Uranium soared from $10 a pound in 2000 to a stunning $136 a pound in 2007 - and then the bottom fell out. After three lean years, could another bull market be ahead?

According to the Ux Consulting Company, which tracks the price of uranium, the July 26 weekly spot price for U308 was $46 per pound. That is a 15% spike from the February lows around $40 per pound.

So does uranium at $46 per pound count as cheap, or expensive? That depends on how you look at it...

In the year 2000, uranium was well and truly dirt cheap. Thanks to a seemingly endless supply from decommissioned nuclear stockpiles, no one wanted the stuff... and the price of U308 (a standard mix of uranium oxides) fell to just $10 per pound.

Seven years on, however, uranium was at the pinnacle of a stunning bull run, riding a wave of increased demand for nuclear power plants around the globe. By the year 2007, U308 had hit an incredible $136 per pound - more than a 1,200% price increase from the bear market lows.

But then the bottom fell out for uranium prices - again - as hard assets got abandoned in the great financial meltdown. So now, in the mid-$40s, the uranium spot price is well off its year-2000 lows, but merely a third of bull market highs. Does that make it cheap?

China seems to think so...

....read more beginning with title  The Dragon Inhales