Earnings call transcript: NexGen Energy Q2 2025 reveals uranium potential

NexGen Energy Ltd (NXE), a uranium exploration company with a market capitalization of $3.96 billion, reported its second-quarter earnings for 2025, showcasing significant strides in uranium exploration and development. The company posted an earnings per share (EPS) of -$0.1018, which fell short of the forecasted -$0.0232, marking a surprise of 338.79%. Despite the earnings miss, NexGen’s stock saw a slight pre-market uptick of 1.13%, trading at $7.19, following a previous close of $7.11. According to InvestingPro analysis, the stock appears slightly overvalued at current levels. The company’s robust cash position and strategic advancements in uranium exploration were key highlights of the earnings call.

Key Takeaways

• NexGen’s EPS missed forecasts significantly, but stock saw a slight pre-market increase.
• The company reported a strong cash balance and secured funding for 2025 projects.
• Significant uranium discoveries at Patterson Corridor East were highlighted.
• Uranium spot prices increased over 20%, reflecting strong market demand.

Company Performance

NexGen Energy continues to strengthen its position in the uranium sector, with a solid cash balance of $375 million Canadian and secured funding for its 2025 site programs. InvestingPro analysis reveals that while the company operates with a moderate level of debt, its current ratio of 0.75 suggests tight liquidity management. The company has made notable progress in its exploration activities, particularly at the Patterson Corridor East, where high-grade uranium mineralization was discovered. This positions NexGen favorably amid rising global demand for clean energy sources. InvestingPro subscribers have access to 8 additional key insights about NXE’s financial health and growth prospects.

Financial Highlights

• Cash balance: $375 million Canadian
• EPS: -$0.1018 (compared to forecast of -$0.0232)
• Stock price: Closed at $7.11, pre-market price at $7.19

Earnings vs. Forecast

NexGen reported an EPS of -$0.1018, significantly missing the forecasted -$0.0232. This 338.79% surprise indicates a larger-than-expected loss, which could have been influenced by increased operational expenses or strategic investments in exploration.

Market Reaction

Despite the earnings miss, NexGen’s stock experienced a pre-market increase of 1.13%, reaching $7.19. With a beta of 1.73 and a year-to-date return of 7.73%, the stock has shown higher volatility than the broader market. This movement suggests investor optimism, possibly driven by the company’s strategic advancements and the rising uranium spot prices, which closed at $78.50 per pound.

Outlook & Guidance

NexGen is preparing for upcoming CNSC hearings in September 2025 and February 2026, signaling a transition from development to construction. The company targets first production beyond 2050 and is actively negotiating utility contracts across multiple regions, indicating a long-term growth strategy.

Executive Commentary

CEO Lee Courier emphasized the foundational role of nuclear energy, stating, "Nuclear is not just part of the solution, it is foundational." He highlighted the increasing global demand for clean, reliable, and affordable electricity as a driving force for NexGen’s growth.

Risks and Challenges

• Potential regulatory hurdles with upcoming CNSC hearings.
• Volatility in uranium prices could impact profitability.
• Long lead times for project development may delay revenue generation.
• Global economic conditions and energy policies could affect demand.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the pricing dynamics in NexGen’s offtake contracts and the company’s financing options, which include debt, equity, and project equity. The management confirmed no anticipated scope changes due to Bill C-5 and clarified that current utility contracts do not allow for volume discretion.

Full transcript - NexGen Energy Ltd (NXE) Q2 2025:

Lee Courier, Chief Executive Officer and Director, NextGen Energy Limited: Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the NextGen Energy Second Quarter twenty twenty five Results Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen only mode, and the conference is being recorded. After the speakers’ remarks, there will be a question and answer session at the end.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Lee Courier, Chief Executive Officer and Director with NextGen Energy Limited. Please go ahead, sir. Thank you, Joseph. Good morning, and thank you for joining NextGen’s q two twenty twenty five financial results and investor conference call.

My name is Lee Courier, and I am chief executive officer. Today, I’m joined by Travis McPherson, chief commercial officer, and Benjamin Salter, chief financial officer. On today’s call, I’ll discuss our starting company’s advancements in between RH readiness, Patterson Corridor East results, which strongly validate another significant mineral bodies unfolding 3.5 kilometers to the east alongside Arrow. Further, the PCR e results clearly suggest a very significant uranium mineralizing event has occurred in the Southwest region of the Atabasca Basin, Saskatchewan on a unprecedented world scale. And that we are really only at the beginning of defining its true extent.

Further, we’re starting to develop into the uranium market over the quarter, including yesterday’s announcement of next gen doubling the volume in our offtake book incorporating our key focus of market related pricing mechanisms, ensuring NextGen energy deliver industry leading leverage to future prices whilst providing utilities with confidence with respect to volumes from work runs technically, environmentally and socially elite operation. All in all, updating the critical role next gen sets the place in delivering the world despite all clean energy fuel supply. At the conclusion of this presentation, we’ll move to the Q and A portion of the call where you have the opportunity to ask Travis, Ben and myself your questions. Throughout the course of today’s call, we will be making forward looking statements. Please visit our website for all the relevant disclaimers.

A few years ago, the idea of nuclear energy powering Big Tech, winning back global financing support, informing the cornerstone of national energy policy might have seemed optimistic. Today, it’s happening. In just the past several weeks, we have witnessed a series of transformational developments that are reshaping global perceptions of nuclear energy. Development that signal a clear structural shift is occurring today and forecast to extend well beyond 2050. In q two, corporate buyers, particularly hyperscalers and AI leaders, moved aggressively to secure long duration, base load power for their required energy needs.

These technology companies have committed over US $100,000,000,000 in AI data center construction, including Amazon’s $20,000,000,000 spend on data centers in Pennsylvania. Net has signed a twenty year power purchase agreement with Constellation Energy to secure 1.1 gigawatts of nuclear generated electricity, which could power the equivalent of approximately 1,000,000 homes. In addition, Constellation confirmed its nearing long term nuclear fuel supply deals with other hyperscalers. Google has committed to fund the development of three advanced nuclear projects, and TerraPower and Oclo raised another combined 1,100,000,000.0 US to develop small modular reactors. Race for energy and particularly clean, base load nuclear preferred is on the growth and demand has never been more robust.

These are just a few examples of the decade long commitment to nuclear energy from the most capitalized and data dependent companies on the planet. According to the International Energy Agency, data center demand for electricity is set to increase by a 170% in China, a 130% in The US, 80% in Japan, 70% in Europe over the next five years. This equates to an insatiable desire for uranium to fuel large portions of this demand for nuclear energy. The reality is that current mine supply will not keep up with the existing demand and certainly not meet the exponential demand growth unless there are higher prices. Governments, including right here in Canada, under prime minister Mark Handy, are also moving with urgency, start tracking regulatory framework, investing in FM small modular active development, and exercising domestic supply chains as a matter of national security.

In May, president Trump signed a series of executive orders to accelerate US nuclear power development, aiming to quadruple nuclear capacity from a 100 to 400 gigawatts by 2050. Media actions include funding five gigawatts of upgrades for existing clients, starting construction on 10 new large scale reactors by 2030, restarting closed or unfinished reactors, fast tracking permitting via reforms, and constructing at least three new reactors on by 2026. US Department of Energy will also direct funding to new projects, investing fuel infrastructure, all to prioritize US energy security and supply chain independence. This is the most comprehensive nuclear policy ever seen, and it has a profound positive implications for next gen. Western based, low cost, environmentally responsible, and poised ready for construction on the conclusion of the fairness phase commission hearing process commencing one of three sessions only ninety nine days from now.

In Canada, the passage of bill c five enabled the company to start track major projects aligned with national, economic, environmental, and indigenous priorities, an approach that reinforces the NextGen has taken since its inception. While group one is already well advanced under the current regulatory framework, the passage of bill c five presents a clear opportunity for the federal government and the prime minister Connie and minister Hodgson’s leadership to demonstrate this new legislation in action, something that is much needed in Canada in order for a country to realize its potential as a natural resources world leader. As approaching that, unambiguously meets a criteria of national interest, delivering economic benefit, environmental excellence, and dense indigenous partnership through legally binding industry leading benefit agreements. In the first ten years of forecast of production, Brookline is scheduled to providing $37,000,000,000 in economic benefit to Canada. We will support a hundred and fourth 1,400 direct jobs and they initially licensed beyond twenty fifty.

Next gen’s one project ex exemplifies every aspect of the criteria the county government has defined for projects to be prioritized through two c five, And we look forward to the conclusion of this NSE process to deliver the many stakeholder led benefits our project exhibits. None of these developments are isolated. They are strategic signals from the private sector, financial institutions, and government policy makers alike that nuclear energy has moved from the sidelines to the center of the global energy preference. Nuclear is not just part of the solution, it is foundational. At the core of this shift is a single truth.

The world needs more electricity, and it needs to be clean, reliable, and affordable. It’s not just about the power. It’s about energy security, economic prosperity, and national competitiveness, all underpinned by the requirements to supply the key ingredient, uranium. All these developments, a new a lack of supply, lay the groundwork for structurally higher uranium prices in the foreseeable future. The reality is that the industry at large, to some extent, still believe that this can all be solved with higher prices over a reasonable time frame.

However, to meet the exceptional growth in demand, we’re seeing, you need many new Arrow sized projects to be found, delineated, engineered, permitted, funded, and built. Arrow is widely considered the most technically sound and environmentally benign deposit globally, and we are entering into the twelfth year since its discovery. Our decision to relaunch exploration in 2023 at Willkwan has paid immediate dividends with our PCE discovery, which will evaluate in significance as drilling and development advances. I’ll say more in a moment about PCA. While the global policy environment accelerates, the uranium market is also gaining ground.

In future, uranium spot prices rose over 20%, closing at $78.50 US per pound, largely driven by the reentry of the spot uranium trust following a $200,000,000 rise. This is a powerful reminder that uranium market is very undersupplied, and that when demand volume returns to the market, prices respond rapidly. So that yesterday announced the yes so that yesterday, next year announced a new offtake agreement with a major US based utility, which doubled their contract booking volume. Importantly and distinguishingly from past practices, our pricing on the £10,000,000 contract book is all US utilities and is not correlated at the time of delivery, providing unprecedented leverage to investors in this rising uranium pricing environment. At the same time, given our superior technical setting environmental design, it provides confidence of the expectation of a new Western world supplier.

Our contract book represents approximately 3% of our total defined resources and underscores NextGen’s patient and strategic approach to building a sales book. We’re in advanced discussions with utilities across North America, Europe, The Middle East, Asia, and negotiating negotiations are increasingly urgent, informed, and fast moving. With the commission hearing set for September 25 and February 2026, NextGen is preparing to transition from advanced development to construction and subsequent operations. Our current cash balance stands at 375,000,000 Canadian with funding to complete the twenty twenty five site programs and initiate development for the first twelve months of post approval construction. We maintain full strategic optionality with a strong cash position and active engagement with global debt providers, sovereign funds, and utilities amongst others, resulting in finance interest well in excess of the full funding requirements of the build.

As we always have, we will optimize the vast number of financial financing opportunities available for maintaining our production flexibility and ultimately maximizing the value of each pound of uranium we produce and sell. At PTA during the quarter, NextGen announced our best discovery phase asset today. We Drill Hole R K 25232, returning an incredible 15 meters at 16.9% u zero eight, including an exceptional peak of point five meters at 68.8%. This is amongst the best exploration intercepts in the world with Arrow hosting the majority of the other top 10. Since discovery, 45 holes at PPE have been detected mineralization.

Of these, 12 have produced the ultra high grade massive replacement mineralization of over 61,000 tonnes per second. We’ve been involved with our spacing, in some cases, over 200 meters apart, and is still intersecting mineralization consistently, demonstrating the continuity of mineralization and the overall strength of the system. Drilling today at PCE confirmed the start similarity to the Mardi Gras deposit just 3.5 k’s away. It’s suggesting early signs of another tier one asset. It really does speak to the vast discovery potential of the of potentially more deposits on the roofline property in the future.

We also recently announced the consolidation of our entire land package, including PTA with the purchase of Rio Tinto’s 10% production carried interest. It held on 39 of our claims. NextGen has secured a lot of press refusal mechanism over this package after a third party made a bona bona fide offer to acquire it from Rio. NextGen now holds 100% ownership of all its claims in the district. This speaks to the acceptance by not only NextGen, but others of the tremendous value in the Southwest and at the back of the basin portfolio, which dominates the known and prospective trends in the district.

A district which is often referred to as the future of your own mine. In response, we received regulatory approval to expand our exploration infrastructure, including a temporary exit, road for dual way traffic, and expanded accommodations to support a growing team on-site. This program is currently underway and scheduled to be completed in q one twenty twenty six. Our lead standards on responsible development continues to guide every part of the business. In May, we released our fifth annual sustainability report aligned with global reporting initiative and task force for climate related financial disclosure standards, highlighting major advancement across environmental, social, and governance metrics.

Through our growing education and workforce development programs, over 500 participants have engaged in NextGen led training initiatives these past two years across a wide range of skilled trades. These programs developed in partnership with regional institutions and indigenous communities are designed to build capacity and create meaningful career paths aligned with the project’s long term needs. Indigenous leaders have publicly recognized NextGen’s unique and leading collaborative approach with all four of the indigenous nations in the local project area, citing NextGen as a benchmark for meaningful indigenous engagement and shared prosperity. Keeping an eye I advised to keep an eye out for a video on our website about Chantel Herman. She is one of the group of talented local students who become members of the NextGen team, pursuing highly technical careers at NextGen while still living in their community.

Chantel is one of these leaders in the community, and Travis Knight met back in 2015 at the National School Volleyball Tournament and went on through our summer student program followed by a scholarship and is now a second year geology student at university whilst working as a field geology technician at Rook One. It is one of many great outcomes from the Rook One project and is the foundation of delivering even greater generational advancement of the project as it goes into construction and operation. Next end is well advanced on commute on procurement with long lead and critical path items already ordered, and in several cases, staged and secured in our warehouse. This process reflects NextGen’s fully integrated execution strategy and proactive supply chain planning, ensuring we are ready to bring in major construction immediately upon final regulatory approval. With the team, materials and partnerships in place, group one is execution ready.

As we enter the next phase, our focus is clear, conclude approvals, finalize funding and begin building the most important new uranium project in a generation in a manner fully consistent with how NextGen has delivered the best results today across every aspect of the organization. At NextGen, we’re advancing with clarity and conviction. We’re executing with deep respect for the environment, communities, Saskatchewan, Canada, the world, and our shareholders. We are energized by the opportunity to lead the future of nuclear. We appreciate your continued support and look forward to delivering further progress in the second half of the year.

Thank you, and we will now open the call to your questions. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request. If you’re using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing any keys.

Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by the number 2. We will pause for a moment as callers are in the queue and while we prepare the Q and A roster. And we will take our first question here coming from Katie Lesh Patel with Canaccord. Congrats

Travis McPherson, Chief Commercial Officer, NextGen Energy Limited: on the new offtake. Similar to your previous agreements, you noted that it was a market related contract. Two questions. Can you confirm if there’s floors and ceilings in that new contract? And then as a follow-up, it appears that you’re signing better terms relative to what some of your peer companies are announcing.

Is that fair to say? And if so, what do you think is giving you that edge? Thanks.

Lee Courier, Chief Executive Officer and Director, NextGen Energy Limited: I can I can confirm that our contract as a blend very substantially, market related prices at the time of deliveries? There’s there’s not one contract that people contracts are very specific to the technical and sovereign profile of either the producer or the emerging producer, and also that of the particular circumstances of the utility. I would make a general comment that US utilities and and particularly the larger ones do prefer a a surety around future pricing. And so what you will see with those contracts is an embedded floor and ceiling. And where that is the case with with NextGen, and and I I wanna say that we had four contracts in place, which cover all aspects, floor and ceiling, pool spot, and then also no floor and an extremely high ceiling.

They are, you know, based on our knowledge of the market, very strong relatively. And I think that speaks to a number of things. I think it’s, you know, an overall assessment by utilities with respect to the state of the the current mine supply worldwide. We’re seeing some of the the historical projects that have been getting back into production, not meeting expectation. And then we’re also seeing significant sovereign and and technical risk impact some of the current producing sensors.

So, yeah, what NextGen represents and and also the other advanced developments developers in in in Denison, particularly in Canada, is we provide a or or alternative or a diversified supply of this key important fuel. And I think that then ultimately gets reflected in in the pricing from what has occurred in the past to what is actually about to unfold in the future. So I I know that’s a bit of a long winded answer, but, yeah, we are only combining what we’re experiencing, and and that is what is driving our contract book.

Travis McPherson, Chief Commercial Officer, NextGen Energy Limited: Awesome. Maybe just one quick follow-up. In the past, you’ve indicated, I think it was upwards of 1,600,000,000.0 US in lending interest from banks and and other credit providers. Is that number around the same or has that changed? And now that you’ve got a couple of these off take contracts in hand, do you feel like you’re getting closer to finalizing an agreement on the debt side?

Lee Courier, Chief Executive Officer and Director, NextGen Energy Limited: Yeah. Just think so. And and I’ll I’ll hand over to Travis. It’s time for Yes. Thanks, Katie.

And then when we get a yes, it is it is growing, I would say. There’s more parties getting involved, seemingly every week, frankly. I think that’s on the back of, you know, obviously, all those banks signing that agreement to support the funding of this growth initiative by all these international governments. Also, the the bank was you know, funding a new Twitter product. Yeah, we’re well in excess of that.

And and Optics, I would say, due to help the lending process, but it also opens up especially new avenues of lending in the government as an example. So but, you know, to be clear, the the the offtake contracts are being done kind of on a isolated basis based on, you know, our acceptance of of of those terms, everything. Like, they’re it’s not like we’re conceding on on anything that we that we want long term. So, yeah, it’s very positive, and we’re really interested to fund the Bountain project along the timelines that we’ve indicated in the past, which is, you know, end of the year into q one of of next year ahead of the approval process. Altered debt is one of the alternatives at hand.

And as we mentioned in the earlier part of the call, you know, we do have a number. I think it should be unsurprising quality of the asset selection offers, but we have a quite a few options at hand to fund the full project.

Travis McPherson, Chief Commercial Officer, NextGen Energy Limited: Great. Awesome. Thank you, guys.

Lee Courier, Chief Executive Officer and Director, NextGen Energy Limited: And our next question will come from Andrew Wong with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead. Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. So let just stay back on financing a little bit.

With regard to that, as you’re having more of these conversations with various partners and there’s more and more interest, What’s your sense on the most likely path here? Is having a strategic asset or sorry, strategic partner the most preferred path and then maybe that supplemented by debt or equity? Can you maybe just provide a sense on that? Thanks. Yeah.

Thanks, Bernard. Maybe I’ll I’ll I’ll start. Go ahead, Bernard. Did you wanna go? Yes.

I I would say we don’t have a preferred path at this stage. Like, we’re we’re keeping an open mind to to all of the avenues at hand. You know, they all come with well, first of all, they’re all at various stages. I would say all of them are advanced, but, obviously, various stages of how advanced they are. And so all of them are attractive in in isolation or together.

So I I would say we’re keeping a very open mind with respect to how this ultimately gets funded. Although, you know, obviously, we are keeping our focus on our ability to be flexible with respect to production volumes and and maintaining our leverage to future upside in prices. That’s that’s what I would say to that. And, Lee, obviously, you’ve done a company. So Yeah.

Exactly. Look, our our our principal is to finance it in a manner that optimizes the the production and the return on every pound produced. And we’re working both streams, both the equity stream, project equity, debt, and also the potential of a prepayment on the future supply of a volume of of pounds. Each one of them comes with a cost and benefits, but the overall principle that we will incorporate when we conclude the package is optimizing the exposure to future earning process. And what we can’t be specific on the debt to equity percentage or whether it’s project equity or or not, that will be the guiding principle.

And we will be most likely concluding that in the 2026 at the yep. Subject to the straight forward conclusion of the same procedure in process. Great. Great. And then just maybe on the project itself in terms of construction, given that the approval might be as might be coming sometime in that first half of next year.

Can you just talk about how the project team is shaping up right now? Can you highlight any extension type of expertise you’ve hired or or is there any notable additions recently? Yeah. It’s a it’s a good question, Andrew. One that, yeah, we don’t make a lot of, you know, noise about.

But behind the scenes, there’s a very well planned human resource execution that is that is going on with them adding to the team consistently since 2017 in line with the strategy development. Look, there’s no doubt we’ve appointed some people that are ready to go and and start constructing this mine. And and, obviously, you know, we we’ve when we’re spending a a quality hire, we’ve hired them on board, and they’re very they’re they’re busy. They’re not sitting around doing nothing. That’s for sure.

But so I I would say on balance, we’re probably over employed. But it is going to pay extreme dividends once we have that approval and and we’re into the construction phase. Yeah. The benefit of a long terming process is it gives you plenty of opportunity to plan, plan, review, plan again, and review again. And and and I I can tell you the construction plan is down to a finite detail.

We know exactly what we’re building. It it’s technically a a very simple mine in a in a mining sense, and we’ve we’ve attracted the best in business onto the team. We have a combination of both direct employees and consultants, but the overall philosophy of of NextGen is that we don’t delegate any decision making. We have a person on the team that takes responsibility for their respective field, and that responsibility ultimately rests with Travis and myself and the board. And and so we are very much on a constructor and and operator model.

Yeah. That’s great. Thank you very much. Thank you. And our next question will come from Ralph Profiti with Stifel.

Please go ahead. Thanks, operator. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Lee and Travis, I just want to delve in a little bit on these two offtake contracts being held to a five year term.

Was there appetite on the part of the counterparties move those contracts out to a further tenure? And what’s holding back sort of movement on the floors and the ceilings? Or is this becoming the industry standard? Just wondering if there’s other factors at play specifically with regards to the tenure. We we yeah.

There’s some the the contracts are are very different dependent on the actual asset and and utility. There’s not one contract that, you know, suits all. And that is also reflective of the utility’s specific requirements. Utilities have a range of contracts with a range of suppliers, and and some are short term and some are long term. I would classify as as medium term in terms of length.

And we are just at the beginning. We’re at 3% of our total defined resources that and our own. We all know that the area deposit is much larger and could given us in in third resource, which will convert to indicated with with subsequently close to space filling. I would say our philosophy is or at the moment, we’re negotiating a variety of between three year, five year, and ten year contract. And and, you know, it’s the the it it is really dependent on the specific circumstances of the utility.

And those, you know, characteristics differ from one region to the next worldwide. Like, the The US utilities have a a different preference to the Asian utilities. They have a different preference to the European utilities. So I I just wanna make a point that there is not one contract in this market market that fits all. It it is very specific to the utility and very specific to the producer.

What we offer is obviously a a high level of confidence in volume given the technical simplicity of that project. And that is resonating strongly with utility customers. It’s very helpful. I I appreciate that. Thanks.

And, you know, you mentioned the bill c five a couple times in your pre prepared comments. And, now that we’re six months from that second CNSC hearing, it it does sound like there’s iterations going on with detailed engineering. And just wondering, has there been any scope changes, with regards to plant equipment or components in the design that are directly being driven by Bill c five? And the reason I’m asking is just to kind of think about scope changes in the early preconstruction phase of the project. Yeah.

An interesting question. And but the the answer is no. Our scope there’s been absolutely no scope changes whatsoever, full stop, and we wouldn’t be contemplating scope changes as a result of build thirty five. Yeah. Our approach since even prior to discovery has been to deliver a environmentally approach along with a a socially elite approach.

And we have done that. And in every respect, we’ve exceeded the requirements of the legislation from a technical environmental perspective. And also from a social perspective, it’s well documented that we’ve been incredibly proactive in engaging and consulting with indigenous communities and implemented programs where there is incredibly strong collaboration between next gen and the the communities. And that actually even extends beyond those that are defined as impacted. So, you know, I think c two c five is a reflection of prime minister, Mark Kani’s government recognizing that there are elements of duplication to permit a resources project, not just specific to uranium, but major energy and national infrastructure projects.

And I absolutely applaud them for recognizing it and introducing legislation that aims to make the whole process more efficient whilst maintaining incredibly high environmental and social standards that Canada leads to welding. So, you know, that’s why we are in Canada. That is aligned with our values as an organization, and we’re very proud to, you know, deliver this project to Canada in line with the very high environmental and social standards that Canadians expect. Great. Very helpful answers, Lee.

Thank you. Thanks, Ralph. And our next question will come from George Ross with Argonaut. Please go ahead. Thanks, operator.

Hi, Liam. It’s Sam. Thanks for taking my my questions. Just in regards to the production carried interest, when is the market going to be informed a little bit more on the cost, etcetera, attached to that? Well, it’s confidential as per the agreement of the the clause that triggered it.

And so, yeah, we we are unable to disclose what it means or or what the cost was specifically in relation to that acquisition. I will say, yep, we are very pleased to have acquired it. We had approached Rio Tinto on it. And then, yeah, a donor party bid was received by an external party, which we really not even know the identity of. And and so we triggered that right of search refusal, and whoever that party was, thank you for expediting the process.

Fair enough. Okay. Thanks for that. And just in regards to the Patterson trend, any plans to sort of test on strike at this point, Ray, or it’s it’s very much just gonna be focused on on on sort of defining the the higher grades there at PTA? Yeah.

It’s our initial focus is to define and extend what we have at PCE, but, look, we we also, you know, seen the results at Paladin, which is basically an extension of the trend that has some corridor age trends off our property, and they’ve they’ve hit mineralization as well. And what that says is that that that the whole conductor trend is is very highly protected for additional mineralization. As I speak, we’ve probably explored less than 1% of that actual person corridor is conductor trend. Similarly, with our own work, we’ve explored less than 10% of that feature conductor corridor. And and as everyone knows, you’ve got triple r that’s along the the the Paragon Corridor conductor of our project.

So, you know, the the area is extremely well mineralized, and we are on the cusp or or just at the very, very beginning of truly defining its true extent. We have eight conductor corridors going through the Brookland project alone. There’s no doubt. There’s been a significant mineralizing event in the region. And, you know, we’ve we’ve put in the exploration camp to facilitate extensive exploration of that that region of which we host 320,000 hectares.

So it’s incredibly exciting. It really is geological phenom, and we are yeah. There’s a lot of drilling to be done before we can truly hold our hand on our hearts and say, you know what? This is this is the extent of it. Thanks, Lee.

You’ll do a drill. Thanks. And our next question will come from Fred Pollard, a private investor. You mentioned Rook one is execution ready, and you’ve been held back in my view for some time now awaiting the federal approval process. You mentioned c five, and I have a couple of questions along that team.

So has c five triggered some conversations with the government on advancing mine approval? And secondly, might there be some movement on the government schedule that you also mentioned earlier in the call? And I ask that because of the principles of fast tracking that are associated with bill c five. Thanks. Thank you for the question, and it’s it’s a very topical question.

Look, I I would say that the introduction of bill c five from prime minister Khan is absolute recognition that there are some efficiencies that can be changed at the federal level, particularly after provincial approval and the indigenous community approval in the region of that specific project. And he’s been very, very clear about that. And and as a consequence, he’s also going to resort to new project offers to help fast track the the the federal process. So I I absolutely applaud from mister Khani and his ministers for that endeavor. I think, in reality, the next gen project is is is so advanced in the process that these initiatives are going to really benefit other projects that come after next gen.

And so, yeah, we are resort industry advocates, clearly. And we’re really excited about that because, like, NextGen isn’t going to fill the gap on its own. The world needs to, with respect to uranium, the world needs to the free arrows, and they need it now. So I I think that’s excellent news for every other advanced developer out there looking to get into construction. So specifically, to our project, I think that the benefit is most likely for other projects behind us, but I am I absolutely applaud the recognition and the importance that the federal government is fighting on the expedition of major projects.

Understood. Thank you. Pleasure. And thank you for your support. Again, if you have a question, you may press star or one to join the queue.

Our next question will come from Brian MacArthur with Raymond James. Please go ahead. Hi. Good morning, and thank you for taking my questions. If I can just go back to the contracts, there’s been a lot of talk about floors and ceiling.

But can you confirm or deny, I guess, whether there are any volume options in those contracts? It sounds like the rest is the way you’re talking about how much is committed, but I’m just trying to figure out how that part of the equation is working in all these contracts. Yes, Brian. The there’s no volume discretion in the contracts by the utility or us as the supplier. I I’ve made a and and that’s very clear.

I’ve made a general statement that the form and structure and pricing of the contracts are changing from what has been done in the past. The environment is changing, and the contracts which we are doing are are different and has and and has got different elements to what has been done in the past. And I think you’re just going to see that naturally evolve over time as the scarcity and the the risk, be it sovereign or technically around supply increases. And and so, yeah, my overall comment is the environment is changing. There’s no doubt about it.

And what we are conveying to the market is what we are experiencing, and it’s different for all companies. And as I said, it’s very specific to the technical and sovereign profile of of your supply and also very specific to the the the particular utility preferences, and they differ between The US, Asia, and and Europe. Great. Thanks. That’s that’s very clear.

The second thing, can I just confirm, there’s been a couple of comments about the financing and timing, whether it’s year end or h one next year, and then comments around the CNSC approval? Could you have financing in place before the CNSC approval, and would that be subject to CNSC approval, or are they sort of dependent on each other? Any comments on that? Just to clarify, I think, would be helpful. Yeah.

They’re they’re they’re obviously related. And we we look, if we were approved today, we would have concluded the financing. We’ve been well prepared for this for many years. But, yeah, we we can’t really trigger the financing until we have approval to that extent. So at the time as as that the final approval timetable, you know, unfolds, so will the financing.

And, yeah, terms or optionality may be better in the future given the way this environment is changing. And so we are just keeping our exposure to that in place. But I can assure you, we will conclude financing in short order post approval. Thank you. That’s very clear.

There’s just different time horizon talked about, so I just tried to clarify that. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you, Brian. And this concludes the question and answer session.

I’d like to turn the conference back over to Lee Currier for any closing remarks. Yeah. Thanks. Thank you all for listening and and joining the q two call. Thank you for your questions.

We certainly appreciate them and everyone’s interest in this incredible project. And q three is gonna be an an incredible quarter ahead of us with everything that we’re working on and and the conclusion through the end of the year, not just what’s happening in next gen, but driven by what is happening in a very rapidly changing market environment. And we we appreciate your interest in that project, and we look forward to continuing to deliver on the milestones that we have articulated. This brings to a close today’s conference call. You may disconnect your lines.

Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.

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