Uranium is making a comeback thanks to a renewed focus on nuclear energy as a climate crisis solution. Canada, rich with high-grade deposits, could become a nuclear “superpower”. But can its potential be realised?
Leigh Curyer had been working in uranium mining for nearly two decades when he noticed a striking shift.
In 2011, the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in Japan badly damaged the world’s view of nuclear power, and the price for the heavy metal – a critical component for nuclear fuel – cratered.
But the last five years has seen a reversal, with the global price of uranium spiking by more than 200%one of this year’s top-performing commodities.
Mr Curyer, an Australian-born businessman, credits this to a changing attitude that began soon after Microsoft founder Bill Gates touted nuclear energy as “ideal for dealing with climate change” in 2018.
Four years later, then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson pushed forward a policy of generating at least 25% of the country’s energy from nuclear.
Shortly after, the European Union voted to declare nuclear energy climate-friendly.
These events were “catalytic” for the uranium industry and a turning point for Mr Curyer’s company NexGen, which is behind the largest in-development uranium mine in Canada.
His phone began to ring with calls from investors worldwide – something that “had never happened in my previous 17 years in the industry”, he said.
