Uranium Energy Corp.

Good day, and welcome to the Uranium Energy Corp's third quarter earnings conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star and then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Admir Adnani, Uranium Energy Corp's founder and CEO. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. A presentation accompanying today's call is available on our website. Some of the commentaries today will include forward-looking statements, and I would encourage everyone to review the cautionary language on slide two of the presentation. With that, let's begin with highlights from the quarter. This quarter was marked by several defining milestones along the continued execution of our long-term strategy to become America's first and only vertically integrated uranium company, from mining and processing through refining and conversion. We are also pleased to provide an update on our critical mineral portfolio. The commencement of production at Berkolo is a significant achievement for UEC and an important milestone for domestic uranium production in the United States. It is the largest greenfield ISR uranium project to come into production in more than a decade. It has been incredible to see our team develop the project from a grassroots discovery in 2012 to production in 2026. Let that sink in for a moment. It took 14 years to bring a new uranium mine online. That timeline highlights the scarcity and strategic value of fully permitted and operating uranium mines, not only in the United States, but globally. It also underscores a significant competitive advantage for UEC, which today controls 10 permitted uranium projects in the U.S. We are very proud of our team's efforts and accomplishments over the past 14 years to advance Bercolo. In addition, we would like to thank our landowner and stakeholders for their support. Building on the scale of our asset base, we are now operating two of our three U.S. hub and spoke ISR production platforms. We control the largest uranium resource base in the United States, which provides the foundation for decades of staged production growth. Our strong balance sheet and inventory position with no debt, provides us with the opportunity to pursue our 100% unhedged strategy, selling opportunistically and capturing industry-leading realized pricing, generating meaningful returns for shareholders. Through our wholly-owned subsidiary, United States Uranium Refining and Conversion Corp., we have created maximum alignment with the renewed bipartisan focus on energy independence and national security in the U.S., This opportunity positions UEC as the only American vertically integrated nuclear fuel supplier from mining through conversion as nuclear power expands and fuel sourcing shifts back onshore. With policy momentum building and long-term uranium supply gaps growing, we are strategically placed at the convergence of market demand and government priorities. With that overview, let's turn to operational highlights. In the third quarter, our focus remained on expanding production capacity while maintaining a low-cost production profile. As I highlighted, commencing production at Bercolo was a significant achievement. Bercolo is an important part of UEC's growth strategy, allowing us to initiate production at our second hub-and-spoke platform anchored by the Hobson Central Processing Plant. At Christensen Ranch, we received regulatory approval for expanded production, adding an additional three header houses at the end of March. With these approvals now in hand, we anticipate increased production rates in the fourth fiscal quarter. We have an additional five header houses under construction, and one additional header house has been completed and is on standby for regulatory approval. During the quarter, 32,000 pounds of uranium concentrate were produced at a total cost per pound of $54.61, including a cash cost per pound of $46.69. Cost per pound did increase during the quarter, but we view this as a temporary and largely a timing-related event. Regulatory approvals delayed production from new header houses, while costs associated with bringing those production areas online were incurred before the associated uranium production was fully reflected in quarterly volumes. Given the sensitivity of unit costs to production rates during this stage of the ramp up, Together with higher state taxes, these factors increased cost per pound during the quarter. As production rates increase from the newly commissioned header houses, we expect cost per pound to improve. Since commissioning, UEC's total cost per pound remains a leader in the domestic industry at $39.30, including a cash cost per pound of $32.40 across 276,000 pounds produced. At Lutemann, our next planned ISR uranium operation in Wyoming, we completed a 240-hole delineation drilling program. At Sweetwater, our third hub and spoke production platform, anchored by the Sweetwater Mill, we completed a 200-hole delineation drilling program in the first two planned wellfields. At Rough Rider, our development stage, conventional asset located in the Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan, core drilling is over 80% complete to support our planned pre-feasibility study. A key component of our long-term strategy is the United States Uranium Refining and Conversion Corp., or URNC. Uranium conversion remains an acute bottleneck in the Western nuclear fuel cycle with insufficient commercial UF6 capacity outside Russia and China. At the same time, a critical gap in the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle is the lack of a vertically integrated domestic supplier spanning mining, processing, refining, and conversion. That gap underscores the importance of UEC's initiative with URNC. During the quarter, we made important strides to advance the project. We achieved our first U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing milestone through receipt of a docket number. Further ongoing discussions with the U.S. Department of Energy regarding strategic nuclear fuel cycle infrastructure led us to add additional candidate locations to ensure coordination and alignment with federal priorities for restoring domestic uranium conversion capacity and strengthening America's nuclear fuel supply chain. We have now developed the final shortlist of candidate locations. Finally, we're excited to spotlight a recent update for one of our critical mineral projects, Alto Parana in Paraguay. A recent completed independent report determined that the project represents a globally significant critical minerals platform with the potential to materially contribute to the security and diversification of U.S. supply chains for titanium and vanadium. UEC's critical minerals portfolio, which includes the West Bear Cobalt Nickel Project in Canada, has been assembled through timely acquisitions over the last decade and represents additional embedded value that we will look to unlock for shareholders through ongoing initiatives. This strategy and component of our business aligns with the urgent need of re-establishing critical mineral supplies in support of national and economic security. Now turning to our financial position. We finished the quarter with $794 million in liquid assets, including $488 million in cash, along with uranium inventory and equities, and importantly, no debt. As of April 30, 2026, we held 1.4 million pounds of U-308, valued at approximately $127 million at current market prices, excluding the additional approximately 277,000 pounds of precipitated uranium and dried and drummed U-308 held at the Erigiri Central Processing Plant. UEC's balance sheet, combined with our unique unhedged strategy, provides the flexibility to be selective in the execution of sales, as demonstrated in the third quarter where we preserved our inventory. As many are familiar, our operational platform is built around scalable hub-and-spoke ISR operations in Wyoming and South Texas, supported by longer-term development projects at Sweetwater and Roughrider. Starting in Wyoming, through our ongoing construction campaigns, we continue to scale production at Christensen Ranch, which operates as the first spoke to the Erigiri CPP. As of April 30th, 2026, total cumulative production from Christensen Ranch since restart was approximately 277,000 pounds of precipitated uranium and dried and drummed U-308 at the Erigiri CPP at a total cost per pound of $39.30, including a cash cost per pound of $32.40. The company continued to develop new production areas at Christensen Ranch during the quarter. Turning to Lutemann, UEC's next planned ISR operation. The previously announced 240-hole delineation drilling program was completed. This work will assist well-fueled pattern design currently underway. Engineering of the satellite ion exchange plant progressed with the plant layout and pad design largely finalized and fabrication of the ion exchange vessels ahead of schedule. we continue to advance the remainder of the mechanical equipment specifications, which allows the company to begin to procurement process for longer lead time equipment. Turning to South Texas, we commenced production at the Burk Hollow Project on April 8th, 2026. In order to initiate the uranium recovery process, oxygen and carbon dioxide were injected into the wellfield and will provide initial feed to the ion exchange plant. The satellite ion exchange plant was commissioned and wellfield development continues in phase 1A. Now that it is online, we expect to see production from Broccolo accounted for in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2026. Looking further ahead towards our development stage assets, Sweetwater is earmarked to be a major future production center, and we are working expeditiously towards this operation as both a conventional mill and a central plant for processing ISR production. Further, a 200-hole delineation drilling program in the first two planned wellfields at Sweetwater commenced in March and was completed in early May. A second 200-hole delineation drilling program is scheduled to begin in July 2026, where the third ISR wellfield at Sweetwater is planned. Finally, the ion exchange vessels for the Sweetwater ISR circuit are under construction. In Saskatchewan, Canada, we continued advancing the Rough Rider project, one of the highest-grade undeveloped uranium projects in the world. More than 80% of the planned 35,000-meter drilling program has now been completed in support of the upcoming pre-feasibility study. Turning to URNC, in addition to the progress we have made on siting, We continue to accelerate engineering work led by Floor and have advanced into a new phase with a significant expansion of engineering and technical resources, supporting facility design, siting, licensing, and development. Through this process, we have been engaging with the U.S. Department of Energy to align with key national priorities regarding restoring nuclear fuel cycle sovereignty. As a result, additional candidate locations were added to ensure coordination and alignment with such priorities. Last but not least, Alto Parana, our project in Paraguay. As mentioned, a recently completed independent report concluded that the project represents a globally significant critical minerals platform with the potential to materially contribute to the security and diversification of U.S. supply chains for titanium and vanadium. The project's unique strategic fit includes being located in a U.S.-aligned partner country, its access to clean, low-cost power, and its ability to integrate into U.S. and allied downstream processing supply chains. We view the project as notable because it addresses structural vulnerabilities in U.S. critical minerals policy. It demonstrates our long-standing approach to identifying, acquiring, and developing assets that align with U.S. national security, advanced manufacturing, and resilient critical mineral supply chains. Finally, the broader policy backdrop remains robust. On April 23, 2026, the U.S. Department of Energy, through its Office of Nuclear Energy and the Defense Production Act Nuclear Fuel Cycle Consortium, launched the Nuclear Dominance 3x33 campaign to secure the United States nuclear fuel supply chain and support future reactor deployment. The campaign is structured around three core objectives to be achieved by 2033, including catalyzing a secure and cost-competitive domestic nuclear fuel supply chain, accelerating advanced reactor deployment, and finally leveraging the DPA framework to align workforce development, financing innovation, and industry collaboration in support of a nuclear build-out. Against that backdrop, let me briefly summarize the progress we made during the quarter. First, we successfully brought online the largest greenfield ISR project in the U.S. in over a decade. Burke Hollow's progression from discovery in 2012 to production in 2026 serves as a reminder that uranium production capacity cannot simply be created overnight, reinforcing the important strategic value of UEC's operating assets and portfolio of permitted uranium projects. Second, we have expanded capacity, enabling increased production rates as we move towards the end of the fiscal year. Lastly, we have advanced URNC to a final shortlist of candidate locations and are moving toward the next phase of engineering, siting, and licensing activities. All of this was accomplished while maintaining one of the strongest balance sheets in the sector. with significant liquidity and no debt. With the largest uranium resource base in the United States, growing production infrastructure, and a clear pathway towards expanding our role across the nuclear fuel cycle, we believe UEC is well positioned for the next phase of growth in the uranium market. Our strategic critical mineral portfolio provides for adjacent opportunities supported by similar policy priorities. Before we open the line for questions, I'd like to note that I'm joined today by Josephine Mann, our Chief Financial Officer, Scott Melby, our Executive Vice President, and Brent Berg, our Senior Vice President of U.S. Operations. With that, operator, please open the line for questions.

We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then 1 on your touchtone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star and then 2. Also, please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. Requeue to ask additional questions. Our first question comes from Brian Lee with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.