Lithium miners' half-year reports show full recovery: leader's net profit growth tops 49-fold, 13 companies break 1 billion yuan

ATHA Energy Corp. reported that its 2026 Angilak Exploration Program has connected the RIB North and RIB East Discoveries, expanding the mineralized strike length along the Eastern Limb of the Mineralized RIB Corridor from 1.45 km to 3.4 km. The company completed 23 diamond drillholes in the campaign, 21 of which intersected uranium mineralization, and all seven of the final holes, RIBN-DD-017 through RIBN-DD-023, hit mineralization. The highlight hole, RIBN-DD-023, intersected 19.5 m of total composite uranium mineralization over fourteen zones from 180.0 m to 777.5 m, including 2.0 m of high-grade mineralization, and forms part of a newly identified higher-grade, thicker sub-zone near RIBN-DD-001 that currently has an approximate 300 m strike length and 300 m down-dip extent. RIBN-DD-019 returned some of the highest-grade mineralization to date at RIB North, intersecting 2.5 m of total composite uranium mineralization over three zones from 319.5 m to 740.5 m, including 0.6 m of high-grade mineralization. The company said the sub-zone and the entire Eastern Limb of the corridor remain open and unconstrained, and that assay samples have been submitted to SRC laboratories, with additional preliminary results from the Lac 50 Deposit Corridor expected in the coming weeks.

Premier American Uranium Inc. reported that initial drilling at the West Diane target of its wholly-owned Kaycee Project in Wyoming's Powder River Basin intersected uranium mineralization in six of eight holes, including 10 ft grading 0.064% eU₃O₈ in drillhole WD26-012. As of September 25, 2026, the company has completed 80 conventional mud-rotary drillholes totaling 65,620 ft, representing approximately 66% of its planned 100,000-ft program, with 30 holes and 23,660 ft added since the last update. At the Rustler target, six of 22 newly reported drillholes intersected mineralization grading at least 0.02% eU₃O₈, including 2.5 ft grading 0.063% eU₃O₈ in RT26-121 and 3.5 ft grading 0.037% eU₃O₈ in RT26-116. Encouraged by those results, PUR secured an additional 1,883 acres of mineral rights north and west of the existing claim block, connecting the Rustler and Stampede claim blocks and bringing its total land package to 31,724 acres. Drilling is currently focused on West Diane, with a return to the expanded Rustler target planned afterward, weather permitting.

Purepoint Uranium Group CEO Chris Frostad warned that the uranium sector's structural supply deficit is worsening even as demand from new reactors, small modular reactors and AI data centres rises. Speaking with Steve Darling of Proactive, Frostad pointed to setbacks among existing producers, including a roughly 20% cut to Cameco's guidance last year and production issues at Kazatomprom tied to acid supply. He said bringing major new discoveries into production takes many years, citing Next Gen's Arrow deposit, discovered 12 years ago, where construction is only now beginning. Frostad said Purepoint's partnership model, which involves joint ventures with larger companies such as Orano, Cameco, ISO Energy and Eldorado Gold that provide capital and technical expertise while Purepoint contributes operatorship and exploration capabilities, lets it keep drilling through weak capital markets. He also reported that Purepoint identified close to 7.5 metres of high-end radioactivity at the unconformity in its Q24 zone, alongside ongoing work at its Nova zone.

District Metals Corp. has commenced diamond drilling at its Viken Property in Jämtland County, central Sweden, with Arctic DS AB, a Swedish subsidiary of Arctic Drilling AS, resuming core drilling using most of its crew from Jämtland and Västerbotten Counties. The 2026 drill program is focused on Target Areas A and B, two large conductive anomalies identified by the Company's 2025 airborne MobileMT survey that remain largely untested by drilling, with historical 2008 drilling limited primarily to their periphery. Target Areas A and B lie approximately 1.7 km and 7.5 km, respectively, north to northwest of the Viken Energy Metals Deposit, and their conductive responses are larger and stronger than the signature associated with the Viken Deposit itself. The number of drill holes and total meters will be guided by geological observations and uraniferous radiometric measurements collected during drilling, forming part of District's approved 2026 exploration budget of approximately 5,000 to 7,000 meters across the Viken and Alum Shale Properties. CEO Garrett Ainsworth said the program is designed to determine whether the significant MobileMT conductive responses are associated with uranium and other energy metals mineralization similar to the Viken Deposit.

Atomic Eagle Limited plans to release the first phase of its technical review of the Madaouela uranium project in Niger in the first quarter of next year, part of a strategy aimed at bringing the asset back into production. CEO Phil Hoskins said the review is intended to determine how to make Madaouela as large-scale and economic as possible, with expectations it could become a 4 to 5 million pound per annum operation. The project hosts a 116 million pound resource at almost 1,300 ppm, and Hoskins said historical studies have not done it justice given the 160 million US dollars already spent on its technical and drilling database. Atomic Eagle, which listed in November 2025 after acquiring TSXV-listed GoviEx Uranium Inc., also holds the Mantanga project in Zambia, where it will continue drilling this year, update its resource in the first quarter and complete feasibility studies through 2027. Hoskins said the company's end game for Madaouela is to run a financing process that will likely attract a strategic partner, and he pointed to the US Development Finance Corporation's conditional agreement for a $414 million debt financing for Global Atomic's project in Niger as a sign of the country's strategic appeal.