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’s ‘new era’
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 $2,019.60 per oz. That’s above the magic $2,000 resistance level and 10.7% higher than the start of the year.
Geopolitical risks have stoked safe haven demand for gold over the last several years. Those tensions (with…
