2024 belongs to an offbeat pairing — uranium and gold

As demand for EV and base metals is expected to slow along with global growth in 2024, two very different metals are likely to stand out from the commodity pack: gold and uranium. 

Gold, prized throughout human history, is virtually indestructible. That means most of the over 6.7 billion oz. of the metal the World Gold Council estimates has ever been mined is kicking around somewhere, whether as a wedding ring or in a 400-troy-oz. gold bar stored behind blast-proof gates at the ultra-secure Fort Knox gold vault in Kentucky. 

Uranium, meanwhile, was more recently discovered. It was first mined for radium (a decay product of uranium discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie) in the early 1900s and was erroneously thought to have anti-cancer properties. It was then mined on a much larger scale starting in the 1940s in the race to create the first nuclear weapons. Energy is now the dominant use for uranium, which has become more valued for its climate-friendly qualities than its potential for destruction. 

Both gold and uranium are coming off strong performances in 2023. 

Gold showed surprising resilience in the face of four interest rate hikes (in addition to seven the previous year), and in mid-December was around US$2,019.60 per oz. That’s above the magic US$2,000 resistance level and 10.7% higher than the start of the year.