“(Berkeley) is of the view that while uranium prices will remain soft in the near term, from 2018, when Salamanca is scheduled to come on line, the market is expected to be dominated by US utilities looking to re-contract,” the company said this week.

“These utilities will also be competing with Chinese new reactor demand, which may lead to higher prices.”

Whatever comes to pass, Berkeley’s definite feasibility study released this week suggests the $US95 million Salamanca development will be making money given a total cash cost of $15.06 per pound for the 4.4 million pounds it will produce annually.

The current spot price is $26/lb and the contact price, $41/lb.

In terms of the potential quantum of money to be spat out of Salamanca, Berkeley is promoting an after tax annual profit of $116 million – based on the most recent UxC forward curve of uranium prices.

Those price forecasts rise in a range from $40/lb in 2018 to about $62 ten years later.

Berkeley said it was in discussions with utilities that had approached it looking to secure offtake.

The company is estimated to current have about $A3-3.5 million cash.

Shares in Berkeley were up 8.5% to 70c in morning trade, capitalising the company at about $140 million.

The stock has doubled in value over the past 12 months.