new spot uranium price reaches us113 pound

Mestena Auction Blows Uranium Price Past $100 Mark

New Spot Uranium Price Reaches $US113/Pound



Mine floods, speculators and utilities seeking near-term delivery drove the spot uranium price to a new record after bids were opened on April 3rd. Courtesy of TradeTech, www.uranium.info

The shot heard around the uranium world comes from Corpus Christi, Texas. A modest lot of 100 thousand pounds U3O8, offered by tiny privately owned Texas-based Mestena Uranium LLC, drove bidders to establish a new record spot uranium price. “The spot uranium price rose dramatically this week, jumping $18 to $113/pound U3O8, following the results of the sealed-bid auction,” according to Nuclear Market Review (NMR) editor Treva Klingbiel. “This is the largest single increase since uranium prices were first reported.” The spot uranium price jumped by nearly 19 percent this past week.

Since the beginning of the year, the spot uranium price has risen by 57 percent. By comparison, nickel has only increased by about 35 percent year to date. Nickel leads all metals traded on the London Metal Exchange (LME). In January 2001, spot uranium could be purchased for as little as US$6.40. Since then, yellowcake, industry slang for the processed nuclear fuel, has jumped by more than 1700 percent! According to Gene Clark, chief executive of TradeTech, which publishes Nuclear Market Review, “We are about $2 short of the all-time high in inflation-adjusted dollars.”

Bidders hoping to purchase the Mestena uranium came from all market groups, according to NMR. Uranium producers, traders, investors and utilities bid for the 100 thousand pound lot. Klingbiel gave three reasons for the aggressive bidding: ERA’s recent mine flooding, continued interest from speculators and utilities seeking significant quantities for near-term delivery. New demand from a U.S. utility also emerged in the long-term uranium market this week. The long-term uranium price remains unchanged at US$85/pound. TradeTech posts the weekly spot and long-term uranium price on the consulting service’s website at www.uranium.info.




Canadian and Australian Uranium Stock Indexes Hit New Record Highs



Chart courtesy of www.theinvestar.com which tracks both Canadian and Australian stocks. In the Canadian chart, 43 uranium companies – each with more than C$40 million in market capitalization comprise this weekly index. The Australian Index tracks 25 companies, which own uranium assets.

This past week’s anticipation of an active auction for the Mestena uranium attracted investor interest in publicly traded uranium companies in Australia and Canada. According to TheInvestar.com, indexes for both the Canadian and Uranium stocks being tracked set new record highs this past week. Canadian and Australian stocks tumbled after reaching previous highs in late February.

“The major trend investors seem to be embracing is to invest in those companies with deposits and future mine plans,” said Matthew Smith, who compiles the indexes. Smith found this trend evident in both Canada and Australia. “The Canadian Index has been led higher by the ‘mid-majors’ and evolving juniors – those with deposits but smaller market caps,” Smith added.