America Needs to Stop Buying Putin’s Uranium

America has made a good show of cutting ties with Russia…

  • We’ve ditched our holdings of the Russian ruble
  • Cut off all imports of Russian petroleum and natural gas
  • And ended all imports of Russian coal.

These are significant actions — but as we’ve seen, Putin has barely flinched.

That’s because America has yet to put a stop to the one thing Putin cares about most: uranium.

America still sends Putin fat checks every month to buy the uranium we need.

And as long as we keep paying him, he’ll keep winning.

Not only do America’s uranium payments help him tighten his grip on Russia and further his war against Ukraine — but from everything we know, they also support his own personal fortune.

Putin has done a good job of making himself appear invulnerable to our sanctions.

But he has an Achilles heel…

It’s Russia’s state-run company, Rosatom.

Putin founded the company in 2007, and it’s the center of all Russian-related nuclear production.

It’s a monster: it has 350 divisions, employs 250,000 people, and produces more than 20% of Russia’s electricity.

 

Russia’s state-run company, Rosatom

But even more impressive is its place in the world.

Rosatom delivers 76% of all nuclear exports worldwide — they’re currently building 35 nuclear power plants in 12 different countries, including Finland, Hungary, China, Egypt, and Turkey.

They’re hands down the leader of the nuclear world. 

They have the best supply chain, the best engineers, and their technology is years ahead of anyone else.

They operate 36% of the world’s uranium enrichment (including the enriched uranium used in American subs and aircraft carriers).

And they have a complete monopoly on the new high-assay refinement process for the next-generation nuclear power plants.

In short, Rosatom controls most of the world’s nuclear power.

And every time Rosatom gets paid, so does Putin.

Here’s a recent photo of Putin meeting with Rosatom’s CEO in the Kremlin and discussing exactly this.



Recent photo of Putin meeting with Rosatom’s CEO

Putin’s proud of his work — he posted this photo himself on his state-run website just a few months ago.

So how did we get here?

Why have we allowed Putin all-access control over nuclear power — where our energy needs are decided for us in a Kremlin office?

When it comes to uranium, America has been its own worst enemy for more than 20 years.

We’ve allowed a manipulative dictator to massage us into complacency — and taken the bait every time.

America’s Messy History of Buying Putin’s Uranium

America has been one of Rosatom’s biggest customers since day one.

And every single US President has helped contribute to Rosatom’s success.

George W. Bush established the partnership that led to the first uranium purchases from the company during its founding in 2007. It probably seemed like a good idea at the time to play nice with our engineering “ally” in the east?

And Barack Obama allowed the deal to continue throughout his entire presidency. What harm could there be in buying key resources from Russia if the prices are good?

And then America’s imports of Russian uranium went into overdrive after Obama, which is especially remarkable given the divisive political climate at the time.

During their campaigns, Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton lobbed accusations at each other over Rosatom — each alleged the other was more in cahoots with Russia. But at the end of the day, despite all the finger pointing, the results are clear: they both allowed deals that favored Putin.

It was under Clinton’s time as Secretary of State and Trump’s time as President that Rosatom became more powerful than ever…

So much so that the US uranium industry was all but killed off for good.

US uranium mine production dropped from 2.5 million pounds in 2016 to below 200,000 pounds per year as of 2019.

You read that right, less than 200,000 pounds!
 

US mine production of Uranium

It’s an embarrassing end to a 72-year-old American industry.

The last two years have effectively seen zero production. 

It’s a dangerous spot to be in considering nuclear energy provides 20% of our electricity. 
If the US doesn’t get enough uranium, one in five lights could go out.

And Joe Biden has so far continued the sad legacy of his predecessors, including exempting Russian uranium from restrictions in his proposed deal with Iran.

It’s time to turn this situation around.

America needs to mine its own uranium.

It’s the only way to hit Putin where it hurts.

It’s the only way for America to secure its energy independence.

Thankfully, America’s current energy leaders show some signs of finally taking leadership on the issue.

US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm is saying the right things about breaking ties with Russia at long last.

Last year, before the start of the war, she announced plans for a US strategic uranium reserve.

And today, she claims to be working on a comprehensive plan that will move all imports to alternative sources, cutting Russia off for good. 

(Though she won’t be the first to talk tough… plenty of secretaries have criticized or threatened to end ties with Russia, even as they’ve given in to the party line and/or Putin’s demands.)

If she pulls this off it will define her entire career.

And the good news is she won’t have to do it by herself: Putin’s war on Ukraine has woken everyone up, and she’s now receiving wide support from both sides of the aisle.

There is no more vocal supporter for American uranium than Senator John Barrasso (R-WY).

He’s the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy, and he’s been warning for years about the dangers of the longstanding uranium deal with Putin.

Way back in 2018, Senator Barrasso warned that Russia and its allies were “unfairly flooding the U.S. with cheap uranium, as they are interested in gaining political leverage over the U.S.”

He couldn’t have been more correct.

And he was also blunt about the fact that America was actively choosing this terrible fate with open eyes — and that the pain felt by America’s uranium industry was entirely “self-imposed.”

“America is on the cusp of losing its ability to produce its own nuclear fuel,” he wrote in an opinion piece that was published in the Wall Street Journal. 

Now that the worst has happened, he’s renewed his support for anyone who can get this done.

He wrote this last month: 

“Our nuclear supply chain should begin with American-mined uranium and end with American fuel. It is time to put Mr. Putin’s nuclear cash cow out to pasture.”

After 15 years, it may finally be happening.

American Uranium is Ready to Make a Comeback

Today is a significant moment…

And my colleague Gerardo Del Real has spent the last several months preparing for exactly this.

He’s found a mining company that has amassed an industry-leading pipeline of exploration and development-stage projects across Texas, New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, and Arizona… 

It also just got approval for a giant uranium mine in South Dakota.

Gerardo says this is one of the most important uranium projects he’s ever covered.

And he should know…

Over the past few years, Gerardo has managed to make significant gains on US projects, even as the industry was dying around him.

He made triple-digit gains on Azarga Uranium (both as a private company and then after it went public.)

And Uranium Energy Corporation (UEC) is up over 300% since Gerardo’s first recommendation.

Now that the industry is turning around, we’re entering a completely new space.

These are the moments where it’s possible to see truly unprecedented gains.

Plus, there’s even bonus money available.

The US government recently put aside money to defibrillate American uranium and bring it back from the dead.

But so far, there haven’t been any mines close enough to reopening to qualify for the funds.

As Senator Barrasso complained: “Congress appropriated $75 million… yet the department [of energy] hasn’t purchased a single ounce of U.S. uranium.”

That’s about to change — once this company’s and others’ mines are back online, they’ll be the first to receive these funds.

It’ll be just in time.

Senator Barrasso warned in a recent press release: “It is absolutely imperative that we cut off all Russian imports, including uranium. Every dollar we send to Russia is a dollar used to continue to attack innocent people in Ukraine.”

It’s also a dollar in Putin’s own personal pocket.

No more!

Gerardo’s uranium pick is the largest, highest-grade, undeveloped US-based uranium project. And now it’s been approved to be developed. 

Turning it on is the first step in stopping Putin (and making new resource investors wealthy).
 

 

 

John Carl

John Carl
Editor, Daily Profit Cycle