Uranium Prices Skyrocket
Not that this has anything to do with the Iranian nuclear ambitions or anything like that - but it appears that Uranium Skyrockets to $113/lb on Supply Shortfall
Today sources confirmed the spot uranium price has jumped from $95 to $113 per pound. This 19% jump is the largest price increase on record, surpassing the previous record of 7% set in October 2006 after Cameco’s Cigar Lake flooded.But who are they selling it to?Eric Webb, VP of Information and Technology for Ux Consulting Company, previously told Resource Investor that the price jump in October was the largest weekly gain seen on record. Although UxC has not yet updated its pricing info, analysts at the inaugural Uranium Stock Summit confirmed the $18 price jump and told listeners there is more of this to come.
Uranium at “$200/lb is not unrealistic,” said Doug Casey, chairman of Casey Research, presenter of the Summit. The price has risen about 15-fold since 2001.
On Friday, April 6, Mestena Uranium LLC, a uranium producer based in Corpus Christi, Texas, offered 100,000 pounds of yellowcake in an auction, catapulting the price of uranium. Privately held Mestena, which has a mine in Texas, produces about 1 million pounds a year.
“Uranium is going higher, stocks are going higher,” said Casey. “You have plenty of time – all the money has not been made.”
If all the money has not yet been made - it means that either (a) demand has not yet outstripped supply and that the market must be growing or that (b) fixed supply is causing a scarcity of the product.
Who are the new buyers?
Russia’s Atomstroiexport is the general contractor for Iran’s Bushehr nuclear facility, which will run on uranium supplied by Russia. Mohammad Saedi, deputy head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, said today that the Bushehr nuclear power plant will be commissioned by March 2008.Now - I try not to be too cynical about things *ahem* - and it strikes me that selling the Iranians nuclear capacity in any format is not to be recommended - but to suggest that "you can make more money by helping us to supply our potential enemies" - is appeasement of the worst kind.
Its like planting a tree and watching it grow for 20 years while spending all your time weaving a thick rope ...
Tags: iran, nuclear fuel, cold war, appeasement, russia, uranium