RE:RE:Trying to create an artificial shortage@ zum2020 - There are only a few real sellers of uranium. Most of the tranactions have been churn. The same material going round and round between traders with end users (utilities) making occasional purchases to supplement their long term inventory positions. With few end use buyers, the uranium traders have been able to "ask" down the price of uranium. Since uranium stock prices are closely tied to the spot price, traders have been able to short a uranium stock and then lower their "ask" price for pysical uranium. Then when they lower their "ask" price the few end use buyers of uranium lower their "bid" price and the price of uranium stocks goes down.
There should be some relief from that trading game once Sprott gets up and running as they will establish a "bid" price in the spot market and prevent uranium traders from churning the same uranium to lower the spot price.
There is an incentive for Sprott to buy uranium at prices below a miners cost of production because they know that the longer term supply/demand fundamentals support higher prices, end users will eventually run out of inventory, and because Sprott holds stock options in uranium companies and profits from higher stock prices.