North America’s Uranium Gap and the Small Companies Racing to Fill It

North America holds an odd place in the uranium business. The continent contains one of the richest uranium regions on earth, Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin, and the largest fleet of nuclear reactors in the world, in the U.S. Yet those reactors run mostly on fuel mined elsewhere. In 2025, uranium of U.S. origin made up just 7% of what American reactor owners received. Canada was the top source at 32%, followed by Kazakhstan at 28% and Australia at 15%.

Price is the main reason that gap has started to narrow. Industry month-end indicators put spot uranium at $91.55 per pound at the end of October, with the long-term contract price at $98.00. The long-term number matters more to miners, because utilities buy most of their fuel through multiyear contracts rather than on the spot market. That contract price passed its 2007 record of $95 at the end of September.

Domestic supply is responding, slowly. U.S. mines produced about 1.39 million pounds of uranium concentrate in 2025, more than double the 2024 total. Spending on land, exploration, drilling, production and reclamation reached $234.7 million, the highest since 2014. Seven of the nine mines operating last year used in-situ recovery, a method that dissolves uranium underground and pumps it to the surface instead of digging it out. Even so, U.S. reactor owners bought 46.9 million pounds in 2025, which shows how far domestic production still has to go. 

Policy adds pressure. A 2024 U.S. law bans imports of Russian enriched uranium, but it allows waivers that expire no later than January 1st, 2028. Russia still supplied 26% of the enrichment services bought by U.S. operators in 2025. 

Most of the companies chasing those pounds are small. Junior explorers own deposits but rarely generate cash, so they fund drilling and permitting by selling shares. That makes cross ownership common. Larger juniors often take stakes in smaller ones and build them up over time. A stake below 20% is usually a passive investment. Crossing that level signals a closer relationship, although not necessarily a takeover.

That is the context for today’s announcement from IsoEnergy Ltd. (NYSE American: ISOU) (TSX: ISO). The company has agreed to acquire 13,642,775 common shares of Premier American Uranium Inc. (TSXV: PUR) from Sachem Cove Opportunity Fund LP. No cash changes hands. IsoEnergy will instead issue 387,491 of its own shares at a deemed price of $8.33 (CAD $11.763) each, for total consideration of about $3.23 million (CAD $4.56 million). Closing of the transaction still requires Toronto Stock Exchange approval. 

The trade lifts IsoEnergy’s holding from about 7.8% of Premier American’s outstanding shares to about 22.1%, or 24.5% if it exercised all of its warrants. IsoEnergy helped found Premier American in late 2023. The smaller company is advancing the Cebolleta uranium project in New Mexico and exploring for in-situ recovery deposits in Wyoming. Premier American issues no shares and receives no money in the deal.

The holdings overlap in a second way. In August, IsoEnergy contributed its Utah mines to a new company, DISA Uranium Corporation, in exchange for a stake of about one third. DISA Uranium, which does not trade publicly, then agreed to invest $5 million in Premier American at $0.53 (CAD $0.75) per share, a 41.5% premium to the September 14th closing price. 

Chief Executive Philip Williams said the recent weakness in Premier American’s share price does not reflect the value of its development portfolio. In Canada, buying past 20% of a company normally triggers formal takeover bid rules. IsoEnergy is relying on an exemption for privately negotiated purchases, and it says it holds the shares for investment with no current plans for them. No bid has been made. 

Premier American shareholders could read a large, patient holder as support for the stock. They could also note that a dominant shareholder may discourage a rival offer. The deal shows how junior uranium companies are tying themselves together, through stakes rather than mergers, while U.S. buyers look for fuel closer to home.