Why are Uranium Prices Expected to Rise?

The growth of nuclear power means greater demand for uranium, which is the required fuel source. How is this impacting uranium prices, and do you think uranium miners will be able to meet demand?

Yeah, it's a really good question, and it was a key focal point of this conference. This is the world's largest nuclear energy conference that happens every year in September, and the association every two years puts out a new supply demand forecast, which they did last week. What was very interesting about it is that in all three scenarios, the base case, the high case, and the low case, demand is growing much more than previously expected.

We went from an industry that was growing maybe 1% per year. The latest forecast is calling for 5% growth per year to 2040. That is being driven by all kinds of factors: new builds, restarts, life extensions.

On the supply side, the question is how is the industry going to meet this growing demand? It is a challenge because right before the conference, we had the two largest uranium miners in the world both signal they're having some production challenges or limitations, and that is a wakeup call that we need to see more production. We need to see higher prices to incentivize more uranium mining.

That was a real theme of the conference, that to meet these big growth aspirations, we also need to make big investments in uranium mining, which obviously bodes well for the sector.