By Charles Pitts
URAVAN, COLORADO : Shares of Metals One PLC (LON: MET1) jumped 45% in early trading Tuesday following the announcement of a major expansion to its partnership with DISA Technologies. The deal authorizes the evaluation and treatment of uranium mine waste across eight legacy dumps within Colorado’s historic Uravan Mineral Belt, signaling a shift toward rapid, low-capital production in a tightening global uranium market.
The agreement allows DISA Technologies to deploy its patented High-Pressure Slurry Ablation (HPSA) technology to extract uranium and vanadium from material previously classified as waste. Under the terms of the expanded deal, Metals One will receive a sliding gross revenue share of 2.5% to 4.0%, depending on prevailing metal prices, while DISA assumes all capital and operating expenditures.
The market response underscores a growing investor appetite for unconventional supply sources as the uranium market outlook 2026 becomes increasingly defined by structural deficits. By targeting surface-level waste dumps rather than traditional underground mining, the partnership sidesteps the multi-year lead times and heavy infrastructure costs that have historically slowed the domestic uranium response.
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The Uravan Expansion: From Legacy Waste to Critical Supply
The Uravan Mineral Belt has been a cornerstone of American uranium and vanadium production for over a century. However, decades of activity left behind substantial quantities of partially mined and aggregated material. Metals One’s project area includes 59 unpatented mining claims near the historic Buckhorn mine, a site known for its high-grade mineralization.
Initial assessments of the waste material are promising. Rock chip assays from the site have reported grades as high as 4.17% U, a figure that dwarfs the average grades of many active conventional mines. The expanded deal tasks DISA with the characterization of these eight dumps using gamma walkover probes and detailed assays to estimate the total contained metal.
“This is an opportunistic move that leverages existing assets without the traditional risks of mine development,” said one industry analyst familiar with the Colorado basin. “Metals One is essentially creating a royalty stream out of material that was considered a liability just a few years ago.”
High-Pressure Slurry Ablation: A Technological Shift
At the heart of the deal is DISA’s High-Pressure Slurry Ablation (HPSA) technology. Unlike traditional milling, which requires massive, stationary facilities and chemical leaching, HPSA is a physical liberation process. It uses high-energy fluid dynamics to break up the waste rock, separating the uranium-rich particles from the barren gangue.
The technology’s modularity is its primary advantage. DISA can deploy mobile units directly to the waste piles, eliminating the logistical costs of hauling low-grade material to a central mill. Furthermore, a prior treatability study conducted in coordination with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) showed that HPSA can remove approximately 90% of uranium and radium-226 from waste material.
This high level of efficiency serves a dual purpose. For Metals One and DISA, it maximizes resource recovery. For regulators, it provides a clear path toward environmental remediation. The “cleaned” tailings left behind are significantly less radioactive, addressing long-standing environmental concerns in the Uravan region and potentially streamlining the permitting process for future waste treatment.
Uranium Price Forecast 2026: Drivers of the Squeeze
The timing of the Metals One deal coincides with a period of intense pressure on global uranium supplies. As highlighted in recent reports on uranium demand 2026, the convergence of artificial intelligence data centers and the deployment of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) has fundamentally altered the demand side of the equation.
Market analysts suggest that the uranium price forecast 2026 will be shaped by several key factors:
- AI-Driven Power Demand: Large-scale data centers are increasingly seeking carbon-free, 24/7 baseload power, leading to direct power purchase agreements with nuclear operators.
- SMR Commercialization: As the first wave of SMRs nears commercial operation, the “first core” demand for uranium is expected to create a temporary but significant spike in procurement.
- Supply Fragility: Disruptions in traditional supply hubs, such as the recent floods in Saskatchewan, have left utility buyers scrambling for secondary sources.
In a “bull case” scenario, uranium prices could sustain levels well above $100 per pound as utilities compete for limited spot market volumes. For Metals One, this would push their revenue share to the top end of the 4% sliding scale, maximizing cash flow from the DISA partnership.
A Low-Risk Model for Critical Minerals
For Metals One, the DISA agreement represents a “capital-light” entry into the US critical minerals market. By offloading the capex and opex responsibilities to the operator, the company has insulated itself from the inflationary pressures that have plagued the mining sector in 2025 and early 2026.
“This is about optionality,” noted Metals One leadership in a previous briefing. “We have the land and the legacy material; DISA has the technology and the licenses. It’s a symbiotic relationship that allows us to monetize assets that were otherwise dormant.”
DISA’s possession of a US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) service provider license is a critical hurdle cleared. It allows them to act as a remediator, which often carries a different : and sometimes faster : regulatory track than a traditional mining permit. This “remediation-first” approach is becoming a popular framework for companies looking to operate in jurisdictions with strict environmental oversight.
Operational Logistics and Monitoring
As the project moves from evaluation to active treatment, the focus will shift to real-time data management. Modern mining operations, even those focused on waste recovery, rely heavily on integrated control systems to monitor throughput and recovery rates.
The use of remote monitoring and automated HPSA units will allow DISA to manage multiple waste sites simultaneously. For investors, this means the scalability of the Colorado project is limited only by the number of identified waste dumps and the speed of characterization. With eight dumps already under the expanded agreement, the potential for a steady stream of uranium concentrate production is high.
Looking Ahead: The 2026 Outlook
The Metals One surge is a microcosm of the broader trend in the mining industry toward “urban mining” and waste reprocessing. As the 2026 uranium outlook suggests, the industry can no longer rely solely on massive, greenfield projects to meet the energy transition’s needs.
For Metals One, the next 12 months will be defined by the results of DISA’s characterization work. If the eight dumps yield the high-grade concentrates suggested by initial rock chips, the company could see its revenue share become a significant part of its valuation. For the Uravan region, the project offers a glimpse of a future where legacy environmental issues are solved not just by tax dollars, but by the profitable recovery of the very minerals that built the district a century ago.
As the global energy landscape shifts, the ability to extract value from the past is becoming as critical as the ability to mine the future. For now, Metals One sits at the intersection of that transition, with a 45% share price gain as its first major dividend.
