WNA reported in May 2023 that:
- Uranium is a relatively common metal, found in rocks and seawater. Economic concentrations of it are not uncommon.
- Quantities of mineral resources are greater than commonly perceived, and are relative to both market prices and cost of extraction.
- The world's known uranium resources increased by at least one-quarter (25%) in the last decade due to increased mineral exploration.
Total world resources of uranium, as with any other mineral or metal, are not known exactly. The only meaningful measure of long-term security of supply is the known reserves in the ground capable of being mined.
An orebody is, by definition, an occurrence of mineralisation from which the metal is economically recoverable. Orebodies, and thus measured resources – the amount known to be economically recoverable from orebodies – are therefore relative to both costs of extraction and market prices. For example, at present neither the oceans nor any granites are orebodies, but conceivably either could become so if prices were to rise sufficiently.
At ten times the current price*, seawater, for example, might become a potential source of vast amounts of uranium. Thus, any predictions of the future availability of any mineral, including uranium, which are based on current cost and price data, as well as current geological knowledge, are likely to prove extremely conservative. Factors affecting the supply of resources are discussed further and illustrated in Appendix 2*.
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