Uranium Finance gets ahead of Climate Politics

A new (state owned) company, ANU Energy OEIC Ltd, in the Republic of Kazakhstan made the following announcement today, October 18, 2021 — KAP announces investment in physical uranium fund

This announcement has boosted the share prices of uranium miners, refiners, and juniors dramatically, continuing the rally started earlier this Fall by the debut announcement of the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust, which is a Canadian, well financed (with a target of C$2 billion), well connected and well managed, trading platform holding physical uranium as an asset. The new Kazakh fund, ANU Energy OEIC Ltd., although initially capitalized at US$50 million will seek to raise an additional US$500 million to be used for the sole purpose of buying and stockpiling physical uranium. The Kazak fund has the advantage that it can buy from its 48.5% owner, Kazatomprom, also a state owned company, and with domestic Kazak mines that produce 23% of the world’s uranium, annually, making Kazatomprom the worlds largest uranium marketer.

Climate politics followers know that initially “nuclear,” although carbon free was condemned due to the perception of danger from radiation, but the national governments of more and more of the richest nations-the largest users per capita of electrical energy-are today openly moving to enlarge their domestic nuclear industries. China has never wavered and has continued to build nuclear plants, Great Britain has reversed decisions to close existing plants and has reaffirmed orders for new ones. The nation with the largest numbers of nuclear plants, the USA with more than 100 operating plants, has quietly extended operating licenses and federally begun to modernize the existing governmental support structure for nuclear plant regulation. Utilities are being encouraged to continue new construction whereas very recently they were not. France, of course, gets 80% of its electricity from French owned, operated, and built nuclear plants.

What do all of the nations listed above, the USA, the United Kingdom, France, and China have in common? They all get a significant portion of their baseload energy from nuclear plants; they all build and operate nuclear submarines and operate or are building nuclear powered aircraft carriers; and none of them has domestic production of uranium of any significance.

Also, the United States, China, and France combined operate the overwhelming majority of all global nuclear plants.

In each of these rich nations, uranium is and will remain a critical fuel metal indefinitely no matter what happens with climate change and fossil fuels.

Sprott has had a very good idea and the Kazakh’s are in the game. Watch the uranium producers and processors in the USA, Canada, Australia, and Kazakhstan. Miners sell uranium to utilities or to Defense industries. Sales are by contract or spot. Is Physical metal held by traders as large as Sprott or the new Kazakh entity really an accessible supply? Or are these pounds of uranium open value poker chips being used by high rollers. The game has begun. Don’t get shut-out.