Uranium is a chemical element with the atomic number of 92. It is a grey, dense, radioactive metal. The fuel for nuclear reactors is a highly radioactive isotope of uranium that is less than one percent of most uranium deposits. Low enrichment of uranium provides fuel while highly enriched uranium is used in nuclear weapons.
Uranium is common in the crust of the Earth. It is forty times more common than silver and five hundred times more common than gold. Uranium is found in small quantities in rocks, sediments, seawater, aquifers and hot springs. In areas where the geological conditions are just right, concentrated uranium ore can be found.
Uranium is an energy commodity that is traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) division of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. All energy raw materials including crude oil, natural gas, coal, and uranium are traded on the NYMEX. Each contract on the futures exchange involves two hundred and fifty pounds of Triuranium Octoxide which is a popular form of processed uranium ore known as yellowcake. The current price of uranium is the lowest that it has been in the last ten years. If the price rises, uranium offers value for investors.
Kazakhstan produced the highest amount of uranium of any country in the world in 2017. There are seventeen uranium mines in Kazakhstan scattered among fifty known deposits of high grade ore. It is estimated that Kazakhstan contains as much as twelve percent of global reserves. Kazakhstan was responsible for the production of twenty-three thousand eight hundred tons of uranium which represents about forty percent of world production for the year. Canada comes next in uranium production. It produces about thirteen thousand tons. Australia is next after Canada with about six thousand tons a year. Niger produces over four thousand tons. Russia and Namibia produce three thousand tons a year. Uzbekistan, China, the United States, and Ukraine are also in the top ten producers.
Australia has about thirty percent of the uranium reserves in the world. Although Australia has the biggest reserves by far there are no commercial nuclear power reactors there because of the very strong political and public opposition to all things nuclear. If that changes, Australia could easily outproduce Kazakhstan.
For most nations with uranium, reserves and stockpiles are considered to be important strategic national security secrets. It is likely that the exact size and location of reserves and stockpiles in Russia and China are not being made public.
The price of uranium has been falling for the past ten years, from a high of one hundred and forty-eight dollars a pound in 2007 to a recent low of seventeen dollars and fifty cents. The current price is twenty-two dollars and forty five cents a pound.
Cameco is the company that produces the most uranium in the world. They generate about thirteen thousand five hundred metric tons each year in Canada, the U.S. and Kazakhstan. The French company Areva produces nearly the same amount from Canada, Kazakhstan and Niger. Rio Tinto is the third largest producer with Paladin Energy as the fourth.
