Radiant uranium While spot uranium prices have retreated back below the triple digit prices hit in January, the combined market cap of the sector is still up 42% from last year this time and together now surpasses that of the lithium counters in the ranking. The world’s largest uranium producers – Cameco and Kazatomprom – only made the top 50 in 2021 with the Saskatoon-based company and state-owned Kazakh producer spending years in the wilderness post the Fukushima disaster in Japan. None of the smaller uranium companies led by Canada’s Nexgen Energy, valued at a shade over $4 billion, is likely to make it into the top 50 by themselves, but combinations among the rank and file may well be in the offing as interest in the sector and mining M&A in general grows. Kazatomprom dual-listed in London and Astana in 2018 and Uzbekistan is readying an IPO for Navoi Mining and Metallurgy Combinat – the world’s fourth largest gold mining company and significant uranium producer later this year. Navoi would join the ranks of gold producers in the top 50 thanks to ownership of the world’s largest gold mine, Muruntau, and annual production of 2.9 million ounces at grades the envy of the sector. Navoi will also bring to five the number of companies with exposure to the nuclear fuel in the ranking. Sources Image: MiningVisuals Text: Mining.com