Paraguay’s Uranium and Titanium: Still No Mine, Only Drills
Paraguay · MINING
Key Facts
- —Production Paraguay uranium and titanium remain unmined; gold is the only metal in commercial output.
- —Titanium Uranium Energy Corp reports 3.58 billion inferred tonnes at its Alto Paraná project.
- —Uranium The Yuty deposit in Caazapá holds 8.96 million pounds of indicated uranium oxide.
- —Chamber The Paraguayan Mining Chamber sees over US$2 billion in investment within eight years.
- —Law Congress must approve every exploitation concession, after an executive decree, under the 2007 law.
Two listed juniors, three named projects, one mining law from 2007, and not a single tonne produced.
Paraguay uranium and titanium deposits are drawing money from North American juniors, yet the country mines neither metal. Every named project sits at the exploration stage, and the rules that would govern a mine are being rewritten.
No mine yet, only exploration ground
Paraguay uranium and titanium sit at the centre of a pitch to foreign investors. The pitch is real, but so is the gap between a resource and a working mine.
Gold is the only metal Paraguay produces commercially, according to the Vice Ministry of Mines and Energy. It is dug at Paso Yobái in Guairá department, far from the uranium and titanium ground.
Three projects carry the story: one titanium property in Alto Paraná and two uranium areas further west. All three are held by companies listed in North America, not by the Paraguayan state.
For Paraguay uranium and titanium, exploration means drilling and measuring what lies underground. Production means a permitted mine, a processing plant and a buyer, and none of that exists here yet.
The Alto Paraná titanium project
Uranium Energy Corp, a Texas company listed in New York under the ticker UEC, owns the titanium project. It lies in Alto Paraná department, about 100 kilometres north of Ciudad del Este.
A company study filed in November 2023 reported an inferred resource of 3.58 billion tonnes at 7.3 percent titanium dioxide. A smaller indicated resource of 70 million tonnes grades 7.6 percent.
The same study sketched a base case costing US$338 million, with a 23-year mine life. A larger version would cost US$918 million and yield about 500,000 tonnes of titanium slag a year.
Robert Alter, the United States chargé d’affaires in Asunción, said in August 2026 that the company had spent nearly US$1 million. That is exploration money, not construction money, and no mining permit has been issued.
Uranium ground at Yuty and Coronel Oviedo
The same company holds two uranium areas in eastern Paraguay. Yuty covers about 290,000 acres in the Paraná Basin, roughly 200 kilometres east of Asunción.
A 2022 filing put the indicated resource there at 8.96 million pounds of uranium oxide. A further 2.2 million pounds sit in the lower-confidence inferred category.
The second area, called Oviedo, lies near Coronel Oviedo in Caaguazú department and spans about 223,000 acres. It has no published resource estimate at all, only aquifer testing.
Both areas are studied for in-situ recovery, a method that dissolves uranium underground instead of digging it out. Paraguay has no uranium mine, so that stage has never been tested here.
A second junior on the neighbouring concessions
Uranium One Mining Corp holds four concessions of about 90,000 hectares beside Yuty. The company is based in Vancouver and trades on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the ticker UUU.
It was called Vanguard Mining Corp until April 2026, when it adopted the new name. The project it bought, Yuty Prometeo, closed in September 2025 through an 85 percent stake in Paraguay Uranium S.A.
In February 2026 the company said it had received its final environmental licences. They came from MADES, Paraguay’s Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development.
The next step is a prospection permit from the Vice Ministry of Mines and Energy. No drilling results from those concessions have been published.
What the industry is asking the state for
The Paraguayan Mining Chamber, known as Capami, speaks for the private operators. Its president, the geologist Víctor Fernández, set out the demands to La Nación on 1 August 2026.
He said mining could draw more than US$2 billion over six to eight years. The amount could double or triple, he added, with what he called an exemplary mining law.
Capami wants a national geological survey mapping the country at a scale of one to 100,000. It also wants a permanent round table between the state and the industry.
Fernández complained that private operators were left out of the drafting of the National Mining Policy. The chamber holds its second mining forum on 30 September 2026, focused on critical minerals.
The 2007 law that still governs it
Mining runs on Law 3180 of 2007, amended in 2011 and again in 2013. It is the framework every investor and every critic points at.
A prospection permit lasts one year and can be extended once by six months. An exploration permit lasts two years, extendable once by a further year.
Exploitation concessions run up to 20 years and are renewable every five. They require an executive decree and then approval by Congress, a stage no uranium or titanium project has reached.
Annual fees are set in dollars per hectare, from US$0.35 during prospection to US$2.25 during exploitation. Permits come from the Ministry of Public Works and Communications, through its Vice Ministry of Mines and Energy.
Washington’s interest and a new ministry
On 9 August 2026 Paraguay and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding on civil nuclear cooperation. Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez signed in Washington alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The memorandum covers exploration and cataloguing of uranium, not extraction or enrichment. The government said it has no short-term plan to exploit nuclear fuel.
On 6 August 2026 the Chamber of Deputies urged the executive to create a mines and energy ministry. The Rio Times reported the government’s own ministry plan and its US$11 billion estimate on 15 August 2026.
What is still missing before a mine
Paraguay uranium and titanium projects have resources, not reserves. A reserve requires a feasibility study showing the metal can be mined at a profit.
No feasibility study has been published for any of the three projects. Nor has any environmental permit for extraction been granted to them.
Financing is the second gap, because the titanium base case alone needs US$338 million. Neither company has announced committed construction funding for Paraguay.
Local reports put direct employment at 700 to 900 if a titanium plant is built. Paraguay’s minimum monthly wage rose in July 2026 to ₲3,044,000 (US$512).
That figure uses the Banco Central del Paraguay reference rate of 5,947.51 guaraníes per dollar on 26 August 2026. Paraguay uranium and titanium will stay an exploration story until a concession is voted through.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Paraguay mine uranium or titanium today?
No. Paraguay uranium and titanium remain at the exploration stage, and gold is the only metal produced commercially.
Which companies hold the concessions?
Uranium Energy Corp of Texas holds the Alto Paraná titanium project and the Yuty and Oviedo uranium areas. Uranium One Mining Corp of Vancouver holds four neighbouring uranium concessions.
What does the mining industry want from the government?
Capami, the Paraguayan Mining Chamber, wants a new mining law with legal stability plus a national geological survey. It also asks for a standing round table with the state.
Connected Coverage
Sources
- www.uraniumenergy.com
- www.juniorminingnetwork.com
- uraniumone.com
- www.streetwisereports.com
- www.lanacion.com.py
- www.lanacion.com.py
- www.ultimahora.com
- www.hoy.com.py
- www.abc.com.py
- www.diputados.gov.py
- minasyenergia.mopc.gov.py
- minasyenergia.mopc.gov.py
- www.bcp.gov.py
- www.vouga.com.py
- riotimesonline.com
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