Uranium prices rise in Kazakhstan unrest | New Energy

Kazakhstan produces more than 40 percent of the world’s uranium and saw rising prices in the country’s rising prices for radioactive metals.

The price of uranium has risen as Kazakhstan, the world’s largest producer of radioactive metal, struggles to fight deadly protests that have posed the country’s biggest challenge for decades.

The Central Asian nation, part of the former Soviet Union, which produces more than 40 percent of the world’s uranium, has disrupted communications networks and restricted some travel to ease unrest. The Kremlin has said that Russia and its allies in the Collective Security Treaty Organization will send “peacekeeping forces” after Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called for help.

Uranium rose nearly 8% to $ 45.25 a pound on Wednesday from $ 42 a pound on Tuesday, according to UxC data. The disruption could lead to increased confidence in suppliers outside of Kazakhstan, which could lead to an increase in the shares of uranium companies in North America and Australia.

Given Kazakhstan’s role as the world’s No. 1 supplier of uranium, “it would be as if the Saudis were having problems with oil,” said Jonathan Hinz, president of UxC LLC, a leading nuclear fuel market research and analysis company. “While there is no shortage right now, the potential for this to create shortages is what people are now negotiating.”

Nuclear fuel returned surprisingly in September, with prices up 24% since the end of 2008 in search of the best monthly performance.

While prices are rising due to unrest in Kazakhstan and new supply disruptions, there is no immediate uranium shortage or closure of nuclear power plants. Unlike oil or natural gas facilities, nuclear power plants can continue to operate if shipments are delayed, as many have created warehouses in recent years.

And at least some mining operations continue. Katco’s activity, a joint venture to exploit uranium between NAC Kazatomprom JSC and Orano SA in France, has not ceased at this time, as the mining site is far from the sites of tension, an Orano spokesman said.

However, the shares of Kazatomprom, Kazakhstan’s main uranium miner, have fallen by 10% in the last two days in London. Most North American uranium companies extended their profits on Wednesday after the European Union launched a plan to make certain nuclear projects sustainable.

Due to the unrest in Kazakhstan, “people are waking up that we may not be able to trust a big producer,” said Nick Piquard, Horizons ETF portfolio manager.

(Updates on the status of the Katco mining joint venture in paragraph 7)
– With the help of Yuliya Fedorinova and Francois de Beaupuy.