The Energy Report: The uranium spot price balloon has lost air again and is back down in the mid-$30/pound (mid-$30/lb) range. It was stalled there for months last year. What pushed the spot price up in the first place? Why is it falling now?
Rob Chang: The uranium spot market is generally pretty thin, and any number of transactions on either the buy or sell side could push it in any direction. What's moved it higher recently could be the news of Japanese reactor restarts happening this summer. A couple of reactors are set to restart in the next few months or so, and we believe that helped push the price along a little bit.
But the spot price really depends on near-term utility demand. I think that's the key point here. In terms of utility demand, according to the numbers that we've seen, globally about 1520% of uranium requirements for 2016 onward are still uncovered. Between now and the end of 2016, there needs to be some buying, either in the spot market or through some other means, to cover those requirements. We saw a bit of a lift because of that need, but certainly there hasn't been a big rush back toward buying uranium ex-spot yet.
TER: I've heard repeatedly that the deficit is going to occur in 2019 or 2020. Why aren't the mining companies moving ahead to address the deficit they know is coming? Continue reading "Uranium Got You Down? Better Days Are Ahead"
