A potential equity tie-up between BHP and NexGen Energy remains an open question, but the two are talking. NexGen chief executive Leigh Curyer told Reuters the Canadian uranium miner and the world’s largest mining group exchange technical information and are in regular contact as NexGen looks to fund one of the world’s biggest uranium mines.
Pressed on whether an equity partnership around the Rook I project in Saskatchewan was on the table, Curyer would not confirm a deal. He pointed instead to BHP having bought a large parcel of land near Rook I in the Athabasca basin, and said the relationship was longstanding.
“We always speak to them. We have a very open dialogue in terms of technical information,” Curyer told Reuters. He added that BHP wants to weight its portfolio toward politically stable countries, before concluding, “Let’s see where the future goes.”
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Funding is the immediate priority. NexGen broke ground on the mine on Thursday and is targeting production by 2030, with plans to raise $1 billion over the next nine months through utility prepayment agreements, debt financing and direct project equity.
BHP has looked at the company before. Its business development team examined NexGen last year under former chief executive Mike Henry, sources familiar with the matter said. Incoming chief executive Brandon Craig, who took over on July 1, plans a close look at uranium while conceding that assets of sufficient scale are hard to find.
Already producing roughly 5% of global uranium supply as a byproduct at its Olympic Dam copper operations in South Australia, where expansion has been ruled out, BHP is also building the world’s largest potash mine in Saskatchewan.
NexGen’s market capitalisation has doubled to C$9.68 billion over the past year, leading some to suggest the stock may now look too expensive for BHP.
