Spot prices for uranium, crucial for nuclear reactor fuel, climbed above $103 a pound on Monday, the highest level since 2007. Until then, metal prices were set to rise by around 90% in 2023 as the market struggles to meet new demand.

Uranium prices initially rose above $100 a pound on Friday after Kazakhstan's state-owned Uranium Company said it might not meet production targets. NAC Kazatomprom, the world's largest producer, said it was struggling to find sulfuric acid needed to mine the metal and that there were delays in construction at sites where new deposits would be discovered. The target is to achieve 90% of licensed production by 2024.

Meanwhile, in the first 11 months of last year, the U.S. purchased uranium from Russia for a total of $1.007 billion, which was the highest level since 2010 and met about a third of America's nuclear fuel needs. By comparison, for the whole of 2022, the volume of deliveries amounted to $766 million.

The increasing need to provide stable uranium products in the U.S. emphasizes its interest in this essential and ecological market not only at home, but also abroad/overseas.