[NOTE: This article contains noticeably biased or misinformed statements. Looking into the backgrounds of the three authors of this article for anti-nuclear agenda].
Lorinc and two co-authors reported in early March 2024 that across the US and allied countries, owners of left-for-dead uranium mines are restarting operations to capitalize on rising demand for the nuclear fuel.
The Mochovce nuclear power plant in Mochovce, Slovakia containing four nuclear
reactors. Janos Kummer -Getty Images
[Note: Authors are casting shadows on the shuttered uranium processing plants and other surface facilities; nothing was "left-for-dead;" uranium mining companies have been gearing up to resume mining (mostly in situ mining) for more than a year as the uranium prices began to rise.]
At least five US producers are reviving mines in states including Wyoming, Texas, Arizona and Utah, where production flourished until governments soured on the radioactive element following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. [This comment also smacks of misinformation and general BS. The Fukushima incident created a temporary over supply of uranium fuel, hence the decreasing uranium prices, so low that most mines except those Russian and Kazakhstan operations with government support keeping prices very low, too low for U.S. and some Canadian and Australian mines to operate.]
Most of those American mines were idled in the aftermath of Fukushima when uranium prices crashed and countries like Germany and Japan initiated plans to phase out nuclear reactors. Now, With government providing funding for research [and industries] turning to nuclear power to meet emissions targets and top uranium producers struggling to satisfy demand [Bias Alert: more BS, just not operating until a suitable was reached], prices of the silvery-white metal are surging. And that’s giving those once-unprofitable uranium operations [actually not operating as soon as price declined] a chance to fill a supply gap.
Uranium has been used as an energy source for more than six decades, fueling nuclear power plants and reactors. About two-thirds of global production comes from Kazakhstan, Canada and Australia. Uranium will be a topic of conversation as thousands of mining executives, geologists and bankers descend on Toronto for the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada gathering this week. The annual event has attracted at least 10 uranium firms, including Denison Mines Corp., Fission Uranium Corp., IsoEnergy Ltd, and EnCore Energy.
As countries increasingly consider nuclear power to address climate change, demand for uranium is expected to skyrocket. The International Atomic Energy Agency estimates the world will need more than 100,000 metric tons of uranium per year by 2040 — an amount that requires nearly doubling mining and processing from current levels.
Canada’s Cameco Corp. and Kazakhstan’s Kazatomprom, which together account for half of global supply, have struggled to ramp up production. They have warned of some operational setbacks that will result in less uranium output than expected in the coming years.
“We’re in an old-fashioned, plain-and-simple supply squeeze,” said Scott Melbye, executive vice president of Texas-based Uranium Energy Corp. “Demand is increasing again, with new reactors coming online.”
Production hasn’t kept pace due to years of underinvestment in mining and exploration, said Melbye, whose company is reopening mines in Wyoming and Texas that were idled in 2018.
Energy Fuels Inc. initiated plans late last year to restart operations in Arizona, Utah and Colorado, while Ur-Energy Inc. said it will dust off an idled mine in Wyoming. Mid-sized companies in Australia and Canada have announced similar plans. EnCore Energy is already in production in south Texas.
To be sure, production from these mines — most of which are small and nearing the end of their lives — would comprise a small fraction of the world’s uranium supply. [Note Bias Alert: This is misinformation. There numerous mining companies gearing up for production with large reserves in U.S., Canada and Australia, and even in Peru and Argentina, etc.]
“The industry is clearly trying to respond with smaller mines reopening, but when you have a mine that hasn’t operated for that long, it’s obviously not very substantive,” said John Ciampagli, Chief Executive Officer of Sprott Asset Management, which operates the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust
[Clampagli is either uninformed, is providing misinformation promoting unknown agenda, or was misquoted].
Top Producers
Supply constraints should ease with top producers churning out the millions of pounds of uranium they left in the ground when prices were low. Kazatomprom has been increasing output after years of operating well below its capacity.
Cameco has been ramping up production at the world’s largest high-grade uranium mine and mill — MacArthur River and Key Lake in the western Canadian province of Saskatchewan — after idling operations between 2018 and 2021 due to weak market conditions. The two firms “will be very concerned about losing their market share to a bunch of juniors, and so they’ll want to claim that back,” said Tom Price, a senior commodities analyst at London-based investment bank Libereum. “That will take a lot of heat out of the market.”
Still, US mine reopenings mark a revival for an American industry that was at risk of disappearing only five years ago. American uranium production hit an all-time low of 174,000 pounds in 2019 — a drop from its 44-million-pound peak in 1980 — as the US started increasing dependence on imports from countries like Canada, Australia, Kazakhstan and Russia, etc.
The US industry’s push is also political, with the government seeking to secure access to supply amid geopolitical uncertainty. Sanctions on Russia following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine have posed challenges for uranium shipments en route from Kazakhstan, since the former Soviet state’s exports typically pass through Russian ports.
To keep up with demand, the Uranium Producers of America forecasts the US will need eight to 10 new, major mines to start production over the next decade, [three companies have either already begun production or are nearing start-up operations].
For additional information:
World’s Biggest Uranium Miner Warns of Production Shortfall (here);
Uranium Explorations and Development (here);
Nuclear Power and the new Power Plants, Large and Small (here); and
The Long Arm of Russia and the Politics of Uranium (here).
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