It’s March 10, 2026, and this week on Uranium Spotlight: uranium prices ease after two weeks of softer spot activity, Cameco signs a massive uranium supply deal with India amid growing Asian demand, Russia moves to expand domestic uranium production, conversion markets show signs of tightening again, and two major Canadian uranium projects move toward construction.
The Spot Market Pauses After a Volatile Start to the Year
The uranium spot price closed last week at $86.80 per pound U3O8, essentially unchanged from the $86.85 level at the start of the week. That follows a decline the week before, when prices fell from the high-80s after a sharp rally earlier in the year.
Spot market activity over the past two weeks has moderated after the strong start to 2026. Earlier in the year, financial players were extremely active, driving a surge in spot buying. Through early March, roughly 146 spot transactions had been recorded involving about 16.3 million pounds of U3O8 equivalent. That is already more than 70 percent higher than the volume transacted during the same period in 2025.
Much of that activity continues to be driven by traders and financial buyers rather than utilities. Financial participants alone account for a large share of spot purchases this year, highlighting the increasing role that investment demand is playing in the uranium market.
However, the past two weeks have seen activity cool somewhat. The first week saw moderate spot trading with about nine reported transactions as sellers attempted to place material into the market. In the following week activity slipped further, with only seven reported U3O8 spot transactions.
At the same time, the spot price softened slightly across delivery locations. Market participants noted that when prices moved toward the $95 to $100 range earlier in the year, additional supply entered the market as holders took profits. That level continues to act as a near-term resistance point.
While spot demand slowed slightly, the term market continues to show signs of steady activity. Utilities remain in discussions with suppliers for medium and long term contracts, and new requests for uranium supply have emerged for deliveries extending well into the 2030s.
For investors, the key takeaway is that the recent softening in spot prices appears to be more about short term trading dynamics than any change in the structural fundamentals. The uranium market continues to see strong underlying demand, rising transaction volumes, and growing participation from financial players, all of which are signals of a tightening market.
Cameco Signs Major Uranium Supply Deal with India
During Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent trip to India, Cameco signed a deal with the government of India’s Department of Atomic Energy for the supply of 2.8 billion dollars’ worth of uranium over the course of ten years.
India is preparing for a massive buildout of reactors with 24 reactors currently online and plans to deploy dozens more to reach a goal of 100 gigawatts of nuclear capacity. That is roughly equivalent to about one hundred AP-1000 reactors, the reactor design built by Westinghouse, which Cameco co-owns with Brookfield.
Cameco was also involved in another recent agreement between Japan and the United States government which will see Westinghouse reactors built using Japanese funds. The Japanese government has committed roughly 550 billion dollars toward the project, with about 100 billion dollars expected to go toward Westinghouse.
In addition, Prime Minister Carney is now in Japan meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister. While details of any agreements have not yet been announced, a uranium supply deal is certainly possible given Cameco’s prior relationships with both governments.
What this all highlights is a major shift in where uranium demand is emerging. Increasingly, uranium is moving east into markets like China and India, while western utilities appear to be slower to enter the contracting market.
What this means for western utilities when their existing stockpiles begin to run down remains to be seen. But with limited time before the anticipated supply crunch, any country operating a large fleet of reactors that fails to secure uranium supply ahead of time may find itself facing much higher prices later.
For investors, this matters because the center of gravity for uranium demand is clearly shifting toward Asia. As new reactor programs ramp up in India and China, the competition for available uranium supply is likely to intensify, potentially accelerating the next phase of the uranium bull market.
Russia Moves to Expand Uranium Production
Rosatom has announced that it is stepping up uranium production efforts, increasing output from existing mines, evaluating new deposits, and bringing mothballed operations back into service.
Rosatom’s mining subsidiary Rosatom Nedra plans to expand production from one deposit by roughly 882,000 pounds and is also looking to restart the mothballed Elkon mine, which is the largest uranium deposit in Russia.
The Director of the Federal Agency for Subsoil Use, said the rapid growth of uranium consumption both in Russia and globally requires a new approach to ensuring the country’s uranium supply. Over the next seven to ten years Russia intends to increase economically viable uranium reserves within its existing mining centers, and over the next fifteen to twenty years it aims to establish entirely new mining regions.
This commitment to expanding production reflects growing awareness of the coming supply crunch in the uranium market. However, the measures currently being discussed may not significantly alter the global supply outlook.
Much of the focus appears to be on expanding or restarting existing mines rather than developing entirely new operations in the near term. And the incremental production increase from the currently operating mine, less than a million pounds per year, is relatively small compared to global demand.
At the same time, Russia continues to face economic pressures from the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has now entered its fourth year.
For investors, this matters because even major uranium producing nations appear to be preparing for tighter supply conditions ahead. Efforts to restart old mines and squeeze more output from existing operations highlight how difficult it is to bring meaningful new uranium production online quickly.
Conversion Markets Begin to Tighten Again
Our third story this week concerns the uranium conversion market.
Conversion is the step between mining uranium as U3O8 and preparing it for enrichment and fuel fabrication. During conversion, uranium oxide is processed into uranium hexafluoride, commonly known as UF6, which can then move further along the nuclear fuel cycle.
Although the physical conversion process itself takes only a few weeks once uranium arrives at the facility, the entire nuclear fuel cycle typically spans close to two years. Each stage of that cycle operates as its own market with different prices, companies, and infrastructure.
Over the past few years the conversion market has experienced dramatic swings. The UF6 spot market reached record highs in 2024 before falling sharply in 2025, while long term prices continued to rise due to persistent supply tightness.
In December 2024 the conversion spot price reached nearly $97 per kilogram of uranium before declining to around $69 by March of 2025. Prices then continued to drift lower through late 2025 before stabilizing near the end of the year.
Meanwhile the long term conversion price moved steadily upward. It started 2025 around $49 per kilogram and finished the year closer to $53.50.
The outlook for 2026 now suggests that conversion spot prices may be rising again despite additional production coming online, including increased output from U.S. companies such as Solstice.
For investors, this matters because the conversion market is a critical bottleneck in the nuclear fuel cycle. Tightness in conversion capacity can ripple through the entire system, affecting enrichment, fuel fabrication, and ultimately the demand for newly mined uranium.
Two Major Canadian Uranium Mines Move Toward Construction
Two of the largest uranium development projects in Canada moved significantly closer to production over the past two weeks.
Denison Mines announced that its board has made a Final Investment Decision to proceed with construction of the Phoenix in-situ recovery uranium mine at its Wheeler River project in Saskatchewan. Site preparation and construction are expected to begin in March 2026, with first production targeted for mid-2028.
Phoenix represents a major milestone for the Canadian uranium sector. It is expected to be the first new large scale uranium mine built in Canada in more than two decades and will utilize in-situ recovery technology, which has not previously been used in the Athabasca Basin.
The project sits within the Wheeler River joint venture, one of the largest undeveloped uranium assets in the eastern Athabasca Basin.
Meanwhile, NexGen Energy received regulatory approval for its Rook I project, anchored by the massive Arrow deposit in the southwestern Athabasca Basin. The company now plans to begin construction later this summer.
Rook I is one of the largest high grade uranium discoveries ever made and is expected to produce close to 30 million pounds of uranium per year during the early years of operation. If developed as planned it could become the largest uranium producing mine in North America.
Together these projects represent billions of dollars in new investment and highlight the long timelines required to bring major uranium mines into production.
For investors, the key takeaway is this: even with major projects like Phoenix and Rook I moving forward, meaningful new uranium supply will not arrive until late in the decade. The long development timelines reinforce the structural supply gap facing the uranium market in the years ahead.
Disclaimer: Uranium Spotlight is your weekly podcast dedicated to the latest developments shaping the uranium fuel market and its role in the global energy landscape, sponsored by Purepoint Uranium Group. While our passion for the sector is undeniable, nothing discussed here should be considered investment advice. Our mission is to provide a clear, balanced view of the forces influencing uranium prices and the nuclear fuel cycle. For deeper analysis and market briefings, visit uraniumspotlight.com.