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Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

Uranium crunch: the race to fuel the West’s nuclear energy revival – by Heidi Vella (Mining Technology – May 6, 2025)

https://www.mining-technology.com/

Amid Russian sanctions and China’s foothold over current uranium supply, how will the West secure the reserves it requires?

The devastating accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan in March 2011 triggered a global reassessment of nuclear power, radically reshaping and diminishing the industry, with reactors shut down and national bans brought in.

Yet, in what could be seen as an extreme volte-face, investment in the industry for the first time in many years is climbing. Driven in large part by decarbonisation targets meeting the reality of rising energy demand amid slow renewable energy roll out, the World Nuclear Association (WNA), perhaps unsurprisingly, is touting nuclear as the solution to securing future carbon-free electricity – but this time it is backed by financiers, countries and major companies such as Meta, Google and Amazon.

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Will uranium ever get its day in the sun? – by Mark Wembridge and Elouise Fowler (Australian Financial Review – April 27, 2025)

https://www.afr.com/

It was one of the hottest trades of last year. Now the commodity has a new claim to fame – it dominates the list of most-shorted stocks on the ASX.

Uranium, one of the hottest trades of last year, has a new claim to fame, an unwanted one. Companies exploring or mining the commodity make up six of the 20-most-shorted stocks on the local bourse.

It is a big change from the bull market of 2023 and 2024, when demand for a new, emissions-free fuel source buoyed expectations that local uranium stocks would be big winners from the end of coal and gas generation. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton made nuclear the centrepiece of his energy policy; countries around the world scrambled to build new plants.

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Uranium Spotlight: Eight companies on the radar – by Staff (Northern Miner – April 28, 2025)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Rising electricity demand from new AI-driven technologies and government support for nuclear power as a base load energy source are ramping up interest in uranium. After years of underinvestment, exploration and development companies are racing to find new sources of the nuclear fuel, and put them into production. Below is a list of eight interesting uranium plays to watch.

Anfield Energy

Anfield Energy owns the Shootaring Canyon mill in southeastern Utah, one of only three licensed and permitted conventional uranium mills in the United States. The company’s portfolio of uranium and vanadium projects stretches across Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.

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The sinister history of America’s ‘uranium gold rush’ – by Erin Blakemore (National Geographic – July 12, 2024)

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/

The success of the Manhattan Project sent demand for uranium skyrocketing, and enterprising prospectors went out West in search of an overnight fortune. But many were exposed to lethal radiation in the mines.

Armed with picks and shovels, the prospectors turned to the American West intent on finding deposits of the mineral that would make their fortunes. Their pursuit of wealth led to vast riches—and left ghost towns in its wake.

But the year wasn’t 1849, and the miners weren’t in search of gold. Instead, it was the 1950s, and they carried Geiger counters along with their shovels. They were part of the United States’ last big mineral rush—a forgotten race to find uranium deposits at the dawn of the nuclear age.

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Nuclear waste agency looking for Canada’s second deep geological repository – by Allison Jones (Canadian Press/City News Calgary – April 4, 2025)

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An organization tasked with managing Canada’s nuclear waste found one site to store millions of bundles of radioactive used fuel for thousands of years hundreds of metres underground — and now it’s looking for a second.

As the Nuclear Waste Management Organization begins the regulatory process for a deep geological repository site in northern Ontario to store spent nuclear fuel, after a 14-year site-selection journey, it’s also starting to look at the need for another site to hold different types of nuclear waste.

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Sahel juntas drive new era in mineral extraction – by Martina Schwikowski (Deutsche Welle – April 3, 2025)

https://www.dw.com/en/

In Niger, a local company has been granted a license to mine copper. Meanwhile, military governments in Mali and Burkina Faso aim to reduce dependence on foreign mining companies and diversify their economies.

Niger wants to boost its economy and expand its mining industry by mining copper in the Agadez region. The country granted a permit to national firm Compagnie Miniere de l’Air (Cominair SA). “Niger is continuing its programme of diversifying mining production” with a move that “marks its entry into the restricted circle of countries producing this strategic mineral,” according to a statement from Niger’s military government, which took power following a July 2023 coup.

Ulf Laessing, head of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s Sahel regional program in neighboring Mali, said the concession is part of Niger’s strategy to reduce its reliance on foreign companies for mineral extraction.

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Uranium market freezes as tariff threats rattle would-be buyers – by Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News – March 31, 2025)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

The North American uranium market is grinding to a halt as U.S. nuclear-power companies spooked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats slow purchases and delay new contracts.

U.S. utility purchases of the nuclear fuel dropped by half as the imposition of Trump’s 10 per cent levy on Canadian energy exports approaches, according the most-recent data from pricing firm TradeTech. Reactor operators who typically rely on term contracts are standing on the sidelines to see how the tariffs play out.

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Boom in uranium stocks fizzles as Ukraine ceasefire talks build – by Geoffrey Morgan (Bloomberg News – March 25, 2025)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Once-booming uranium stocks have been veering toward bust mode to start 2025. Escalating trade tensions between the US and Canada, one of the world’s key producers of the nuclear fuel, are playing a major part.

Lately, so are talks toward a ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine, which raise the prospect of looser sanctions on Russian production of the radioactive metal and the potential for more supply. The price of uranium is now down more than a third from early 2024, and has slumped roughly 11% this year alone.

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The US Uranium Dilemma: Domestic Production Challenges in an Era of Growing Nuclear Energy Demand – by Scot Anderson (Womble Bond Dickinson.com – March 20, 2025)

https://www.womblebonddickinson.com/

At present, Kazakhstan, Canada and Namibia account for nearly two-thirds of global uranium production. The United States produces less than one percent of the world’s uranium, and most of the uranium used in the United States is imported, primarily from Canada. As discussed elsewhere in this series, there is increasing commitment to nuclear energy as a fundamental component of domestic and global energy production.

Despite its emphasis on the development of fossil fuels, the Trump administration is likely to support more nuclear energy development, especially in the form of small modular reactors. The Executive Order on “Unleashing American Energy” includes a direction to the U.S. Geological Service to consider adding uranium to the list of critical minerals.

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Public pushes back against government bill that would lift N.S. ban on uranium mining, fracking – by Michael Gorman (CBC News Nova Scotia – March 17, 2025)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/

Presenters call out premier’s claim that ban was the result of lazy policy-making

There was nothing lazy about a former government’s decision to ban fracking in Nova Scotia, MLAs heard on Monday.

Multiple presenters to the legislature’s committee on public bills said the Houston government’s plan to lift the ban on uranium exploration and mining and the moratorium on fracking for onshore gas, as proposed in the omnibus legislation Bill 6, should not happen without robust public consultation — if it happens at all.

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Canada exempts Paladin’s PLS from non-resident ownership policy (Mining Weekly – March 17, 2025)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

Uranium miner and developer Paladin Energy has been granted an exemption from Canada’s Non-Resident Ownership Policy (NROP) for its Patterson Lake South (PLS) uranium project in Saskatchewan. The exemption allows Paladin, which is listed on the ASX and TSX, to maintain a 100% controlling interest in PLS as it moves toward commercial production.

The exemption was secured in connection with Paladin’s acquisition of Fission Uranium, which was completed in late December.

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NexGold announces positive feasibility study update for Goliath gold complex – by Staff (Canadian Mining Journal – March 13, 2025)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

NexGold Mining announce potential positive outcomes as itworks towards the completion of its feasibility study for its Goliath gold complex located in the Wabigoon Greenstone belt in northwestern Ontario. NexGold Mining is a gold-focused company with assets in Canada and Alaska. The company expects the feasibility study in the second quarter of this year.

The Goliath gold complex project utilized a combination of open-pit and underground mining methods to extract gold ore. The company’s feasibility study is being prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards for Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

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The future for nuclear is bright, but only if we learn lessons of the past – by Erin O’Toole (Financial Post – March 5, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

Canada was the third country to achieve nuclear fission, but our history is littered with cautionary tales and cost overruns

As Canada prepares to meet its growing energy needs, there is no longer debate about the central role nuclear will play.

Critics have become converts in what is being called the “nuclear renaissance,” but before we break ground on the next generation of reactors, Canadian policymakers must answer one crucial question: Who bears the risk for cost overruns, and how do we prevent them in the first place? If we fail to get this right, we will struggle to expand nuclear power precisely when we need it most.

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Canada has to develop uranium enrichment if wants to succeed in the new nuclear era – by Michael Joel-Hansen (Saskatoon Star-Phoenix – February 28, 2025)

https://thestarphoenix.com/

A number of steps need to be taken, including in legislation, to lay the groundwork to build up Canada’s enrichment capacity

In the push to decarbonize power generation in Canada, many provinces have begun to explore deploying nuclear power to help eliminate carbon-emitting sources, just as many countries are doing.

The looming expansion of nuclear power generation is leading to growth in the uranium mining industry in northern Saskatchewan, but some industry observers are pointing to another pressing area in need of further development: the enrichment of uranium.

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As tensions rise, Canada to lean on U.S. for uranium enrichment – by Matthew McClearn (Globe and Mail – February 24, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Even as U.S. President Donald Trump talks of waging a campaign of “economic force” to persuade Canada to join a political union with the United States, Ontario Power Generation is preparing to construct an American reactor at its Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. The reactor’s uranium fuel would be enriched at a facility in New Mexico, a new vulnerability U.S. administrations could exploit.

Canada’s 17 operating reactors are of the homegrown Candu design, which consume natural uranium. Canada possesses uranium in abundance and has long made its own fuel. But nearly all the reactors promoted for construction now require enriched uranium, which Canada can’t produce.

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