Through 2025, uranium spot prices rose steadily, climbing from the low US$60-per-pound range at the start of the year to briefly exceed US$80 in early autumn as supply tightened and nuclear operators moved to secure fuel.

Canada’s Cameco, a dominant global producer and bellwether for the nuclear fuel market, along with industry analysts, are now pointing to long-term uranium pricing near US$85 per pound, which is close to multi-year highs.

That shift has pushed investors to look past price swings, focus on where supply is falling short and why it matters going into 2026. Another key change this year was how energy producers bought the fuel. Instead of spot purchasing only when they needed it, power companies began securing uranium supply years in advance.

The World Nuclear Association’s 2025 Fuel Report pegs uranium demand around 190 to 195 million pounds for 2025, compared with primary mine supply of roughly 155 million pounds. That gap is being covered by inventories, reprocessed fuel, and government stockpiles, but not by fresh mine output. 

Across multiple studies, the near-term deficit is described as 20 to 60 million pounds per year, with current production covering only 70–85% of reactor needs. 

Analysts at Sprott estimate a cumulative uranium shortfall of roughly 1.3 billion pounds through the 2040s, rising to about 3.1 billion pounds under scenarios where global nuclear capacity roughly triples.

“When uranium demand is running well above new mine supply, the focus now is on whether the market can actually deliver the pounds needed as we move into 2026 and beyond,” said Ryan Iverson, Portfolio Manager at CEM Partner’s Fund.

That supply-demand imbalance is already playing out in concrete ways. In the United States, Washington has moved to rebuild parts of the domestic fuel cycle through a strategic uranium reserve, new funding for domestic producers, and streamlined approvals tied to national security. Utilities that once relied heavily on imports are now under pressure to source nuclear fuel from within the U.S. or from trusted allies, reshaping incentives for American-based projects.

In Canada, the response looks different but just as strategic. The country remains one of the few jurisdictions with large, high-grade uranium resources and established production, which has drawn renewed interest from global buyers seeking stable long-term supply. Canadian producers are seeing stronger pricing, longer contract terms, and a clearer role in closing a gap the rest of the world is struggling to fill.

Beyond North America, the same supply pressures are being amplified by what is happening globally. 

Reactor restarts in Europe and Japan are accelerating, new builds in China and India continue to move ahead, and nuclear is being pulled back into long-term energy plans as countries look for dependable, low-carbon power.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, 14 reactors have restarted in Japan and 168 are operating across Europe, while China and India account for a large share of the roughly 65 reactors now under construction worldwide.

At the same time, power demand from data centres and AI infrastructure is climbing far faster than expected, adding a new layer of demand that increasingly points toward nuclear as a stable baseload solution. After years of focusing on renewables, major tech companies are now turning to nuclear power for its ability to provide massive energy in a more efficient and sustainable fashion, reported CNBC.

Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta are among the most recognizable names exploring or investing in nuclear power projects. Driven by the energy demands of their data centers and AI models, their recent announcements mark the beginning of an industrywide trend.

Together, those trends are pushing uranium demand higher just as the market is already struggling to keep up.

“As buyers look further ahead to secure future fuel, companies with credible resources, scale potential, and paths toward production stand to benefit most as the uranium market works through a prolonged supply shortage,” said Ryan Iverson, Portfolio Manager at CEM Partner’s Fund.

Here are three of them that drew strong capital market interest at the Investor Breakout Exchanges hosted by Iverson at CEM events this year.

Skyharbour Resources Ltd.

Skyharbour (TSX-V: SYH) entered 2025 with one of the largest uranium portfolios in Canada’s Athabasca Basin, holding ownership interests in more than 616,000 hectares across 37 projects acquired at attractive valuations. 

Flagship assets such as Moore and Russell Lake sit in proven mineralized corridors, while a broad group of secondary projects gives the company optionality as the cycle matures. 

Over the last year, Skyharbour and its partners drilled roughly 16,000 metres across Russell and Moore, with additional programs expected in 2026. A cornerstone development was the strategic agreement with Denison Mines at Russell Lake, which will see up to C$61.5 million in project consideration and creates a joint venture structure that preserves meaningful ownership for Skyharbour while bringing in a major operator. 

The company has leaned into a prospect-generator model, bringing in partners on non-core projects to fund exploration and reduce dilution while retaining upside exposure. 

In a market that now values pipeline breadth and jurisdictional security, that approach turns what used to be “optionality” into strategic leverage.

“Skyharbour is what accumulated patience looks like in the uranium cycle. They bought ground when nobody cared, and now that scarcity is back, that land package and the Denison partnership give them real torque to higher prices," said Iverson.

Homeland Uranium Corp.

Homeland (TSX-V: HLU) focuses on American uranium at a time when the United States is trying to rebuild its domestic fuel chain. The company’s portfolio sits on the northern end of the Colorado Plateau uranium district, a past-producing region that includes Union Carbide’s historic Maybell mine, which produced about 5.3 million pounds of U₃O₈ between 1950 and 1983. 

Homeland controls about 37,252 acres across the Red Wash, Skull Creek, and Coyote Basin project areas, with historical uranium-vanadium resources and two significant uranium deposits roughly 40 kilometres apart. 

At Coyote Basin, a 2006 historical estimate from Energy Metals Corporation outlines 8.85 million tonnes at 0.20% U₃O₈ for 35.4 million pounds of contained uranium, alongside vanadium credits, with four known host horizons and additional potential indicated by neutron probing. 

The macro backdrop is shifting in Homeland’s favour. US nuclear plants currently rely on imports for the vast majority of their fuel, with roughly half coming from jurisdictions such as Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Niger. 

Presidential orders now target a four-times increase in US nuclear capacity by 2050 and faster permitting timelines for new and renewed reactors. 

Homeland’s thesis is straightforward. As US policy tilts toward local supply and trusted allies, American-based uranium resources in established districts become strategic rather than marginal.

“If Washington follows through on its build-out, pounds in the US will command a premium. Homeland gives investors a direct line into that security-of-supply story on the Colorado Plateau," said Iverson.

Myriad Uranium Corp.

Myriad (CSE: M) is building a dual-asset story anchored in Wyoming’s Copper Mountain district and the Red Basin project in New Mexico, both in premier US uranium jurisdictions with supportive regulatory environments and existing infrastructure.

Copper Mountain comes with an unusually deep historical data set. A 1982 United States Department of Energy “Bendix” assessment, based on more than 2,000 historic boreholes and about 900,000 feet of drilling, estimated a uranium endowment of 245 million pounds in a central area to a depth of 600 feet, and 655 million pounds across the broader district.  Myriad now controls large portions of both footprints. These estimates are historical and not current NI 43-101 resources, but they highlight the scale of the opportunity. 

In 2024, Myriad completed an initial 34-hole program that returned better-than-expected grades using spectral gamma logging. Subsequent chemical assays came in roughly 20–60% higher than the gamma readings, with strong mineralization at depth opening a new, deeper target zone.

The company frames its investment case directly around the market imbalance. Its deck highlights annual uranium demand of about 200 million pounds against 160 million pounds of supply, and references forecasts that see spot prices rising from the low-80s to as high as $135/pound in 2026.

“Myriad is interesting because it combines district-scale historical endowment with fresh drill data that points to higher grades at depth. In a market that needs big, scalable projects in good jurisdictions, that sort of optionality can be very powerful,” said Iverson.

The Investor Takeaway

For investors, uranium enters 2026 as one of the clearest structural shortage stories in the resource complex. Long-term demand is tied to climate goals, energy security, AI-driven power needs, and the nuclear policies of major economies. Supply is constrained by years of underinvestment, cautious producers, and slow permitting.

That creates a window where well-positioned developers and explorers stand to benefit as the gap between future demand and available supply becomes the defining feature of the uranium market.

Next Week in the Investor Breakout Newsletter...

We’ll break down how the Lithium market shifted over the past year and what the latest demand, supply, and pricing signals mean for investors heading into 2026.

Weekly Insight

Each week, CEM Partner and Portfolio Manager Ryan Iverson spotlights the ideas and companies sparking investor interest from emerging growth stories to the Top Picks featured across CEM’s Capital Events. This series brings real insights from the innovators shaping tomorrow’s markets and reveals where investors are finding the next breakout opportunities.

Warm Regards and Happy Investing,
Fabian Dawson