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This past week I was lucky enough to attend both the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference (VRIC) and AME Roundup.

People couldn’t stop talking about this one commodity. The companies with projects in this commodity had booths buzzing the entire time.

👇Sponsored by Bay Area Times👇

These are two exceptional conferences held in Vancouver focused on mining and small-cap companies.

There’s talks, exhibitor booths, free beer, post-conference social events & more.

It was very clear, one commodity is on leading the charge of investor interest in 2024.

The Next Big Rush - a newsletter I love - even had author Fabi Lara fill a room with a talk about this.

The commodity on everyone’s mind entering 2024 is Uranium. 

Uranium’s early days

It all began in 1789 when Martin Heinrich Klaproth, a German chemist, identified a weird yellow substance when analyzing a dark, brown-black ore.

Klaproth quickly realized it was a new element and named it uranium, after the recently discovered ‘Uranus’, just 8 years earlier.

Long before its it’s nuclear power was recognized, uranium found its first practical use in art.

In the early 19th century, artists were using uranium to add a yellow or green hue to glass and ceramics.

This became popular, with distinct fluorescent green glass known as "Vaseline glass" becoming a signature of the era.

Later in the century, photographers discovered that uranium salts were photo-sensitive, reacting to light in a way that could be captured on photographic plates.

This laid the groundwork for scientists understanding of uraniums radioactivity properties.

World War II had uranium transition from an artists tool to a strategic resource.

The Manhattan project

In 1942 the Manhattan project brought together some of the brightest minds in physics, chemistry, and engineering to finally harness power of uranium fission (splitting the uranium atom to release it’s energy) to create a weapon.

In 1945, the United States dropped ‘Little Boy’ on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

This not only killed over 100,000 people, it also ended the war and birthed the nuclear age.

Post World War II

After the war the focus shifted from military applications to the peaceful use of uranium.

The energy potential of uranium was recognized as a possible solution to the growing demand for electricity.

So we built nuclear reactors to capitalize on uranium fission’s power.

The first nuclear power plant was Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union which began operation on June 26, 1954.

The Cold War and the Uranium Boom

The Cold War was basically a tense standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Both superpowers raced to expand their nuclear capabilities and uranium evolved from a scientific curiosity to a matter of national security.

Nothing really happened so it was kind of dumb.

But, it did cause people to start looking for uranium.

We began to see the emergence of new uranium mining hubs like Canada, Africa, and parts of the former Soviet Union and the expansion of nuclear power plants.

In the 1970’s uranium was on fire - investors started pouring in.

With any boom, there’s bound to be a crash.

1980’s: Uranium’s kryptonite

The 1980’s the uranium market began to cool due to policies and oversupply.

The nuclear accidents at Three Mile Island in 1979 and Chernobyl in 1986 further crushed the market. The public perception and confidence in nuclear power began to shift and Investors became increasingly cautious.

For a while, uranium sat stagnant.

Need for green

In the late 90’s, renewable resources and climate change became hot topics and guys like Al Gore helped the world understand the need for new sources of energy.

Uranium started to gain traction again.

Investing in uranium

Uranium mining and exploration were largely undertaken by government-sponsored programs but lately have shifted towards the public markets.

New technologies are making this radioactive element more accessible and safer/cheaper to extract.

There’s still a bit of public apprehension (see Fukushima) - but the tide’s are glowing… I mean changing.

It’s a clean source of energy and supply is low, causing prices to be near all-time highs in 2024.

It’s hard to ignore companies searching for this radioactive ‘yellowcake’.

Conferences might not always be the most valuable use of your time, but this year one thing became very clear.

Keep an eye on uranium companies.

👋 Colton, Stock Monster.

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