Uranium Firms Revive Forgotten Mines as Price of Nuclear Fuel Soars

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Bloomberg

March 3, 2024 at 9:30 AM EST


Across the US and allied countries, owners of left-for-dead uranium mines are restarting operations to capitalize on rising demand for the nuclear fuel.

At least five US producers are reviving mines in states including Wyoming, Texas, Arizona and Utah, where production flourished until governments soured on the radioactive element following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. Most of those American mines were idled in the aftermath of Fukushima, when uranium prices crashed and countries like Germany and Japan initiated plans to phase out nuclear reactors.

Now, with governments turning to nuclear power to meet emissions targets and top uranium producers struggling to satisfy demand, prices of the silvery-white metal are surging. And that’s giving those once-unprofitable uranium operations a chance to fill a supply gap. Uranium has been used as an energy source for more than six decades, fueling nuclear power plants and reactors. About two-thirds of global production comes from Kazakhstan, Canada and Australia.

Uranium will be a topic of conversation as thousands of mining executives, geologists and bankers descend on Toronto for the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada gathering this week. The annual event has attracted at least 10 uranium firms, including Denison Mines Corp., Fission Uranium Corp. and IsoEnergy Ltd.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-03/uranium-firms-revive-forgotten-mines-as-price-of-nuclear-fuel-soars?srnd=homepage-americas

---

Link to PDAC Convention info site - PDAC Convention - 2024

[NNadir]

1. I think in lieu of mining, we need to engage in fuel reprocessing.

Roughly 95% of used nuclear fuel is unreacted uranium. If we recover plutonium from this fuel (roughly 1%) we can avoid enrichment, and if we extend burnup by adding some thorium, we can greatly reduce the need to mine uranium for a very long time.

The energy content of unreacted uranium in used nuclear fuel, if converted to plutonium, which has an energy content of 80.3 trillion joules per kg, is enough to provide all of US energy demand at 100 EJ/year for around 65 years, and that's not even counting our rather large inventory of depleted uranium.

We should ally ourselves with Canadian CANDUs - throwing in a little thorium - to convert all of our uranium resources into plutonium.

When I say all above referring to US energy demand, I mean all energy, no petroleum, no coal, no gas, no ethanol, no wind, no solar, no hydroelectricity.

We need to stop doing things because that's the way they've always been done. We can and should do better.

[TexasTowelie]

2. My brother-in-law will be happy to hear the news.

He is a geologist who managed a uranium mine in Wyoming. He is working as a consultant now that he is retired.

[womanofthehills]

3. The native Americans in the SW are still dealing with contamination

On their lands and in their water.

[Blues Heron]

4. 12 percent of US uranium comes from Russia.

More than 1 in ten of US fuel rods fund Vlad`s war machine. Even after Navalny`s death, no sanctions have been levied against imports of Russian uranium

https://fnarena.com/index.php/2024/02/27/uranium-week-no-sanctions-on-russian-imports/