U92 Energy’s flagship asset is the Kurupung uranium project in Guyana’s Cuyuni-Mazaruni region. Kurupung has about 129,000 metres of historical drilling (just over 40,000m by Cogema and about 88,000m by U3O8 Corp), which stopped work after Fukushima. The historical estimate is 10.6M lb indicated at 0.072% U3O8 plus 10M lb inferred, for 20.6M lb at a 0.03% cut-off, across four Aricheng deposits. At the originally recommended 0.05% cut-off it falls to about 16M lb. None of it is U92’s own drilling. In this interview, I asked about the history of the asset, the current state of the permits, and their plans for the future.
TL;DR
This is a permitting story for now. Guyana’s EPA exempted the 5,000m drill program from a full EIA in August, but that decision is under formal appeal. The EPA’s executive director has said nothing moves until the Environmental Assessment Board rules. Adam thinks a full EIA would be unusual for exploration and could be done fairly quickly if ordered. He says the ground is Crown land with no inhabitants and no known protected areas, and that local communities have worked on the project before. If drilling happens, the goal is a pit-constrained update showing more than 35M lb, enough in his view for a 10-year mine at about 3.5M lb a year. He compares that to Bannerman’s Etango and Deep Yellow’s Tumas in Namibia. He argues Kurupung’s grade is two and a half to three times theirs.
What have they done for shareholders lately?
So far the work has gone into groundwork rather than drilling. U92 bought the full historical dataset from Beaconsfield Ventures for roughly half a million dollars in shares, at arm’s length. It had WGM re-sample old core, and Adam says those check assays matched the originals. The company also built camp, fuel storage and access roads and prepared drill pads. Two drill contracts are signed. The Major Drilling rig is ready to mobilize from nearby Aris Mining. The Orbit Garant rig frees up from G Mining around year end. U92 paid a refundable deposit, and Adam says there is no standby cost for now. I asked about alignment. Adam owns just under 4M shares at an average of about 20 cents, and reporting insiders hold roughly 22%. He says five phone calls could reach about 50M of the roughly 66M shares out. Adam earns C$15,000 a month and directors C$2,000. There are no bonuses, only options. Change of control triggers up to 24 months of contract runoff, with no lump-sum payouts.
How much money do they have and what are they spending it on?
U92 has about C$5M in the bank. Drilling now costs about US$155 a metre all-in, roughly C$200, so phase one is around C$1M. Adam puts G&A at about C$35,000 to C$40,000 a month, and under C$50,000 including legal. There is no set marketing budget. The last raise was in August: about C$1.5M at 40 cents with a half warrant at 65 cents for four years. It was done by short-form prospectus, so that paper was free trading from day one. Warrants and options make up about 30.5% of the fully diluted count. Adam says C$5M won’t reach a first economic study. His estimate is about C$20M more, with roughly C$10M of that for drilling to grow the resource toward 50M lb. He expects to raise after phase one and hopes to do it at higher prices. He says other funding options could open up once drill results are in.
Upcoming catalysts
The first event to watch is the Environmental Assessment Board ruling on the appeal, since drilling can’t start without it. After that comes the 5,000 m phase one, with assays to follow. At Aricheng South, drilling will go deeper and to the west, because historical holes average only 130 m and the deepest is about 200 m. At Accori North C, Adam thinks about eight more holes could bring it in as a fifth deposit. Phase two would test other previously drilled targets. Adam called Q3 2027 still reasonable for an updated pit-constrained resource. It will use a lower cut-off of about 0.02% and roughly US$90 uranium, versus US$55 in the historical work. Alongside that, he mentioned scanning the core with Fleet Space, ore sorting, metallurgy (historical recoveries were in the mid-80s), and baseline environmental work toward an EIA, PEA and feasibility.
Risks
The big one is permitting. U92 would be the first uranium project in Guyana, so there is no local precedent, and the timing is out of the company’s hands. The rig can’t stand by forever, and Adam called that a commercial discussion. The 20.6M lb figure is historical and not current, and it only gets there using the lower cut-off. In 2017, U3O8 Corp estimated about US$40/lb cash cost and said it needed US$70 uranium. Adjusted for official inflation, that becomes roughly US$60 and US$96. Adam pointed instead to Bannerman’s US$35.80 and Deep Yellow’s US$38.60 cash costs and argued higher grade means a smaller plant. Some past targets came up empty, including Wild Cow, where five holes for 790 m had radioactivity but no uranium. Aricheng North has the best grade but narrow widths that lose pounds in a pit. The vendor holds a 2% royalty, with 1% buyable back, and can match market price on up to 50% of offtake. Director Otto Reich was a minority holder in the vendor. The QP, Dr. Richard Spencer, ran the historical program, which Adam sees as an advantage, not a bias risk.
U92 Energy CEO Interview
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