“It would be wise for uranium buyers to make decisions in 2015 at the latest.”
That’s good advice from Oliver Wantz, who is head of the mining division of the world’s second largest uranium producer, Areva SA.
The uranium price suffered a major blow in 2011 after an earthquake and tsunami caused a meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear reactor in Japan. Knee jerk reactions from Japan and Germany saw both countries move to shutter all nuclear operations that decreased demand for the radioactive mineral by about 12% worldwide.
While uranium reached its lowest price levels in seven years just this past summer, the reality is that nuclear is on the rise and is expected to cause a deficit in the supply of uranium.
As I write this, there are 70 nuclear reactors under construction worldwide according to the latest World Nuclear Association figures. The greatest demand will come from emerging economies such as China, Russia and India, territory traditionally dominated by western countries such as the U.S. and France.
“All new nuclear plants will significantly boost demand in coming years, even taking into account the phasing out of German plants by 2022 and other possible closures,” Wantz said. “We see first a stabilization of prices, with the start of a pick-up as soon as 2014.”
I couldn’t agree more.
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