u at 150 bucks within 12 months

Uranium at $150/lb within a year
Allan Seccombe
Posted: Thu, 29 Nov 2007
[miningmx.com] -- THE uranium price will move to $150/pound within the next year driven by supply and demand fundamentals, said Uranium One CEO Neal Froneman.


The spot price for the energy metal is $93/lb and the long-term price $95.

“Our view is that we see uranium at $150 within the next year or so. Market activity is increasing,� Froneman told Miningmx.

“The fundamentals are better than six months ago. Production is not reaching levels that were expected and demand is increasing,� he said.

The price of processed uranium or U3O8 reached an all-time high of $138/lb in June this year from below $10 seven years ago, but has since pulled backed.

Cameco, the world’s largest miner of uranium, has reduced output from its Rabbit Lake operation in Canada because of increased water flows underground at the Eagle Point mine. Rabbit Lake normally produces around four million pounds of uranium a year.


Click Here to subscribe to our daily newsletter"Limited mining activity will continue and the mill continues to operate with a small amount of stockpiled ore. This mine has encountered similar situations in the past and dealt with them successfully," Cameco said on Wednesday.

Uranium prices shot higher when Cameco’s Cigar Lake flooded. The mine, which is planned to produce 18 million pounds of uranium, will now only start production in 2011 at the soonest instead of this year as originally forecast.

Cigar Lake’s output was an important consideration in the uranium market where demand growth is overtaking that of supply amid a concerted effort in a number of countries to build nuclear plants. Nuclear power has crept back into fashion because of growing global concerns about climate changed caused by burning fossil fuels.

There are 435 nuclear plants operating in 30 countries. Twenty-nine new nuclear plants are under construction 12 countries. And, in the USA, 48 nuclear plants have received license renewals, with 34 more expected, according to TradeTech President Treva Klingbiel.

China’s uranium demand will grow to 7,000 tonnes by 2020 from the current 1,000 tonnes as it extends its nuclear plant programme, Li Junjie, director of the uranium material department of the State Nuclear Power Agency, said in November.