| Account | Shares | Price | Value | % of acct | Cost/sh | Gain $ | Gain % | Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ROTH | 1,005 | $4.41 | $4,432 | 1.73% | $3.06 | $1,357 | +44.1% | — |
In short: His other company (CEO) — launched in 2017 to be "the Franco-Nevada, Wheaton Precious Metals, Sandstorm Royal Gold company in the uranium space," a capital provider to new mines worldwide. The $1.1bn Sweetwater Royalties deal is now concluded, making it "the second largest landowner in the United States in public company space, largest in Wyoming"; the soda ash cash flow is there "to plow back into uranium investments."
Uranium Royalty, which Melbye runs as CEO, was set up in 2017 to copy the gold-royalty model of companies like Franco-Nevada and Wheaton Precious Metals: instead of running mines, it pays mine developers cash up front in exchange for a slice of their future production or revenue. That gives exposure to the uranium price without mining's cost overruns and operating risk.
It has now completed a $1.1 billion purchase of Sweetwater Royalties — the leftover rights from the land the US government granted Union Pacific in 1862 to build the railroad, which Melbye describes as 5.3 million acres stretching from Cheyenne to Salt Lake City. The prize is soda ash: those lands host five large, low-cost mines of trona, the mineral behind the soda ash used to make glass. It earns about $75 million a year before interest, tax and depreciation, and he claims that could rise about two and a half times. The logic he gives is that a uranium royalty company needs cash to buy new royalties, and a steady soda-ash income lets it do that without repeatedly issuing new shares. The trade-off is that shareholders now own a large non-uranium business, and the growth estimate comes from the CEO who did the deal.
12:07We concluded a deal just in the last month for $1.1 billion to acquire Sweetwater Royalties, which in one transaction made us the second largest landowner in the United States in public company space, largest in Wyoming. It's the former Union Pacific land grant that dates back to the 1862 Railroad Act of Abraham Lincoln.
In short: Melbye (CEO): announced $1.1B acquisition of Sweetwater Royalties from Orion Resource Partners and Ontario Teachers' — the original 1860 Union Pacific land grant, 5.3M acres Cheyenne→Salt Lake plus the minerals beneath, making URC the largest public-company landowner in the US and the largest in Wyoming, on ~90% of world trona/soda ash with five mines already at ~$74M EBITDA / $30–50M FCF. Explicitly "not to pivot away from uranium" but to fund the bridge until its 27 royalties on 24 projects cash-flow $20–50M/yr in the 2030s; the stock trades "well below where they should be." Prins: "the stock right now is very, very undervalued." Note: the speaker is URC's CEO.
A royalty company doesn't dig anything up. It pays cash upfront for the right to a slice of a mine's future production or revenue, forever, without having to fund the mine's cost overruns. It's a way to own exposure to a commodity while owning none of the operating risk. Uranium Royalty is the only one of these focused on uranium, and it holds 27 royalties across 24 projects.
Its problem is timing. Those royalties are mostly attached to projects that won't be in production for years — the portfolio starts generating $20–50 million a year in the 2030s. Between now and then it earns little, which makes it hard to keep buying new royalties, exactly when uranium prices are rising and developers most need capital. That gap is what the $1.1 billion Sweetwater acquisition solves: it buys a bundle of assets that pay cash today so the company can keep writing uranium cheques through the lean years. Melbye is explicit that this is a bridge, not a change of direction: "I would be the last person on earth to pivot away from nuclear."
What Sweetwater actually is makes it unusual. It is the original 1860 land grant the federal government gave the Union Pacific to build the Transcontinental Railroad — 5.3 million acres running from Cheyenne to Salt Lake City, including everything beneath the surface. That makes URC the largest public-company landowner in the United States. The land holds roughly 90% of the world's trona, the ore for soda ash (used in glass), with five mines already running at ~$74M of EBITDA and $30–50M of free cash flow, split 50/50 with the Department of the Interior across an interleaved "checkerboard" of federal and private sections. Soda-ash revenue is expected to rise 2.5× over five years, and everything else on the acreage — uranium across southern Wyoming, oil and gas, helium, wind leases, data-centre and battery-storage sites — is optionality nobody has paid for.
The risks to hold in mind: the deal is announced, not closed, and a $1.1B purchase by a small royalty company has to be financed somehow — the dilution or debt terms decide whether shareholders actually gain. The near-term cash flow is industrial chemicals, not uranium, so the stock now carries a soda-ash cycle it didn't have before. And the speaker is the CEO.
In short: On the Sweetwater acquisition: "A very fully priced acquisition. These assets were bought by Orion not too long ago, three years ago or something, at a substantial discount to what Uranium Royalty is paying. So don't confuse this with a cheap acquisition." Two more caveats and one offset: "It represents a bit of mission drift given that a lot of the cash flow from the assets, as I understand, is from soda ash or trona operations. Importantly however it makes Uranium Royalty, as I understand the transaction, one of the largest fee simple real estate owners in the country, and they have upside on all the fee land mineral interest. My feelings are mixed about the acquisition, particularly given the markup that occurred since Orion bought."
Uranium Royalty buys royalties on uranium mines, and has just acquired the Sweetwater assets. Rick's assessment is deliberately unenthusiastic on price: the same assets were bought by the private manager Orion about three years ago at a substantial discount to what Uranium Royalty is now paying. "So don't confuse this with a cheap acquisition."
His second concern is mission drift — a company drifting outside the business its shareholders bought. Much of the cash flow from these assets comes not from uranium at all but from soda ash (trona), an industrial chemical. That isn't necessarily bad business; it just isn't the business investors signed up for.
The offset he grants is real. The transaction makes the company "one of the largest fee simple real estate owners in the country," with the mineral rights that come attached to owning the land outright — genuine long-dated optionality. Net verdict: "my feelings are mixed about the acquisition, particularly given the markup that occurred since Orion bought."
42:25These assets were bought by Orion not too long ago, three years ago or something at a substantial discount to what Uranium Royalty is paying. So don't confuse this with a cheap acquisition. Whether or not it proves to be cheap in the fullness of time is interesting. It represents a bit of mission drift given that a lot of the cash flow from the assets as I understand is from soda ash or trona operations.
In short: His other company. The $1.1 bn Sweetwater Royalties acquisition, closing "later this month," is the historic 1860 Union Pacific land grant — ~800,000 acres of surface rights plus mineral rights across oil and gas, uranium, critical minerals, trona and soda ash — making UROY "the second largest public company land owner in the United States, largest in Wyoming." It carries ~$74m of annual EBITDA and $30–50m of free cash flow, funded partly by liquidating 2.4 Mlb of physical uranium bought at the bottom. "We're not pivoting away from nuclear uranium" — the cash flow is there to "turbocharge" the uranium royalty and streaming pipeline.
Uranium Royalty, which Melbye runs as CEO, doesn't mine anything. A royalty company pays cash up front for a permanent slice of someone else's future production, so it gets the upside of a rising uranium price without the cost overruns, labour and permitting headaches of operating a mine. It also owns physical uranium outright — it and UEC together bought about 10 million pounds when the price was $20–50, treating uranium in a warehouse as a better place to park corporate cash than a bank deposit. That bet has since roughly doubled or tripled in value.
The news here is a $1.1 billion acquisition of Sweetwater Royalties, closing this month, and it is a genuinely unusual asset: the surviving mineral and surface rights from the land the US government granted Union Pacific in 1860 to build the transcontinental railroad. Buying it would make UROY the second-largest corporate landowner in the United States and the largest in Wyoming — around 800,000 acres of surface rights plus mineral rights underneath, covering oil and gas, uranium, critical minerals and trona (the ore behind soda ash, used in glass and detergent). It already throws off about $74 million of annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, and $30–50 million of free cash — actual spare cash after everything is paid.
The obvious worry is that a uranium royalty company just bought a diversified land-and-minerals business, which is a different thing from what shareholders signed up for. Melbye addresses it head-on: "we're not pivoting away from nuclear uranium." The argument is that internally generated cash lets UROY fund new uranium royalties and streams without repeatedly selling shares to raise money — which dilutes existing holders — so the non-uranium cash flow is the engine, not the destination. Whether it stays that way is the thing to watch, and it is being asserted by the man who did the deal.
19:18This is Uranium Royalty acquiring what was the historic Union Pacific land grant that the US government gave to Union Pacific Railroad to build the Intercontinental Railway back in 1860. And with that land becomes all the mineral rights and surface rights. So, in this transaction, we would become the second largest public company land owner in the United States, largest in Wyoming, 800,000 acres of surface rights, and the rest basically mineral rights.
In short: Downgraded ("4"→"5") after a large soda-ash/Trona acquisition diluted uranium to under half its committed capital (came with lots of fee real estate).
Uranium Royalty owns "royalties" — rights to a cut of uranium production without operating mines. Rule cut his grade from "4" to "5" because the company made a big acquisition in soda ash (an unrelated chemical), plus a lot of land, which means uranium is now less than half of what the company has its money in. The deal also added a lot of new shares, diluting existing owners. So it's drifted away from being a pure uranium bet.
34:34Uh uranium royalty, uh now is going to have to be called something else royalty. They just went and did a monstrous acquisition. It's not, and I I don't mean this in a bad way, a very large acquisition. Uh, in something that's, you know, ostensibly soda ash, Trona. Uh, and so in terms of the committed capital, less than half their committed capital is in uranium royalties now.
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