Back in 2008, Uranium Energy Corp. acquired a massive uranium exploration and development database from Tronox Worldwide LLC, an operation that had its origins with uranium giant Kerr-McGee (which was acquired by Anadarko Petroleum in 2006). The database documented all of the exploration and development results of Kerr-McGee covering a period of 37 years, and includes data from all but two states in the U.S., plus Canada and Australia.

The equivalent in the art world would be the discovery of a lost painting by Van Gogh. The database consists of 300 containers of maps, geologic reports, prospects, assays, logs of drill holes, resource evaluations, feasibility studies, and details of advanced-stage development projects. It also contains extensive results from Kerr-McGee proprietary Airborne Radiometric Detection Apparatus (ARDA) surveys across the U.S. In total, it represents one of the biggest finds of its kind in the country.

The database provides UEC with a huge competitive advantage for identifying and evaluating uranium potential, and the company has made good use of it. It’s of special value considering the dramatic move of countries around the world, including the United States, back to nuclear power. The U.S. has 104 nuclear reactors, nearly a quarter of all the reactors in the world, and consumes more uranium than anybody. And yet, as of 2009, the country had only four processing plants producing uranium concentrate. With applications to build 26 new reactors, the uranium supplies have not kept up with the growing demand.

UEC has already targeted and developed key sites, and has also acquired the means to process the uranium once out of the ground. One of only a handful of such plants in the entire country, the company’s Texas facility is able to process up to 2.5 million pounds of U308 annually, and is located within easy reach of the company’s Texas projects.

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