The uranium price reached 24.10 USD per pound at the spot market this week, but this is significantly lower than the price of 72.63 USD per pound, at which the raw material was traded just before the Fukushima crisis. The low price has prompted the world’s largest uranium producers Kazatomprom and Cameco to discontinue part of their production and target a number of redundancies, including costs.

In addition to the complex situation, the “presence” of the coronavirus on a global scale can be added, further aggravating the situation of an industry suffering from poor public support anyway.

The largest uranium producer in the world, Kazatomprom produced 22,808 metric tons of uranium in 2019, an increase of 5% compared to the 21,705 metric tons produced in 2018.

The company plans to produce about 22,775 metric tons of uranium in 2020.

Kazatomprom said last week it could rely on its available supplies to sustain future physical supplies should uranium production in Kazakhstan be reduced or stopped due to a coronavirus pandemic, S&P Global Platts reports.

“In the event that mining activity or the ability to physically convey material is affected, Kazatomprom’s production decisions and contractual obligations are backed by reserves”, the company said.

The company’s uranium reserves amount to 8,500 metric tons as of December 31, 2019, which is equal to the amount produced by the Company’s own operations or the activities of the joint ventures in which it participates for eight months.

Kazatomprom said its production or processing operations had not been affected by the distribution of COVID-19, but the company allowed a similar development in some of its operations.

Galymzhan Pirmatov, CEO of Kazatomprom, said the company remains committed to its production and sales plans in 2020, “but the situation is changing rapidly and we are preparing for different scenarios accordingly”.

Kazatomprom’s uranium production sites are located in the remote southern regions of Kazakhstan. For this reason, it is required that staff stay on-site and live in company-provided housing close to the workplace.

The virus could create significant health and safety concerns for staff if there is still an outbreak in such an environment, or if employees are quarantined and unable to work, the company added.