The uranium spot price appears to have bottomed near-term, with interest in the uranium sector creeping back.
Head of Mining at France’s Areva told Reuters in an interview that we are entering a bull market for uranium, with China, the U.S., the U.K., India and other countries currently relaunching their nuclear programs needing to
secure a long term uranium supply. Rising oil prices and concerns about climate change are also leading countries to search for cleaner alternatives, including nuclear power, thus increasing uranium’s attractiveness.
Areva is currently prowling for acquisitions such as UraMin, which the company bought for $2.5 billion last year, scooping up the Canadian junior’s uranium deposits identified in South Africa, Namibia and the Central African Republic. It wants to double its uranium production by
2012. In related uranium news, AngloGold Ashanti (AU) cancelled one million pounds of its outstanding uranium contracts and is taking a Q2 charge of $32 million which will allow it to begin participating in the spot market in 2009.