The U3O8 spot price climbed sharply to kick off the week, hitting US$76.21 per pound.
Its Monday (June 16) rise is a 9.7 percent gain from the previous week’s close of US$69.47, and came after news that the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust (TSX:U.U,OTCQX:SRUUF) had penned a US$100 million bought-deal financing.
The financing was upsized to US$200 million the same day ‘as a result of strong investor demand.’
Sprott (TSX:SII,NYSE:SII), acting on behalf of the trust, confirmed the agreement, which will see Canaccord Genuity Group (TSX:CF,OTC Pink:CCORF) purchase 11,600,000 units of the trust at a price of US$17.25 each.
The offering, expected to close by June 20 pending regulatory approvals, will fund purchases of uranium oxide concentrates and uranium hexafluoride, in line with the trust’s mandate to hold physical uranium.
The news sparked a rally in uranium stocks on Monday.
On the TSX, major miner Cameco (TSX:CCO,NYSE:CCJ) rose just over 6.5 percent, while NexGen Energy (TSX:NXE,NYSE:NXE) was up 8 percent. Uranium Energy (NYSEAMERICAN:UEC) was up 12.64 percent in the US, and Denison Mines (TSX:DML,NYSEAMERICAN:DNN) jumped 14.8 percent on the TSX.
In Australia, Deep Yellow (ASX:DYLASX:DYL,OTCQX:DYLLF) surged more than 21 percent, while Boss Energy (ASX:BOE,OTCQX:BQSSF) jumped nearly 18 percent and Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN,OTCQX:PALAF) climbed over 15 percent amid investor optimism that the fresh capital injection could tighten the uranium spot market.
The Sprott trust, launched in 2021 and often referred to as SPUT, has been a key player in physically sequestering uranium from global markets, helping to reduce available supply and influence spot pricing trends.
After reaching a 14 year high of US$82 in early 2024, uranium prices trended downward, falling as low as US$64.30 this year. Despite the consolidation phase, experts believe the long-term outlook is positive.
The deal marks one of the most significant capital raises for uranium buying in 2025, and reflects growing institutional confidence in the long-term viability of nuclear energy as part of the clean energy transition.
SPUT’s move also comes amid momentum in US uranium policy. In late May, US President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders aimed at revitalizing America’s nuclear energy sector. The orders are intended to ramp up domestic uranium production to meet growing power demands, especially from artificial intelligence data centers.
Tech giants like Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Google and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) have all done nuclear power deals for data centers, honing in on nuclear as a viable solution for their zero-carbon baseload energy needs.
For now, Sprott’s buying spree offers a test of how tight the uranium market really is. With settlement set for later this week, attention will turn to whether its uranium purchases trigger further positive price activity.
Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.