Uranium supply deficit expected to increase prices

Nuclear power plant operators haven’t been signing many contracts to buy uranium lately but a Perth-based miner expects that to change soon given a looming supply deficit.

India, China and the United States are all moving ahead with building more nuclear reactors, Paladin Energy managing director and chief executive Paul Hemburrow noted in a phone call with analysts on Wednesday.

“In terms of our discussions with utilities, very strong interest, very cognisant of the tightness in supply and some of the challenges that some other producers are having with ramp-up and start-up,” he said.

In a few years there won’t be enough yellowcake to meet the demands of the world’s nuclear reactors, Mr Hemburrow predicted.

“Utilities are really chasing supply out to the 2030s, and it’s not really clear where they’re going to meet those requirements,”  he said.

Paladin Energy owns a three-quarter stake in the Langer Heinrich Mine in Namibia, which the company restarted in March 2024.

The mine’s open-pit operations had been suspended in 2018 after a crash in yellowcake prices following the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan.

In the June quarter the mine produced 1.23 million pounds of yellowcake, a vital starting material for nuclear reactor fuel, taking its full-year production to 4.82 million pounds, slightly beating guidance.

It received an average price for $US70 a pound for that yellowcake, well above its production cost of $US40.4 a pound. 

The company predicts it will produce 5.1 to 5.6 million pounds of yellowcake in 2026/27.

Paladin said it also made progress on achieving a licence in Canada for its proposed Patterson Lake South uranium mine in Northern Saskatchewan.

Paladin hopes to gain a construction license by the end of 2027. 

The company is also negotiating with the area’s Indigenous people, the Birch Narrows Dene Nation.

Shortly after lunchtime, Paladin shares were trading for $8.91, up 4.1 per cent from Tuesday’s close.