The price of raw uranium, known as yellowcake, has risen to its highest level since 2014, driven by a newly launched investment trust run by Canadian asset management company Sprott. Uranium spot prices rose sharply to a nine-year high Sept. 15 as the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust began buying again after approval of an expanded equity sales program that will allow the fund to acquire up to $1 billion in additional uranium in the coming months. Bets on clean energy and economic rebound drive yellowcake prices to their highest level since 2014. Reportedly, "discretionary supplies" in the uranium market are so thin that market participants occasionally approach the company and pressure it to sell part of its 2.5 million lb uranium stockpile.

Uranium demand is coming from a wide variety of sources – not just Sprott, with a variety of financial investors and uranium producers seeking to acquire the highly acclaimed material during a likely supply crunch. Uranium Royalty Corp., a Canadian company, announced Sept. 15 that it had added 300,000 lb of uranium to its holdings. Last month URC announced its own ATM program for $40 million, although only some of that amount is earmarked for physical uranium purchases.

The moves come as more uranium producers, developers, and explorers have been entering the spot market, seeking to build inventories and benefit from an increase in the price as supply shrank in recent years. Some investors see nuclear energy benefiting from an increasing focus on policies to reduce climate change. According to FT, nuclear power companies are facing competition for supplies of uranium from financial investors, who are betting on sharply higher prices and demand for the radioactive material used to fuel reactors.