One of the best kept secrets in uranium might be hidden in Sweden. And now, a publicly traded company in Canada is aiming to explore it.
What’s happening:
- District Metals (TSXV: DMX) has raised $4.5M CAD to fund the exploration of their flagship uranium property in Sweden known as the Viken Deposit
- The Viken Deposit is one of the most important uranium properties in all of Sweden and District Metals has recently secured sole ownership of the asset
Why it matters:
- Sweden has some of the largest uranium deposits in all of Europe
- European countries have been rapidly making moves to accelerate both uranium mining and nuclear power projects, with new government funding rolling out from France to the United Kingdom
The fine print:
- Currently, the government of Sweden has a moratorium on uranium exploration and mining
Going deeper:
- The Viken Deposit is one of the largest deposits in the world of both uranium and vanadium by historical resource estimates
- While uranium mining is currently prohibited in Sweden, the country as a whole is very friendly to nuclear power and has multiple nuclear reactors currently in operation that produce carbon free electricity
- Due to the increasing global adoption of nuclear power, there is a mounting pressure for Sweden to change their regulations on uranium mining and lift the current moratorium to allow exploration for new uranium discoveries
By the numbers:
- Despite the current moratorium on uranium exploration, Sweden is actually the leading nation in Europe for all mining and is responsible for 93% of Europe’s iron ore and 11% of its copper
- There are currently 16 active mines in full production in Sweden
- Sweden has 6 operating nuclear reactors that cumulatively provide 40% of the electricity in Sweden
- District Metals owns 100% of the Viken Deposit in Sweden, which spans more than 9,000 hectares of land and has a historical resource estimate of containing more than 1B pounds of physical uranium
