The Sprott Physical Uranium Trust (U.U), the world’s largest physical uranium fund, is now live for trading.
The fund, which offers an exchange-traded take on spot uranium, launches with over $629 million in assets under management.
In a June appearance on Sprott Talk Radio, Sprott CEO John Ciampaglia said: “We’re very excited to be adding the new uranium trust to our lineup of physical commodity funds. We’ve been interested in uranium for several years and we’re very happy that we received overwhelming shareholder support on our acquisition of Uranium Participation Corporation.”
On its first day of trading, the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust purchased 100,000 pounds of U3O8 (38.5 tU). By close of the market, it held a total of 18,194,658 lbs.
On World Nuclear News, Sprott’s Peter Grosskopf said that “we have a very constructive view on uranium and believe this new trust presents a compelling opportunity to create value for our shareholders by expanding our offerings into areas that complement our core positioning in precious metals.”
The fund will feature technical advisory from WMC Energy, who hopes to marry its experience with the unique substance of uranium to Sprott’s experience with physical commodity trusts.
On Sprott Talk Radio, Per Jander of WMC said the key to uranium’s future opportunity starts with the rapid pace at which global electricity demand has grown. “It’s been doubling since the year 2000 and it’s scheduled to double again by 2040,” he said. “The world will need electricity regardless of where you go, and especially now, there’s a lot of talk of decarbonization. Setting very aggressive targets means eliminating fossil fuels.”
Nuclear power is a safe and reliable source of clean power. Unlike solar and wind power, nuclear power can be running nearly constantly.
Still, he acknowledges that nuclear power still has a reputation to overcome. “I think it’s just a matter of getting comfortable. If you are concerned about climate change and sustainable development, I believe nuclear energy must be part of the solution.”
Nuclear power stacks up well in its capacity to reduce carbon emissions, even compared with other clean energy sources.
Though currently listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Sprott is eying a listing on the New York Stock Exchange as well, said Ciampaglia.
“This will take several months because it’s never been done before, but we are very keen. It was part of our commitment in the transaction that we would fully fund the cost of pursuing a U.S. listing for shareholders. We think this will be a key development to have the Trust listed with the world’s largest capital market. We believe that this will be a big win if we can get that done sometime in 2022.”
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