There is currently no uranium production happening in North America, which poses a national security threat to the nation, as nuclear power plants will need to rely on foreign sourcing of uranium, said Amir Adnani, CEO of UEC and chairman of GoldMining. Uranium is currently trading at $27.75 a pound, but miners like UEC need the price to rise to $40-$50 a pound before production becomes economical.
we're joined today by a very special guest. He is a senior executive of two completely different metals companies. And we'll be talking about both. Amir Nani is chairman of gold mining and CEO of UVC. We'll be discussing both markets. He is knowledgeable in both and will be a very interesting discussion.
Amir, it's always a pleasure to have you on the show. Welcome. It's always a pleasure to discuss the two yellow metals on yellow metal is special. I've never seen uranium. I've found is it actually yellow? It's very yellow, yellow, yellow powder. That's why it's called yellow cake. Yeah, I know in is in cartoons and stuff.
You see it. It's it's green. So I'm not really sure. I'd like to get, you know, yellow. That's interesting to know we're going to be talking about uranium first. I think this is a very interesting market. I've spoken to some investors. Who are now self-proclaimed uranium bowls. They've given me their thesis.
I'd like to hear yours. So we'll start with uranium and then we'll move on to gold. Tell us about the uranium market. A lot of investors are starting to. Sorry to jump on this uranium story, but they don't really understand the market very much. They don't understand the supply demand fundamentals, and they don't, they don't understand their drivers.
Let's start with the supply side. Let's talk about where most of the uranium production happens in the world and some of the regulations around it, because I know in the U S for example, uranium production and, and nuclear energy is a highly regulated industry. The supply side is probably where we can get very bullish because there just is not a lot of uranium production going on to put it in context.
This is the first time in the history of nuclear power. Going back decades where there's no uranium mining in North America, the Canadian mines that chemical operates, the garlic and MacArthur river is shut down for various reasons. In the case of cigar Lake COVID related in the case of McArthur river, low uranium price environment in the United States, there's zero uranium mining.
Uh, and this is all due to the fact that we've had a decade long. Bear market for the uranium prices. And during this period, new uranium mines haven't been built. New supply has not been meaningfully advanced to come online. And so here we are sitting at a point and the world where demand. For what uranium is used for, which is electricity generation, which is clean emission free electricity generation, uh, is at, uh, decade highs.
Nuclear generation globally is back below levels, higher than 2010 pre Fukushima. Uh, and we're witnessing that the rising demand for electricity across transportation, across electrification when it comes to how we. Uh, how we move, how we transport when we're talking about electric cars, uh, and, and this, uh, movement combined with the fact that we now have a growing number of climate scientists and environmentalist who recognize.
Nuclear power plays an important role right next to renewables, uh, in order to meet the goals associated with, uh, decarbonizing and reducing global temperatures, nuclear power is going to play an important role in that. And you're seeing that get recognized with the Biden administration. This has come into the U S their energy policies, and this is the first time where we have bipartisan support for nuclear power and uranium mining in the U S.
Uh, and you don't find too many sectors or topics where there's that type of bipartisan support from a political or policy point of view. So whether it's the scientific community or whether it's, uh, politicians and policy makers. Uh, I think you see, uh, this consensus develop about the very critical role that nuclear power has to play.
Uh, and that brings us really also covers and touches on the demand side. You asked them, started with talking about the supply side. So supply side really has been heard and diminished over a decade of low activity, and now it has to respond. To this, uh, incredible level of demand and growth. So to put it a numbers for you demand this year is expected to be 174 million counts.
Production is expected to be 135 million pounds. So there's roughly 40 million pound gap between production and demand this year. So there's that structural deficit cumulative gap over the next five years. There's almost 200 million pounds. And so that's the simple supply demand set up that would get.
Any investor or commodity investor, I think excited uranium right now. I like to learn a little more about the uranium market, the tradable market, because like, you know, for gold, for example, we'll talk about gold next. When we talk about gold mining, but for gold, there is, there is an investment component and a small industrial component.
Same with silver. There's an industrial component. And an investment component. And so when we talk about gold and silver price movements, a lot of the price movements are driven by investors funds, retail, investors, whatever the case may be. Who's driving the uranium price at Amir who are the major buyers and traders of uranium.
The major buyers of uranium are the utilities, the companies that own the nuclear power plants that consume uranium. To generate electricity. That is the bulk of the market. And about 85% of the market really traits by way of long-term contracts, not day-to-day spot trading, like we see in gold, silver, copper, or oil.
So the uranium market that way is different. The investment side of the uranium market is smaller. Uh, there are two companies that basically are designed to buy and hold physical uranium and provide that proxy to investors. Uh, when, uh, and, and so these would be your two physical ETFs, but for the most part, the majority of the market is really driven by demand from utility companies.
That again, need the uranium on a year in and year out basis to run their nuclear power plants and generate electricity. Okay. I wanna, I want to go back to the supply a little bit deep dig a little bit deeper. Uh, no pun intended there, but, uh, 80% of production I read is from state owned enterprises. Is that true?
Yeah. So state-owned companies in China, Russia, uh, Kazakhstan have played a really big part in bringing new uranium mines online, but also nuclear power, their nuclear power business. And those countries and, uh, and others as well is controlled by governments, whereas in Canada and the us, uh, and, and we can get into Australia, we can kind of make a list of those that are market-driven private sector versus those that are state-owned.
But for the most part, uh, the, the role that stayed on, uh, entities or state owned companies have played in bringing new uranium mines online has been significant over the last decade. And that's an area of concern because you want to see more markets. Based companies and more free market based companies play a role in bringing new production online, because it gives you more visibility about the true cost of development of mine.
And it also just diversifies the supply chain. I think we've all seen over the last year, especially with the COVID situation and with the pandemic that you have too much risk concentration when supply chains are in diversified enough, where too much of one thing be it. Masks or ventilators or pharmaceuticals is coming from one area.
It can cause all sorts of issues when you have a disruption. And we have that problem right now in the uranium market where there's too much concentration of production in Kazakhstan or Russia or in the hands of Chinese state-owned companies. Uh, so again, it comes back to the fact that this is really viewed, especially in the U S as a national and energy security threat.
And that's why really the U S government has taken great action over the last 12 months to introduce measures. And most importantly, a program that U S uranium reserve program that has been, uh, implemented or introduced, uh, to purchase, uh, newly mine, uranium from us sources. Yeah. Let's talk about this, uh, energy reserve, this nuclear uranium power reserve that the U S has introduced.
Is it the first of its kind your Amir, have we seen anything similar to this? Tell us about this. Uh, I think you got to go back to the 1950s and dies and our administration in the U S to really see this type of, uh, uh, program or attitude, uh, by the us government towards nuclear energy, nuclear technology, and nuclear fuel.
This was summarized in a study that was released by the department of energy last year. And the U S that was part of the nuclear fuel working group. Uh, commissioned by the white house to look at all the issues around nuclear power. And it was about regaining America's leadership and the fields of nuclear power.
Which is believed to have been, uh, lost when it comes to again, to the progress being made by state-owned companies in China and Russia. And so one of the recommendations of this report, uh, was to establish a us uranium reserve at 10 year program, or over the 10 years, the U S government will look to produce $1.5 billion of newly mined uranium.
From US-based minds to build a stock polished strategic stockpile that can help reduce, uh, any down, uh, downstream vulnerabilities, uh, to shortage of basically what is a vital and critical metal that has, again, both, uh, implications for energy, uh, youth, but also it is used as the main fuel. Uh, in the nuclear Navy, in the U S uh, all submarines and aircraft carriers basically run on nuclear power.
Uh, and that again, has this own uranium requirements. So these initiatives are, uh, quite historic is this is not, you know, for the 15 years that I've been, uh, the CEO of uranium energy Corp. We never had a program like this. The us government was always selling uranium in fact, from stockpiles over the years.
Uh, and now it's reversed and they're going to be looking to buy uranium. It sounds to me like there's a lot of geopolitical reasons behind this initiative, which would you agree with that statement? Would you, would you say that there's higher demand from the government for uranium and nuclear stockpiles during heightened geopolitical risk?
Some of it is geopolitical, but I think it's just common sense. Again, let's think about this. There are over 400 reactors operating in the world in 32 different countries. However, Almost a quarter of those are just, uh, just under a hundred are based in the U S so that makes the U S the largest consumer of uranium in the world for power generation consuming, 50 million pounds per year.
And it's producing nothing. That's producing zero uranium domestically. And so on first blush, I would say it's not necessarily just your political, let's say. Uh, talk, uh, it really is, I think common sense and practical as well. When you're such a large consumer of anything, it, you do need to have more domestic capabilities.
And I think the word again, the U S initiative and program, uh, comes from, and this is where really. Our company has been, uh, planning and building for the last 15 years. We've seen this issue for 15 years now, where it didn't make sense to me as an entrepreneur, even 15 years ago, when the us was importing 90% of its requirements.
Now it's importing a hundred percent of its requirements for uranium. This, this is an area that I think will change it. It's not starting to change. We we've had sort of a 15 year headstart to really position ourselves to be that leader when it comes to. Uh, the ability to mine uranium in the U S from a US-based projects that we have.
Uh, and, and I really think it's a it's it's as much a common sense and practical issue as it might be seen as a geopolitical issue. I want to get into the details of your PR of your, of your company and your plans. And just minute, but one more question about the supply. You, you, you talked about how the, the state owned enterprises are.
Are now becoming more, more, uh, dominant in the marketplace. I know that the government has an invested interest in, in the uranium market. The investors are probably wondering now, Amir, is there a risk of nationalization of the privately owned companies? See that right now? I, I really, uh, I, we haven't seen any reasons to think that or indications of that.
Um, there's a longstanding history for as long as there has been. Uranium mining in the U S uh, it has been conducted and has been driven by the private sector. Uh, the history is quite long and, uh, it goes back decades. Uh it's uh, uh, and, and so I, I, again, I, I don't see any good logical reason to really be concerned with that risk.
Okay, let's talk about the demand now. Uh, the EIA, the, um, energy association in the United States has in 2019, published its findings for electricity generation by source nuclear counter for 20% of electricity generated, um, in the United States. Do you see this portion of the pie increasing or decreasing into the future and why?
Uh, for sure this is, this is such an important part of the pie. Let's take it a step further. Speaking of that pie, uh, you know, 50, 55% of us electricity generation that is carbon emission free comes from nuclear power. Uh, and so, uh, it is such an important bedrock in the energy mix. Uh, when, again, uh, looking at energy, uh, policies around, uh, decarbonization, uh, and, uh, at the same time meeting the needs for a demand and increasing demand for electricity.
So, uh, coming back to, uh, areas where there's some promising movement for further growth, uh, you look at the small modular reactors. Uh, th these are reactors that would be, uh, you know, one 10th, the size. Of the one gigawatt, uh, larger scale reactor. And this is an area where we're seeing a tremendous amount of research progress by us companies where you've seen individuals like bill Gates.
Uh, talk about this, uh, in the media and also put his own capital behind, uh, certain companies that are advancing small modular reactors that can be deployed in a smaller remote areas. Don't need to necessarily be. Uh, the, uh, underpinning the needs of a larger city where you typically see the larger scale nuclear reactors be built.
Uh, and, and this could be a very promising area for further growth, uh, and also technological advancement advancements to, uh, the nuclear power industry. But again, to come back to the stats and points that you mentioned, not only is nuclear power, 20% of us electricity generation. And I repeat the fact that it's 55% of.
Carbon emission free electricity generation is what really underscores the importance of nuclear power as a reliable baseload, low cost emission, free source of energy and the energy mix in the U S and I think those are the same attributes that governments find attractive about it. In other countries who are.
Very fast and very aggressively building new plants. And it's not just the China India story. Look at hydrocarbon rich nations, like, uh, United Arab Emirates where they've, uh, built, uh, two units or planning to build more units. You look at Saudi Arabia where they had announcements about bill wanting to build.
16, uh, brand new reactors, uh, and, and really make the same commitment and investment, uh, towards this form of power generation. So, uh, these are very promising signs on the demand side of the equation. You brought up two keywords, which is base load, the competing energy sources for renewable the renewable side, solar when they're not base load energy production.
And so this is why it's so important to compliment those sources with the base load. Now, currently the main base load energy production method in the U S is still fossil fuels. Coal. For example, I want to ask you if we had to replace all of coal generation with nuclear, is there even enough supply of uranium in the ground to do that?
Uh, there is, I mean, uranium is, um, one of the most abundant minerals and there is crust. Uh, but, uh, it also is a mineral that obviously. Uh, like any other mineral these days. I mean, you look at mining industry today. W w what takes the longest time to find and develop, uh, mineral mineral projects or deposits and turning dementia operations, uh, is the amount of time it takes to license and permit.
Uh, and the amount of time you genuinely have to take as a company to not only gain, uh, your regulatory permits, but also gain your social license to be able to build an operation. Mining, uh, timelines have become, uh, very long and extensive because of all these attributes. And so at the end of the day, just like any other commodity, it takes time to make those investments.
It takes time to develop the permitting framework, the stakeholder frameworks. Uh, and so if, if everything is moving in tandem with long-term planning, I don't worry about, let's say peak uranium as being the, uh, the barrier to, to see more development and investment in nuclear power, uh, as, as, as a reliable source of power for.
Uh, for our communities and societies and countries in the future to UAC. Now, I like to understand your company a little more and what drives the stock price. So I'm looking at the price of uranium. It hasn't really moved much in the last year, but your stock jumped from one buck to $2 and 14 cents now in a span of 12 to 18 months.
So clearly it's not a, it's not following the price of uranium entirely. Can you tell us about the drivers of your share price? I think we've had a couple of very key drivers. First of all, when you talk about, uh, what's happened in the month of December and January with the Biden administration coming in and then showing bipartisan support out of the Senate and the house to pass, uh, this, the appropriations, which means the funding to establish this historic us uranium reserve.
I have to ask yourself which companies could be the beneficiaries of such a. Long and, um, uh, an important program and, uh, UVC our company, uranium energy Corp really stands out as being a past producer of uranium, Indy us with existing operations, uh, fully built processing plants. Uh, we have more permitted projects for production using the low cost in-situ recovery method than any other company.
Uh, and, uh, and, and so we really are in this, uh, leadership position. As a company that can mine uranium that has shown a history and proof of concept to mine, uranium in the U S uh, with, with low competitive costs, but also shows the ability, uh, to, to come back into production quickly and, uh, be able to supply, uh, the us government with its a new tenure program, this, this us uranium reserve program, but also then be ready as a source of uranium and a supplier to us utilities, which again, make up the largest.
Uh, consumer base of uranium in the world. Uh, and so all of that is in our own backyard and that is such a unique positioning that you just simply don't find anywhere else. Now, having said that we did also see last year and move into uranium prices, uh, and a tightness in the uranium market because of COVID where there was some supply side disruptions.
So I think we entered 20, 21, definitely with a lot of optimism investors that recognize. The uranium companies were very sort of severely undervalued compared to where valuations for other commodity related companies have moved a year over a year. Uranium stocks are still very much undervalued, still closer to where they were.
Uh, to the low end of where they've been over the last decade, uh, compared to the rest of the, of the broader market or other kind of commodity they're the companies that are trading almost near five-year highs or all time highs. And so in that context, I think there's relative value opportunity for the uranium sector, but specifically in the case of UVC that you were asking about, uh, we really stand to benefit as a us company.
With low costs and fully permitted Institute recovery projects in Texas and Wyoming, which can be again, a available supply to either the U S uranium reserve or to us utilities. And frankly, to global utilities. I mean, there's nothing stopping us from selling to global utilities. So we've got a lot of flexibility when it comes to that.
The chairman of our company, Spencer, Abraham. Who's the former us energy secretary also gives us really the profile and credibility when it comes to having a voice in Washington, DC. Uh, the current program for the U S uranium reserves is going to be run out of the department of energy. And so it definitely is important.
I think, to have a company that checks all the boxes, the credibility as a past producer, that credibility with having individuals and people that understand the DePaul, the policy side of the equation, but also having a team. It has built and operated at uranium mines, our own uranium mines with the credibility as a proven operators.
Amelia, you mentioned earlier at the beginning of the interview, that there is no supply production right now in North America. Does that apply to your company? Are you currently producing? War on standby and war, basically, uh, uh, in a position right now where we're investing to, uh, make, uh, our next minor project ready for production.
When we get the right price signal or contract from the government, I'd our Burke hollow project. We are currently drilling. We're doing pre production drilling. We're installing the monitor Wells, uh, for that project for the first production area there. This is one of the largest production areas. For instance, your recovery, uh, being developed in the United States.
We're the only company making such an investment like this in the us for a new uranium project. That, that is an addition to our pal and Ghanim mine, which was on standby and can be restarted our hops and processing plants, which has already. Built and it's the hub and our hub and spoke strategy and South Texas, our Reno Creek project and Wyoming's powder river basin, which is also permitted for its recovery production.
Uh, so we're very much focused on advancing our portfolio to the point where again, we're production ready and with the right price signal, we will be able to move very quickly to grab market share, and have that first mover advantage amongst uranium companies, anywhere in the world. Uh, can you give us an indication as to when the standby statuses will be lifted on your projects and are they COVID related concerns as to why they're on standby?
No, strictly, um, strictly uranium price related, you know, to put it in perspective for your audience. The, the current uranium spot price is around $28 per pound. The incentive price to bring a lot of new projects into production and throughout the world is between 50 to $75 per pound. And the price that we're looking at is in fact, on the low end of that, you know, w uh, in, in the 45 to $50 per pound range.
And so we all need a higher uranium price. Uh, when I say we were talking about the uranium industry, uh, even, uh, even the, the bigger producers. Are struggling to make sense of the price that we're currently in. That's why the sector has so much potential and there's such expectations for higher prices to be.
Uh, realized now, obviously we can't tell exactly to the week or the month when that's going to happen, but between now and then, uh, to, to be on standby, simply as an economic decision due to needing to see the uranium prices higher, to realize an acceptable return on our assets. Luckily we've managed to keep our team, uh, safe during the pandemic over the last year.
Uh, and we continue to monitor with safe, healthy, and safe safety and health as. Uh, the number one priorities. When we think about going back into field for drilling activity development activity, pre-production activity, uh, we continue to, uh, consider that, uh, first and foremost. So you need your uranium price to be in the fifties or your projects to be economic.
I wonder if there's still going to be demand for your, for nuclear power at those prices with generators, be profitable at a at, at those prices for uranium. Absolutely. You know, uranium makes up a very small percentage of the overall cost to just run a nuclear power plant, uh, you know, less than 5%. And when we have seen higher uranium prices, even higher than $50 per pound in previous cycles, uh, utilities were buying uranium and contracting at those higher prices.
Uh, in 2007 uranium prices were as high as $140 per pound. In 2010 uranium prices, uh, approached $60 and got as high as $70 per pound by March of 2011. So, uh, w not only have we seen the uranium prices, uh, at higher levels than $50, we've seen significant contracting. Like utilities, add those higher prices of $60 plus a two a lock and supply for long-term needs.
And so I think this is an important point and an important differentiator between let's say gas fired power plants. Uh, where, uh, the, the cost of the raw material, the natural gas makes up 75% of the operating costs versus nuclear power plants, where the cost of the raw material, the uranium makes up less than 5% of operating costs.
Then these, this, these differentials is what makes nuclear power to true. Base load low cost way of generating electricity because you have very little variance, uh, when it comes to, uh, price based on that, uh, the, the input cost being such a small percentage of the overall cost of your in rig power. I know I've kept you long enough, but this is a very interesting discussion.
I have a few more questions. If you don't mind. Now, I, I'm curious to learn more about this. The, uh, you, you said that, um, uh, first of all, you're not, there's no, there's no supply. There's no production going on in North America, but there's still power plants operating, right. Is that correct? How long? Here's a curious, my key question.
How long before they ran out of, uh, the reserve of uranium? Well, uh, every, every company or every utility discloses that diff that information, uh, uh, differently or at different times, but in general, we expect that most, uh, uh, North American and by that really, we mean US-based power plants. Are probably carrying a couple of years of the forward demand on hand right now.
And then we would, we would expect to see, uh, uh, extensive contracting, uh, in the coming years, uh, by not only North American utilities. You heard me say at the beginning of this, uh, uh, uh, uh, interview how the cumulative gap between supply demand. Is, uh, 200 million pounds in the next five years. Uh, and so any way we cut this, not only, uh, or the, the, the numbers supported the inventory numbers supportive of the, the start of another contracting cycle in North America, but just again, I go back to common sense.
The common sense tells you that if you need something, the fuel to run your power plants, and none of that had being produced in your own backyard, uh, you sh you know, that would be cause for concern, if you and I ran a power plant and we were getting all of our fuel from overseas or from, uh, you know, a concentration of supply sources.
We would be concerned and that we would look to diversify ourselves. So we wouldn't have all of our, that's absolutely a concern. Amir, what you're basically telling me is that there's no production in North America, but there's still demand for the, for uranium. So the U S government, which is heavily involved in, in the uranium ministry needs to rely on foreign supply.
That's that's a huge national security concern. Why are they subsidizing your company? W why are they not safe? Yeah. Why are they not? Why they're not providing you funding right now to go mindless stuff. So they don't have to resolve. We lie on Kazakh, Stan, China, Russia, countries that are not really friendly to the United States.
Uh, I mean, first of all, listen, I've been pounding the table about this as an entrepreneur and founder of UC for 15 years, maybe you could argue that governments move too slowly to recognize issues that are out there and they should be addressed. Maybe you could argue that. The utilities were too comfortable with the idea of just a cheap Russian and Kazakh uranium being available and not thinking twice about it, but how's that any different than all of us not questioning our supply chain sources for all common goods we consumed until COVID happened.
And we're sitting there questioning where do we get things from? And then concern when you go to the grocery store and even, you know, basic things are not available. So it goes back to the fact that, you know, sometimes you need a certain events or drivers perhaps to really crystallize. Uh, an issue that could be, could become a crisis if it's not addressed sooner.
And I think we finally got there. I think the fact that we finally have got to the point where this us Raneu reserve has now been, has, has passed the Senate and the house for, and has been approved. The funding has been approved and is now over to the department of energy to implement it. And governments move at this glacial speed, you know, speed and case, which is very frustrating for, uh, for you and I, as, as, as, as people that are just, you know, in the thick of it.
And you're having this interview with me Europe, you picked up on it in two minutes that, uh, uh, I think, I think we're at that inflection point and I think that's, what's exciting and I'm not looking for a subsidy for my company because we believe we could be a competitive. Supplier producer of uranium from our low-cost mines.
But the fact that the U S government has recognized this vulnerability recognize that it is a national security threat not to stimulate, uh, and encourage domestic horses to be developed. This is a positive. And in my 15 years of doing this, this is the first time. And so I'm quite encouraged by it. And, you know, you picked up on it and it's, it's as simple as the fact that this should just be unacceptable.
So anyone who's, uh, who's in electricity consumer, basically sitting there saying that I'm this exposed to, uh, the possibilities of outages. If my supply chain is not better diversified, two more questions I promise. And I'll let you go. And we'll talk about Colton that Q in there. Um, so th th th the, uh, first of all, foreign producers, how are they still able to produce at these prices?
Are they, are they state owned? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, look, if you're stayed on or if you've had, uh, decades of, uh, uh, largest at the, at the Bennett, at the expense of being stayed on, uh, you simply have a different cost structures. Are you recouping something today that was previously paid for by state funding?
And sometimes with the state owned companies, they are very much vertically integrated. They own the uranium mines and the nuclear power plants. And so at sometimes they might even look to. Uh, potentially mine to uranium, uh, maybe not even generate the kind of return that a market-based company would look for, but look to mine at anyways, to have available supplies for strategic reasons, or sometimes it's predatory behaviors to try to basically, uh, out-compete or eliminate competition to grab more market share.
You you've, you've seen the competitions and the oil market. You look at the battles between, uh, you know, us producers, the shell producers, and OPEC nations, and, and the Canadian are all sense. There's no lost love here, right? There's always competition for market share. So part of the objectives of state-owned companies sometimes is to simply also make sure that they're grabbing market share and eliminating competition at any cost.
Okay. Now, final question to mirror, uh, the, um, production in, in, uh, well around the world, actually, we, we see thousands, literally thousands of junior minor companies in the precious metal space, perhaps base metal space as well. Why are we seeing that for uranium? Where's the barrier to entry here. Walk me through that.
I think the barrier to entry is expertise in licensing. I think the uranium industry, when we think about licensing takes. Twice as long sometimes to permit a uranium, mine that a gold or copper mine, a uranium mines have the different kinds of expertise and specialty that again in a, in a uranium market that.
Has languished then as has been the longest bear market of any commodity over the last decade, uh, capital and human capital and financial capital has gone elsewhere. And, and so you have that, uh, that thinness of, uh, project based on human capital that just slows things down and you have less players.
That's an seven. When we had $140 upon uranium, we went from 20 uranium companies in the world to 600 uranium companies in the world in a span of two years, that combined market cap of all the radium companies in the world went from 10 billion. To over a hundred billion dollars in a span of two years, uh, price ultimately is the, is the ultimate cure.
And so as we get a stronger uranium price environment, there will be more players in the sector. There will be more exploration and development. There will be more producers just as it has been in previous cycles. And right now we're in that phase of this, uh, of the, of the uranium industry. And this is again, what's exciting about it and appeals to a lot of investors.
Is that again, it's been a long tenure bear market. Longer than any other commodity, but the fundamentals look so strong. And there's no doubt in anyone's mind that this is not a if question, this is a win question. Uh, and when, when we look at all this factors, it really does point to the fact that we're going to have stronger pricing in the uranium market for years to come.
And with that will come a growth and market cap for the sector. Growth, the number of players and a growth number of people that frankly care about to talk about it and write about it. And, uh, and you know, I'm will, I'm sure you'll be doing more interviews about it. Yeah, this is a topic I'd love to explore with you.
Uh, and, uh, again, in detail. Thank you very much for talking about uranium, Amir. Thank you. I look forward to speaking with you again about uranium and stay tuned for our next segment about gold. Thank you very much.