Novacore, which is 35%-owned by UK investment and development company Metals One (MET1 ), is raising US$1.25 million in a pre-IPO fundraising.
Metals One acquired an initial 10% interest in NovaCore back in July 2025, and boosted that stake to 35% shortly thereafter.
NovaCore, which is chaired by well-known mining entrepreneur Neil Herbert, is advancing the large-scale Red Basin uranium project in Catron County, New Mexico.
This project is thought to have potential for 45 million pounds of U₃O₈.
NovaCore has completed gamma spectrometry surveys and identified multiple uranium-rich zones. The area has road access, a known permitting regime, and favourable geology with structural and geophysical targets that remain largely undrilled below 400 feet.
The pre-IPO funding is being conducted at US$1.00 per share, valuing NovaCore at US$6.7 million pre-money.
This represents a clear valuation uplift relative to Metals One's initial investment, which was undertaken at US$0.587 per share. The weighted average price at which Metals One got in is US$0.623 per share.
Following this financing, which is expected to close by the end of the month, Metals One will hold just over 2.3 million shares in NovaCore, or 29.5%.
The money raised will be used for drill permitting, field mapping, rock chip assaying and close grid radiometric mapping, amongst other things.
NovaCore is expected to list in the third quarter of 2026, with the maiden drilling programme to begin shortly after.
"We are very pleased with our early-stage investment in NovaCore and the progress the team have made at the Red Basin Ane project,” said Daniel Maling, managing director of Metals One.
“The investment will deliver Metals One's first exposure to a high-impact uranium drilling campaign and has already been a profitable investment. NovaCore is a high probability investment opportunity to gain access to one of the most prospective yet underexplored uranium districts in the western U.S. with the potential to host future uranium deposits of national importance."
View from Vox
NovaCore chairman Neil Herbert highlights the opportunity on offer here by referring to a “pivotal moment in energy history.” He’s referring specifically to US plans to quadruple nuclear energy capacity, but the reference could be easily be broadened to include the wider global context. It looks highly likely that demand for uranium will be significantly boosted over the coming decades, and those with access to secure supply will be the winners in such a scenario. NovaCore is one such company, and Metals One another.