Is the Uranium Rally Just Beginning?

There's a supply problem: the US doesn't have enough of the yellow stuff. [The Rude Awakening] December 11, 2023 [WEBSITE]( | [UNSUBSCRIBE]( Is the Uranium Rally Just Beginning? [Sean Ring] SEAN RING When I chatted with Rick Rule the other week, he said, “The easy money has been made in uranium.” I’m sure he’s correct, as uranium was a hated asset early this year and has rallied 50% since that bottom. The URA ETF was trading at $9 pre-Covid and has nearly tripled since then. Since the Covid bottom, it’s quadrupled. [The rude] We may have a ways to go with this rally, especially if URA breaks above $30. Let’s walk through uranium and its growing importance to the energy market. The Cat’s Out of the Bag [Last week]( COP28 President and CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber said: I accepted to come to this meeting to have a sober and mature conversation. I’m not in any way signing up to any discussion that is alarmist. There is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phase-out of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5C. Basically, the John Kerrys and Al Gores of the world have been unmasked. No one believes the earth will melt if we don’t get temperatures down 1.5C (at an exorbitant cost). So they’ve had to retrench. If you recall, when Fukushima happened in 2011, Merkel’s Germany, in its seemingly bottomless stupidity, canceled all its nuclear reactors. Since Mutti was the face of Europe, many other countries followed suit. (Luckily for them, the French weren’t so stupid.) Germany has returned[to coal plants]( to keep the lights on and industry going. And China and India never got off coal plants. According to [Statista]( at the end of July 2023, these countries had the most coal-fired plants: [The rude] Credit: [Statista]( China and India are at the top of the list. With the climate alarmists feeling their precious agenda taking hit after hit, they’ve felt the need to sound sensible for once. Hence, we need to start talking about clean-burning nuclear energy again. That’s great, as nuclear is indeed the way forward. But there’s one huge obstacle in the way. [We Could Be on The Cusp of a MASSIVE Global Event Starting December 13]( If you thought 2023 was bad… 2024 could be 10 times worse. Some experts say we could see “the dollar stop circulating as the world’s reserve currency”. But this crisis isn’t waiting for the new year to get started… In fact, the carnage could begin THIS Wednesday, December 13th, at exactly 2:00 PM. Which means you have a big decision to make - risk being one of the millions of sheep that get led to the slaughter, or you can take control of your future and potentially make a small fortune in the process. You don’t have long to decide. [Click here to take action now](. [Click Here To Learn More]( RUSSIA! Now, Russia, per se, isn’t the problem. It’s just that two of the biggest uranium-producing countries are former Soviet satellites that use Russian technology to get the uranium out of the ground. [Russia] Credit: [Kitco]( And, of course, the Russians are wise. If they can’t control the reserves, they’ll control the process. So, what does the process look like? From Ore to Energy This process of converting uranium from metal to energy has four main stages: - Mining and Milling: First, uranium is extracted from the ground, similar to other kinds of mining. Once the ore is obtained, it undergoes milling. This involves crushing the ore and treating it with chemicals to separate the uranium from other minerals in the ore. The result is a powder called "yellowcake" (U3O8), the raw form of uranium. - Conversion: The yellowcake is then taken to a conversion facility. It's transformed into uranium hexafluoride (UF6), a gas at relatively low temperatures. This step is necessary because it's easier to process uranium in its gaseous form in the next stage. - Enrichment: In nature, uranium consists mainly of two isotopes: U-238 and U-235. U-235 is the fissile one, meaning it can sustain a nuclear chain reaction, but it's only about 0.7% of natural uranium. To be used as fuel in most reactors, this percentage needs to be increased, which is done through enrichment. During enrichment, the concentration of U-235 is increased, often up to about 3-5% for typical reactor fuel. - Fuel Fabrication: The enriched uranium hexafluoride is finally converted into uranium dioxide (UO2) powder and pressed into small pellets. These pellets are then loaded into thin tubes of a special metal alloy to form fuel rods. These rods are assembled into fuel assemblies, which are then ready to be used in a nuclear reactor. So, how does Russia control this process? It may not have the uranium in the ground, but It’s an expert at conversion, enrichment, and fuel fabrication. Uranium’s US Supply Constraints The United States relies on other countries for most of these steps (conversion through fuel fabrication), mainly due to the specialized facilities and technologies required for each stage and economic, environmental, and policy reasons. For example, the U.S. can mine and mill uranium but might depend on other countries for the complex conversion, enrichment, and fabrication processes. This reliance has enormous implications for energy security and policy. There's only one US-owned converter and no US-owned enricher for the current fleet of nuclear reactors. Meanwhile, Russia dominates both of those steps. From a 2022 article in [The Wall Street Journal]( (bolds mine): Russian uranium enrichment accounts for around 35% of the global market, according to UxC. Uranium’s conversion into a gas is the other weak link in the supply chain. The only commercial uranium conversion plants outside of Russia operate in France and Canada. The sole U.S. plant in Illinois has been idled since 2017, though it is scheduled to come online again in 2023, according to owner Honeywell International Inc. China has uranium conversion and enrichment plants but tends to supply its own reactors instead of exporting to other countries. The price of raw uranium is the most visible part of the market, but costs for each processing stage are rising, too, as power producers rethink supply chains and sign new deals with Russian companies. Boosting domestic capacity would take several years, said Adam Rodman, founder of hedge fund Segra Capital Management LLC. “This market has become too comfortable despite a fragile supply chain,” he said. Wrap Up The ridiculous sanctions have come back to bite Westerners once again. Once an unloved asset, Uranium is now one of the world’s most sought-after. The U.S. needs to get its house in order just to be able to compete. If not, it’s at the mercy of Russia and its allies. And in this race, there’s no silver medal for second place. All the best, [Sean Ring] Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening X (formerly Twitter): [@seaniechaos]( In Case You Missed It… Idiot Son Hunter Biden Expensed Escorts [Sean Ring] SEAN RING My parents finally arrived in Italy after years of anticipation. Of course, they’re old. One bit of advice is that if you have aging parents, move them while they’re younger and more mobile. Luckily, they’re both recovering in their lovely AirBnb in Asti; only once have I needed to put a mirror under my father’s nose. Phew… I’m reveling in self-satisfaction right now. Not having to worry about them getting shot by a border-crosser Deepinthehearta is a boon for my conscience. Now they’re eating wholesome Italian food without the usual American binding agents. I hope to see them in better health soon. A son should have this type of stress: ensuring his parents are comfortable. But I think back to different times when I was a young broker in London yucking it up on the town. Oh, the wine, women, and song! The all-night parties… the fancy restaurants… the hangovers. But we still had rules. I remember when my boss strictly said, “You know the rules. If you spent money at a place you shouldn’t, I won’t let you expense it.” Of course, he was talking about Stringfellow’s. Stringfellow’s Stringfellow's in London was a famous nightclub and restaurant established by entrepreneur Peter Stringfellow in 1980. Still located on Upper St. Martin’s Lane, it was known for its glamorous and exclusive atmosphere, often attracting celebrities, business moguls, and a wealthy clientele. The club gained a reputation for its luxurious decor, lively entertainment, and sometimes its risqué elements, like its later transformation into a.. ahem.. gentleman's club. Over the years, Stringfellow's became a symbol of London's vibrant and sometimes decadent nightlife scene. I remember one silly season - the time of the year before Christmas - one of my roaringly drunk clients wanted me to take him to Stringfellow’s. I couldn’t say no, so I knew I was copping the bill. I was out £750 (about $1,000), though I must admit I threw in a lovely dance for myself from the most gorgeous Ukrainian woman I’d have ever seen. The next day, my boss just shook his head at me. I knew the rules. [Nvidia's CEO Leaves Crowd Speechless…]( Behind closed doors… He took center stage… And left the crowd utterly speechless. What happened? This tech billionaire revealed a breakthrough technology [that will change everything you know about making money](. (Experts are predicting a $150 trillion megatrend!) [See for yourself right here]( [Click here to learn more]( Could this be “The Steve Jobs iPhone Moment” for Nvidia’s CEO? [See the full story for yourself here](. [Click Here To Learn More]( Hunter Biden is a Drugged Up Moron The special counsel investigating Hunter Biden charged him late Thursday with nine counts stemming from his failure to pay his federal taxes on time on millions in income from foreign businesses. From [Zero Hedge]( A grand jury in the Central District of California (yes California!) charged Mr. Biden with three counts each of evasion of a tax assessment, failure to file and pay taxes, and filing a false or fraudulent tax return, according to the 56-page indictment (see below). The situation is more serious now as the charges include three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanors. “At times relevant to this Indictment, the Defendant served on the board of a Ukrainian industrial conglomerate and a Chinese private equity fund. He negotiated and executed contracts and agreements for business and legal services that paid millions of dollars of compensation to him and/or his domestic corporations, Owasco, PC and Owasco, LLC,” the indictment reads. “The Defendant engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019, from in or about January 2017 through in or about October 15, 2020, and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns in or about February 2020,” the indictment adds. But it gets better. Zero Hedge continues (bolds mine): Despite all this, Hunter spent like a man who thought he operated under a different set of rules. He had $1,664,004 in “ATM/Cash Withdrawals,” spent $683,212 in payments to “various women” (a new euphemism for hookers, apparently), and $188,960 on “adult entertainment.” Ironically, Hunter’s own words from his memoir, for which he was paid a handsome sum, are coming back to haunt him. As his tax-avoidance scheme went on, he surrounded himself with and paid for the company of: thieves, junkies, petty dealers, over-the-hill strippers, con artists, and assorted hangers-on, who then invited their friends and associates and most recent hookups. They latched on to me and didn’t let go, all with my approval. I never slept. There was no clock. Day bled into night and night into day. The indictment also details the “office expenses” or other deductions he used to lessen his tax burden, which included a $1,500 Venmo payment to an exotic dancer; $11,500 paid to an escort for two nights; and a $30,000 payment for his daughter’s law school tuition; $1,248 to fly an exotic dancer from Los Angeles to New York. My immediate reaction is, “Geez, that’s a lot of money to spend on hookers.” My first question is, “How are we defining ‘adult entertainment?’” My second reaction is, “Exotic dancers are moving with the times if they take Venmo payments. Singles in the string just don’t cover anymore.” Inflation does affect everyone. And my final thought is this: Hunter Biden is as dumb as a box of rocks. Why on earth would you send any of this money electronically? Of course, it’s traceable, just the way the government likes it. (Especially if they’re trying to get your demented dad to drop out of the race.) It looks like Bidenomics isn’t working for the Democrats anymore. [Bidenomics] Wrap Up Take care of your parents, but don’t abuse their position. And don’t pay for your prostitutes with e-cash. It’s just too traceable. Will Hunter get convicted of anything? Don’t be silly! Nothing will happen other than his father dropping out of the race. Then, Gavin Newsom will get his shot at the title against Donald Trump. Have a wonderful weekend! All the best, [Sean Ring] Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening Twitter: [@seaniechaos]( [Paradigm]( ☰ ⊗ [ARCHIVE]( [ABOUT]( [Contact Us]( © 2023 Paradigm Press, LLC. 1001 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. By submitting your email address, you consent to Paradigm Press, LLC. delivering daily email issues and advertisements. To end your Rude Awakening e-mail subscription and associated external offers sent from Rude Awakening, feel free to [click here.]( Please note: the mailbox associated with this email address is not monitored, so do not reply to this message. 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