Key facts
- Kazakhstan was the largest producing country in 2024, with about 39 per cent of world mine output according to the World Nuclear Association.
- Kazakhstan, Canada and Namibia together accounted for roughly three-quarters of 2024 mined production.
- In-situ leaching supplied more than half of world production in 2024; underground and open-pit mines supplied most of the rest.
- Most uranium is sold under multi-year contracts; the spot market covers a minority of volume but sets a widely quoted reference price.
- Demand comes almost entirely from civil nuclear reactors, whose fuel is bought years ahead of loading.
A small market with few buyers and few sellers
Uranium is a niche commodity. The buyers are mainly electric utilities that operate nuclear power reactors, together with a handful of governments and fuel-cycle companies. The sellers are mine operators, traders and financial intermediaries, plus holders of inventories. Because reactor fuel must meet strict specifications and pass through conversion, enrichment and fabrication before use, a purchase of uranium concentrate is only the first step of a multi-year supply chain, described on the fuel production chain page.
Demand is determined by the number and operating pattern of reactors and by fuel-management choices such as enrichment level and fuel burn-up. Because reactors are refuelled on schedules of 12 to 24 months and fuel is ordered well in advance, demand changes slowly compared with supply, which can be disturbed by mine outages, licensing delays or political events.
Primary supply: who mines uranium
The World Nuclear Association, compiling company and government data, reported world mined production of about 60,000 tonnes of uranium (tU) for 2024. Kazakhstan was the largest producer, with about 23,000 tU or 39 per cent of the total. Canada followed with about 14,000 tU (24 per cent) and Namibia with about 7,300 tU (12 per cent). Australia, Uzbekistan, Russia, China, Niger, India, Ukraine, South Africa and the United States produced the remainder, with some national figures being estimates rather than reported data.
By mining method, the same source attributes 55 per cent of 2024 output to in-situ leaching (ISL), 40 per cent to conventional underground and open-pit mining and 5 per cent to by-product recovery, for example from the Olympic Dam copper mine. ISL is explained on its own page.
Country-level context is summarised on the country profiles page. Production figures change from year to year with price, mine restarts and disruptions, so they should always be quoted with the year.
Secondary supply: inventories, recycling and underfeeding
Mined uranium is supplemented by secondary sources. These include commercial and government stockpiles, uranium and plutonium recovered from spent fuel and used in new fuel, re-enrichment of depleted uranium tails, and "underfeeding", in which an enricher uses less separative work and more natural uranium to produce the same amount of enriched product. Down-blended weapons-grade uranium was a very large secondary source from 1987 into the 2010s under a US–Russian arrangement. The mechanics of tails assay and underfeeding are shown in the SWU calculator page, and depleted stocks are discussed on the depleted uranium page.
How much secondary material enters the market is difficult to know exactly, because stocks held by utilities are often not published in detail.
Long-term contracts and the spot market
| Feature | Long-term contracts | Spot trades |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery | Multi-year schedule, often several years ahead | Usually within weeks or a few months |
| Pricing | Fixed, base-escalated, or tied to published indicators, often with floors and ceilings | Negotiated at the time of the trade |
| Typical buyer motive | Security of fuel supply | Balancing needs, opportunism |
| Price visibility | Mostly confidential; indicators published by price reporters | Widely quoted by brokers and exchanges |
Specialised price reporters, such as UxC and TradeTech, publish weekly spot and periodic long-term indicators for uranium concentrate; these are subscription services. This page does not quote current prices, because they move continually and a stale figure would mislead. Utilities, which are generally risk-averse, tend to contract far ahead, while financial participants and producers' inventories make the spot market more volatile than the contract market.
What drives demand
The reactor fleet is the basis of demand. National nuclear policies, such as lifetime extensions, new-build programmes or phase-outs, change expectations years before they change actual consumption. The World Nuclear Association publishes a periodic Nuclear Fuel Report with demand scenarios, and the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and IAEA publish projections in the Red Book. Both give reference, low and high cases because forecasts of nuclear capacity are uncertain.
Technical factors also matter: higher-enriched fuels, longer fuel cycles and tails assay choices change how much natural uranium is needed per unit of electricity. Cost components are discussed on the fuel cycle costs page.
Where to find reliable production and market data
- OECD-NEA and IAEA Red Book (Uranium: Resources, Production and Demand): national reports on resources, production, plans and demand; see the resources page for definitions.
- World Nuclear Association: annual compilations of production by country, mine and company, plus the Nuclear Fuel Report.
- US Energy Information Administration: annual and quarterly data on US production and on uranium purchased by US reactor owners.
- Company reports: producers such as Kazatomprom and Cameco publish production and guidance in regular filings.
- Price reporters: UxC and TradeTech for spot and long-term indicators.
When two sources disagree, check the year, the basis (uranium or U3O8), whether figures are attributable or 100 per cent of a project, and whether numbers are estimates.
Why price signals need careful reading
Published uranium prices are indicators rather than a single market price. A spot indicator reflects a small share of volume traded in a short window, and a long-term indicator reflects the price at which a reporter judges that contracts could be signed for delivery years ahead. Both are quoted per pound of U3O8 and in US dollars, but conversion, enrichment and fabrication are priced separately. A utility's total fuel cost therefore depends on several markets, not only on the concentrate price. Price history is best consulted at the publisher that compiles it, together with the date of each observation, because indicators differ slightly between reporters.
Frequently asked questions
Which country produces the most uranium?
Kazakhstan has been the largest producer for several years. The World Nuclear Association put its 2024 output at about 23,000 tU, roughly 39 per cent of world mine production.
How is uranium usually sold?
Mostly through long-term contracts between producers or traders and nuclear utilities. A smaller share is traded on the spot market, whose published prices serve as a widely watched indicator.
What is secondary supply?
It is uranium that does not come from new mining: stockpiles, recycled uranium and plutonium, re-enriched depleted uranium and the effect of underfeeding at enrichment plants.
Why does this site not quote the current uranium price?
Prices change daily and are reported mainly by subscription services. A fixed number would quickly become outdated, so the page explains where to find price data instead.
Where do official production statistics come from?
National governments report to the OECD-NEA and IAEA for the Red Book, and agencies such as the US EIA publish national data. The World Nuclear Association compiles company and government figures.
Sources and further reading
- World Nuclear Association — World Uranium Mining Production (2025)
- World Nuclear Association — Supply of Uranium (2025)
- OECD Nuclear Energy Agency / IAEA — Uranium 2022: Resources, Production and Demand (2023)
- US Energy Information Administration — Uranium Marketing Annual Report (2024)
- US Energy Information Administration — Domestic Uranium Production Report (2024)
- World Nuclear Association — Uranium Market Outlook and Nuclear Fuel Report (2025)
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