How high can the price of uranium go?

This week, The Economist, a weekly newspaper read by global elites, looks at the mighty rise of uranium with insights from industry stakeholders.

The article looks to temper expectations of the uranium bulls, saying that “no one anticipates a repeat of 2007; when buying by the first uranium fund and floods at big mines combined to push the spot price beyond $135 a pound.”

While history never repeats, it certainly often rhymes. 

This time around, a unique supply and demand imbalance is unfolding, as the article ruminates.

The outlook for getting more supply to the market by non-producing uranium miners seems to be a $70 – $80 uranium. Jonathan Hinze of uxc suggests that the price would be enough to get many projects started.

The article also covers the annual World Nuclear Symposium, where the conference heard predictions of $100/lb uranium and a wild note.

The article also reports that the two largest producers of uranium, presumably Canada’s Cameco and Kazakhstan’s Kazatomprom, are sold out until 2027.

On the demand side, the article also reports some utilities are thought to be short-enriched uranium supply for 2024.

However, Tom Price of Liberum, an investment bank, suggests that Cameco and Kazatomprom could bring more supply within 12-18 months, which would be an attempt to keep other miners out of the market and market share in place.

The demand side is, undeniably, overwhelming in the medium to long term.

Dominated by China’s massive nuclear build-out, restarts in Japan, and South Korea, and new plants coming to multiple nations in Europe, North America, the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere in Asia – a more ambitious uranium target could very well be on the cards.

That’s before we even consider the rise of Small Modular Reactors, with one microreactor startup booking billions in deals. 

See more on the nuclear revolution happening globally.