Year-to-date gain: 39.13 percent; market capitalization: C$261.57 million; current share price: C$0.48
UEX is a uranium-focused company exploring its Christie Lake project in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin. However, the company's second project is the West Bear cobalt-nickel project in the same jurisdiction, which UEX is exploring through its 100 percent owned subsidiary CoEX Metals.
While the Athabasca Basin is famous for its uranium reserves, according to UEX, it was the first company to discover the basin’s cobalt and nickel potential. In fact, West Bear is the only primary cobalt deposit in Canada. The company also owns two other cobalt exploration projects, the Axis Lake and Key West projects.
In March and much of April, the company performed strongly, mostly holding above C$0.40, including a year-to-date high of C$0.43 on March 22. Although it fell in May, UEX spiked again following significant news for the company in early June, when a proposed acquisition of UEX by Uranium Energy (NYSEAMERICAN:UEC) was announced.
Since the deal was revealed, a back-and-forth has developed between Uranium Energy and Denison Mines (TSX:DML,NYSEAMERICAN:DNN), which is also interested in acquiring UEX.
On August 8, UEX updated the technical report for its West Bear cobalt-nickel project. The new estimate shows indicated reserves of 295,000 MT containing 3.763 million pounds of cobalt at an average grade of 0.58 percent cobalt, and 3.164 million pounds of nickel at an average grade of 0.49 percent nickel.