Uranium prices and supply

Posted: 29th January 2024

Uranium has been hot this year, industry experts say. The trouble is there may not be enough to go around. The squeeze on the metal, found in rocks and seawater, intensified recently after 22 countries, including the US, recently signed a pact at the UN Climate Change conference to triple their nuclear power capacity by 2050. “There’s no other way to meet those net-zero carbon goals other than nuclear energy,” said Nicole Galloway Warland, managing director of Thor Energy (THORF), an exploration company with projects in Utah and Colorado. The backdrop to all this is, of course, is the march towards cleaner energy. But the rise of EVs and the anticipated power demands of artificial intelligence computing are also going to create a demand crunch for clean electricity — and nuclear is seen as a power source, unlike oil or coal, without the downside of carbon dioxide emissions. That means the demand for uranium, the underlying fuel for nuclear plants, will be on the rise for years to come, experts and miners contend. “Where is that uranium going to come from?,” asked Galloway Warland. “There’s not enough to go around. There’s a supply deficit.” Earlier this month, the world’s largest uranium miner, Kazatomprom (KAP.IL (http://KAP.IL)), warned it will likely not meet its production targets in the next two years because of mine construction delays and a lack of sulfuric acid needed for uranium production. Uranium prices shot up to 2007 levels this month, sitting above $106 per pound.

Yahoo website 28th Jan 2024
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/22-countries-want-to-triple-nuclear-power-is-there-enough-uranium-to-go-around-180010715.html