Global demand for uranium is forecast to rise by over 50%, fuelling investment in exploration for the energy-supplying metal and making uranium companies the key natural resource target for UK investors. This was the eye-opening message given in the lively uranium sessions at the Mining Energy 06 Conference, organised by Resource Capital Ltd. and held at the London Stock Exchange on 22 September 2006.

Highlighting the gap between current supply and future demand, Robert Wallace, Chief Executive of Ofex-listed uranium investment company Yellowcake plc, told delegates that “uranium is the very best, the most certain of all investment opportunities in mining”. Factors supporting this view included:

250 more nuclear power stations are under construction, ordered or planned, in addition to the 442 operating today – representing a 54% increase in demand;

the projected global annual deficit of uranium oxide will rise from 25 million pounds in 2015 to over 45 million by 2020;

uranium will become a strategic commodity, the subject of a world-wide scramble between nations to secure supplies; and

the uranium spot price has risen continuously for five years to its current $53.75 per pound and further rises are inevitable; the consensus of speakers at the conference was the price would rise another 40% over the next year.

 PRINT THIS PAGE