Good day, and welcome to the Uranium Energy Corp.'s Fiscal 2026 Second Quarter Results Conference Call. Today's call will be hosted by Amir Adnani, President and CEO. Also joining for the Q&A session of today's call are Josephine Man, Chief Executive Officer; Scott Melbye, Executive Vice President; and Brent Berg, Senior Vice President, U.S. Operations. [Operator Instructions]. Please note, this event is being recorded. Today's call will run approximately 15 minutes for prepared remarks followed by Q&A. [Operator Instructions]. I would now like to turn the conference over to Amir Adnani, President and CEO. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. A presentation accompanying today's call is available on our website. Some of the commentary today will include forward-looking statements, and I would encourage everyone to review the cautionary language on Slide 2 of the presentation. With that, let's begin with highlights from the quarter. This quarter reflected continued execution of our long-term strategy, building America's first and only vertically integrated uranium fuel supply chain from mining through refining and conversion. What differentiates UEC is the scale of our asset base. We control the largest uranium resource base in the United States, which provides the foundation for decades of staged production growth as nuclear energy expands and supply chains increasingly shift back towards domestic fuel security. This is in strategic alignment with the strengthening U.S. policy support and anticipated structural supply deficit. During the quarter, we also demonstrated the advantage of our unhedged marketing strategy, we sold 200,000 pounds of U3O8 and $101 per pound approximately 25% above the quarterly average price of about $80 per pound. Our strategy has been consistent, maintain a strong balance sheet, hold physical uranium inventory and sell opportunistically when pricing supports value creation for shareholders. Those sales further strengthened our financial position. We ended the quarter with $818 million in liquidity and no debt, maintaining one of the strongest balance sheets in the uranium sector. At the same time, we continued advancing the broader strategy that underpins UEC's long-term growth, expanding beyond mining into refining and conversion to help address both a critical and structural gap in the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle. With the increasing focus on energy and national security, we believe UEC is strategically aligned with where both the market and policymakers are heading. In summary, the quarter reinforced three themes that continue to define UEC:…

[Operator Instructions]. Our first question comes from Brian Lee with Goldman Sachs.

I guess, first, to start off on the uranium marketing. I'd be curious, Amir, if you can comment on whether there's been any subsequent sales of uranium the quarter outside of the $101 per pound price you realized there were periods of pricing well in the 90s for a period of time as well. So I'm just curious if you continue to sell down some inventory? And then just maybe bigger picture. I know historically, you've talked about $80, $85 a pound sort of being the sweet spot, if you will, to start thinking about monetizing some of the on your balance sheet. We spent most of this year at or above that level. I'm curious if your thoughts around the pricing environment and what in the sense you to sell has changed at?

All right, Brian, thank you for that question. And just starting out to answer your question, as the schools in the quarter that we just filed, there are no subsequent event notes with respect to additional sales pursuant to the sales that were made during the quarter and reported, which was at the $101 per pound level. With respect to the strategy, again, I think it's very important to drive on the points that we made already. We've always felt and we've always positioned the company with this unique 100% unhedged strategy. This quarter, in particular, demonstrates the true strength of an unhedged strategy in a market that is in a structural deficit based on global supply-demand fundamentals not to mention in the U.S. where we are as a company and where we have U.S. inventory, U.S. produced pounds, the U.S. has even a more acute supply-demand profile. The U.S. is effectively importing over 95% of its uranium requirements. Just to even share some color, we've seen a situation in the market when prices are really not being tested by normal run rate utility demand. And so we think as things normalize, we expect to see a strong price. So, it's important for us to demonstrate the power of our unhedged strategy from time to time, which is what we did during this quarter. But we also finished the quarter with $1.46 million of inventory on hand and an additional 244,000 pounds of precipitated uranium and dried and drum at Irigaray with production expected to obviously ramp up. So ultimately, the last point I'll make to all of that, Brian, is UEC's capital intensity being on the lower end for mine development when it comes to institute recovery. institute recovery projects do have the benefit of lower capital intensity. And as a result, you see UEC's balance sheet with no debt at $818 million of liquid assets, arguably one of the strongest balance sheets in the entire sector. So we'll remain opportunistic, Brian. We'll remain aligned with the fact that the company's capital needs total capital requirements are more than adequately covered with liquidity on hand. The inventory position that we have is very strategic and valuable. And look, we expect, again, so much more to still happen this year on the policy front with the U.S. government with the presidential proformations that I spoke about earlier and we discussed in the press release. And so we're wanting to see how things develop also with the national security concerns that the U.S. government has right now, with respect to too much uranium imports coming into the country, particularly from sources like Russia and China. Hope that answers your question, Brian.

Absolutely. Maybe my follow-up question 2-parter on the Solstice recently expanded capacity, you made an announcement, I think, on the last earnings call, I would be curious what, if any implication of that add for your strategy going forward? And then, secondly, it sounds like you've accelerated a bit on that front. Could you talk a little bit maybe in more precise terms around timing of milestones and then you've been able to accelerate what you expect the timing for siting, maybe breaking ground and the feasibility study and any other milestones you might point to you actually have a bit more graph on timing?

Yes, for sure, Brian. The conversion market remains one of the tightest segments of the nuclear fuel cycle anywhere in the world. There's a real bottleneck, and there's a lot of concern about simple lack of capacity that's available globally. The same goes in the U.S. and the U.S., which is the world's largest market for nuclear fuel demand, there's only one conversion facility that was built in the 50s. By comparison, there's now a foot race to stand up at least five or six new enrichment facilities. And obviously, there are several mines operating in the country. So when you look at the fuel cycle, conversion is the real bottleneck, again, both in the U.S. and globally. There's only five conversion facilities in the world, and China and Russia really control that market globally. And so when you think about the same playbook that we've seen in the rare earth markets where there's too much control in the hands of the adversaries. The U.S. needs more capacity and can't have a single point of failure with just one facility, and there needs to be more capacity to meet demand currently and even with any expansion plans, Brian, at the existing facility. U.S. will only meet half of its demand and that demand is, of course, expected to increase significantly, judging by the presidential executive orders, the demand coming from growth in SMRs and advanced reactors and the needs of the U.S. government, including nuclear propulsion, Department of War and of course, with the U.S. strategic uranium reserve. And so all of that will look at Uranium. We'll look at the need for more conversion. Our plans are, as we've mentioned in the quarter, accelerating and intensifying. We will have a lot more to report over the course of this calendar year. The feasibility study is advancing with floor permitting work, team building and our engagement with the government.

I look forward to those updates. Thanks, guys. I will pass it on.

Yes. Thanks, Brian. And just the last point on that before we go to the next question. And we've said this during the call already, but just to repeat it, what again differentiates UEC's effort to enter conversion is to truly build an American supply chain from mining, refining to conversion. That's never been done before in the U.S. under one roof. That's what really also differentiates the supply chain solution from anything else that currently exists that doesn't have the same control that we expect to have and want to build on the front end of the fuel cycle from mine to conversion.

And the next question comes from Alexander Pearce with BMO Capital.

So production was down a little bit quarter-on-quarter. Maybe you could just provide a little bit more color on what drove that. Was it related to sort of the California refigure upgrades that you were making in the previous quarter? And then maybe you can just talk about what the ramp-up could look like over the next quarter.

Alex, thank you for that. And it was good to see you recently at your BMO conference. We were extremely busy over those few days. Let's be clear. The last quarter, we reported several fronts where we had production infrastructure under construction. This quarter, we've delivered very much on completed construction activities across those key projects at Christensen Ranch with new header houses and their construction of Burke Hollow being completed, which is the newest uranium mine in the United States, Alex, as you know. So now we are awaiting the regulatory approval. The bulk of the production, Alex, in the last few quarters had been carried. Again, majority of the production has been carried by only header houses at Christensen Ranch, only two. And so any production step change here and growth will come from the additional header houses that have now been constructed. And the Burke Hollow satellite project that has been completed and expected to come on. You heard us talk about pending regulatory approval. Let me emphasize that both Christensen Ranch and Burke Hollow are fully permitted projects. This is a significant advantage for both projects and for use. The reviews that are currently underway in Wyoming really relate to wellfield data packages that have been submitted, and the regulators classify these as nonsignificant revisions. Ordinary course these take significantly less time but with the resurgence which is a positive we're seeing for the industry. This means regulators are also processing higher volumes of permitting activity more than they've seen in recent years. So essentially, these are somewhat growing pains in the industry that's moving from dormancy back into expansion, but these approvals will come in. And as they do Alex, we'll have a better handle very soon on how the sequencing and the ramp will look like. And I'm going to also let Brent Berg chime in on that as well, with regards to the work that we've done. Go ahead, Brent.

Yes. Thanks, Amir. Alexander, I would just add that production is predominantly coming from new wells installed in 2025 with header houses and 10-7 and 10-8 at Christensen Ranch. And as Amir said, we're continuing our production ramp-up with ongoing mine development. That continued in wellfields 11 where we have four header houses that were constructed, pressure tested, and they're now ready for recirculation. And those header houses will start up following state agency review and approvals. So I think we're in a pretty good spot in terms of additional construction capacity and header houses ready to start in Wyoming and then, of course, with the Burke Hollow mine ready for operational start-up.

Maybe I can just ask a follow-up question, which -- maybe you could just remind us of the process once you've got those approvals, is it then almost immediate that you can start recovering the uranium from those head houses? Yes, it is. And Brent, if you want to maybe just expand on that a bit with the operational readiness we're developing.

Yes, sure. Thank you. Yes, it's a normal process. the chemicals, including oxygen and carbon dioxide are on site, and they're added to those production areas to activate the uranium recovery process as the great uranium increases in the feed to the in exchange plant, the Uranium content on the loaded resin subsequently increases. Once that resin is loaded, it's transported in a resin hauling trailer to the central processing plant for processing. So essentially, those units are ready to go following regulatory approval.

And the next question comes from Joseph Reagor with ROTH Capital Partners.

Most of what I want to touch on was already touched on. But just want to follow up on the regulatory side, has there been any indication from them on a time frame that they expect they caught up in since it sounds like such a kind of minor approval?

Joe, thank you for joining. And again, it's very difficult to provide. But the good news is that, again, we're not talking about long delays here, we really are optimistic that we're talking days and weeks and not months and quarters, Joe. But Brent, maybe you can speak to some of the industry working group and some of the some of the other interactions that you're closer to.

So thanks, Amir. Joe, I would just add that the regulatory agencies has been very collaborative and are working to address some of the longer lead time challenges that naturally occur when the industry actively accelerates. We're an open dialogue with the state agencies and continue investing our wellfield development activities in parallel. Because the timing of these reviews are. Ultimately, they sit with the regulators. We're not providing guidance on approval time lines. But what we can say is that the infrastructure and development work is continuing to advance, and we'll certainly provide updates as key operational milestones are reached.

Okay. That's fair enough. And then the other item was most of your peers who are producers tend to provide like production sales data production ahead of time, ahead of their earnings. Is that something you guys might consider doing going forward, given, obviously, you're not hedged, you don't have sales schedule just so we can all be a little bit more accurate around the earnings?

Joe, thanks for that. As you know, there are these unique points about UEC's positioning and differentiation to the more kind of, let's say, contracted or hedged peer group. But I think, for sure, as we see things not normalized, but some of the potential or some of the developments that we're waiting to see how they play out like U.S. government policy and Section 232 U.S. reserve, et cetera, as you can appreciate as a U.S. producer with U.S. capabilities and U.S. eligibility to sell to the U.S. government. There are very strategic reasons here as to why we've kept our books on hedged and production available to maximize value. So I think this is hopefully seen as the positive and differentiating point that it is. And as we get a better handle on those specific volumes of demand from those sources within U.S. government or the reserve or Department of Energy, et cetera, then we can also pinpoint better and share with you some of the expectations around the sales that are going to be coming up. But for the time being, as you can see, our total working capital requirements to advance all the production expansion are very adequately funded. And so as a result, the inventory that we have and the sales we will make will be extremely positioned for maximizing returns and creating value for shareholders. And we see it all as again, kind of a positive that we're set up this way for very specific purposes in the United States.

Yes. No, it's good to see a $100-plus price realization. Yes. I'll turn it over.

The next question comes from Justin Chan with SCP.

Maybe just my first question is just a bit more clarification around production in the upcoming quarters. So for Q3, which we're in now, is it still the two header houses or how many header houses and which wellfield should we be modeling production from? And then if you could give us some color on maybe Q4 or is that the quarter where I guess, this quarter or next quarter. Is that where you're kind of waiting on regulatory approval for the new header houses you've constructed?

Yes, thank you. I'll let Brent go into the details, but at a high level, Justin. So as mentioned, the production that is currently -- the current production is, again, majority from the two and only two header houses at Christensen Ranch. As soon as we receive the regulatory approvals that we've been discussing on this call, then we're able to turn on new capacity at Christensen Ranch and Burke Hollow. So Justin, we're obviously still inside fiscal Q3 right now. And so those developments could still happen in Q3 and positively impact Q3. But for the most part, as we said in the last quarter as well, we did expect to see this fiscal year's production volumes be weighted towards the second half of the fiscal year. That still seems to be the case and arguably, increasingly weighted towards Q4, but Q3 possibilities are still alive and well, and we're literally in daily interactions with the state regulators. Brent, over to you.

Yes. Thanks, Amir. Justin, thanks for the question. So production in the fiscal quarter came from wellfields 8 and 10 at Christensen Ranch. And as Amir mentioned, the production is predominantly coming from new wells that were installed in 2025. And our houses 10-7 and 10-8. In terms of what's currently under development and what's coming up, we have wellfield 11, where there's 4 header houses that are constructed, they were pressure tested. They're not ready for circulation. Startup will follow review or follow from review and approval of the state. We've got another three that are under construction in wellfield 12, header houses 12, one the Wells, 97% case. The house is set and the PLC and MCC are in place in wellfield 10 extension, Header House 10-9, 94% of the wells are cased the house is set and the PLC and MCC are in place. So those are both well along in the construction path. At our house 10-9, the pattern layout is completed by the geology team and drill holes are planned and stated in the field at the end of the fiscal quarter. So lots of construction activity underway. And while we await the regulatory approval, we're continuing to press on the gas with wellfield development.

Got you. And with these new houses, when they're approved, is there much preconditioning you need to do? Or can you put solution directly and there's not much of a lead time there?

Yes. Good question, Justin. We typically preconditioned for a very short period, and then we'll start adding chemical oxygen and carbon dioxide very quickly. Start the leaching process.

Okay. Got you. And Texas is -- are the time lines for preconditioning similar to Wyoming?

Yes. We'll follow the same type of start-up that we would in Wyoming for the initial wellfield down in Texas.

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to management for any closing remarks.

Thank you for that. Again, in summary, this quarter for UEC reinforces three themes that continue to define the company, scale financial strength and strategic positioning within the U.S. nuclear fuel supply chain. With that, thank you, everyone, for joining us today. Operator, back to you.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.