spot transactions on the rise
Industry consultant TradeTech registered nine U308 spot transactions last week for a total of 600klbs, up from 500klbs transacted in the week prior.
The spot market was notably quiet over Monday and Tuesday, with activity picking up on Wednesday with one transaction after the close for 50klbs for delivery at ConverDyn’s US facility at US$85.95/lb.
Three transactions were conducted on Thursday, as well as one after the close, while four transactions were concluded on Friday. TradeTech notes the spot price slipped by -US$0.90/lb to US$85/lb but remains up 3.7% year-to-date and 8.1% on a year ago.
The TradeTech Mid-term price indicator stands at US$87/lb and the Long-term price indicator at US$95/lb.
The consultant points out ongoing steady demand in the U308 term markets, with both US and non-US utilities seeking U308 supply for both the near term and beyond the mid-2030s.
In contrast, the U308 spot market has been experiencing relatively “subdued” activity.
In other updates, US U308 production doubled in 2025 from 2024 to 1.38mlbs from 677klbs, as reported by the US Energy Information Administration.
This is the highest production since 2017, with a weighted average price of US$68.45/lb, a rise of US$0.62/lb on 2024.
The US Administration also announced it is providing US$17.5bn to accelerate the development of 10 new large nuclear reactors in the US to meet surging power demand from data centres.
Selling across U308 share prices was evident last week, as investors generally moved to a risk-off position resulting in lower metals prices and a stronger US dollar.
The Global X Uranium ETF (URA) fell to Friday’s close of US$43.59 from over US$47 at the start of the week, down over -7%.
Short interests
Boss Energy ((BOE)) is the fourth most shorted stock on the ASX at 13.73%, down from 14.48% in the previous week.
Paladin Energy has an 11.35% short interest, up from 10.77% in the prior week, and stands in tenth position overall.
Deep Yellow’s ((DYL)) short interest rose 2.3 percentage points to 8.82%.
All data according to ASIC as per June 22.
For more reading check out FNArena’s Weekly Uranium updates:
https://fnarena.com/index.php/2026/06/23/uranium-week-super-cycle-demand-for-power/
https://fnarena.com/index.php/2026/06/16/uranium-week-bannermans-etango-in-focus/
Uranium companies listed on the ASX:
| ASX CODE | DATE | LAST PRICE | WEEKLY % MOVE | 52WK HIGH | 52WK LOW | P/E | CONSENSUS TARGET | UPSIDE/DOWNSIDE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1AE | 26/06/2026 | 0.0600 | 0.00% | $0.16 | $0.05 | |||
| AEE | 26/06/2026 | 0.1000 |  – 4.76% | $0.28 | $0.10 | |||
| AEU | 26/06/2026 | 0.4200 | -13.40% | $0.75 | $0.22 | |||
| AGE | 26/06/2026 | 0.0500 |  23.81% | $0.06 | $0.02 | $0.070 | 40.0% | |
| AKN | 26/06/2026 | 0.0200 | – 4.76% | $0.03 | $0.01 | |||
| ASN | 26/06/2026 | 0.0400 | -10.42% | $0.13 | $0.04 | |||
| BKY | 26/06/2026 | 0.4900 | -10.91% | $0.70 | $0.37 | |||
| BMN | 26/06/2026 | 3.1300 | – 8.77% | $5.25 | $2.23 | $4.917 | 57.1% | |
| BOE | 26/06/2026 | 1.0400 | -12.55% | $4.72 | $1.00 | 14.8 | $1.571 | 51.1% |
| BSN | 26/06/2026 | 0.0300 | – 5.88% | $0.08 | $0.02 | |||
| C29 | 26/06/2026 | 0.0200 | – 8.00% | $0.04 | $0.01 | |||
| CXO | 26/06/2026 | 0.2400 | -15.00% | $0.39 | $0.09 | $0.300 | 25.0% | |
| CXU | 26/06/2026 | 0.1000 | – 8.57% | $0.14 | $0.01 | |||
| DEV | 26/06/2026 | 0.2400 | -13.46% | $0.33 | $0.07 | $0.410 | 70.8% | |
| DYL | 26/06/2026 | 1.4100 | – 9.55% | $2.97 | $1.30 | -51.7 | $2.202 | 56.2% |
| EL8 | 26/06/2026 | 0.2300 | -10.20% | $0.50 | $0.22 | |||
| HAR | 26/06/2026 | 0.0900 | -16.52% | $0.25 | $0.07 | |||
| I88 | 26/06/2026 | 0.1100 | – 8.00% | $0.76 | $0.09 | |||
| KOB | 26/06/2026 | 0.0300 | -12.90% | $0.09 | $0.03 | |||
| LAM | 26/06/2026 | 0.6500 | – 2.99% | $0.93 | $0.56 | |||
| LOT | 26/06/2026 | 0.6600 | 0.00% | $3.20 | $0.49 | $2.000 | 203.0% | |
| MEU | 26/06/2026 | 0.0800 | – 4.82% | $0.19 | $0.04 | |||
| NXG | 26/06/2026 | 14.0200 | – 6.51% | $20.47 | $9.66 | -109.5 | $20.367 | 45.3% |
| ORP | 26/06/2026 | 0.0900 | 6.02% | $0.11 | $0.03 | |||
| PDN | 26/06/2026 | 9.4400 | – 4.88% | $15.10 | $6.03 | -186.9 | $13.193 | 39.8% |
| PEN | 26/06/2026 | 0.3700 | -22.58% | $1.08 | $0.28 | |||
| SLX | 26/06/2026 | 5.2700 | – 5.79% | $10.85 | $3.45 | |||
| TOE | 26/06/2026 | 0.5500 | 0.00% | $0.63 | $0.17 | |||
| WCN | 26/06/2026 | 0.0200 | -16.67% | $0.03 | $0.01 |
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CHARTS
For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: BOE - BOSS ENERGY LIMITED
For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: DYL - DEEP YELLOW LIMITED
For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: LOT - LOTUS RESOURCES LIMITED
For more info SHARE ANALYSIS: PDN - PALADIN ENERGY LIMITED