Uranium is a big part of our energy future – Chris DeMuth Jr.

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Why Chris DeMuth Jr. Really Loves Uranium Products (0:35) Nuclear Power and Emotional Balance (3:20). This is an abridged conversation from a recent Investing Experts podcast.

transcript

Daniel Snyder: Chris DeMuth Jr. runs Sifting the World. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend checking it out. This guy focuses on arbitrage and litigation and he is a master at what he does.

So Chris, let’s get started. Let’s get started. uranium. Last time we talked you were talking about that. You mentioned that you hold a position in the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust division (OTCPK:SRUUF). Do you still have it? Do you still prefer uranium?

Chris Demuth Jr.: we do happy new year Nice to be here, Daniel. This is an important location. This is my only direct product position. We own some uranium stocks, but it’s not an area where I’ve been able to fall in love with many of the companies and executives.

But we definitely like the product. I would say that even since we last spoke, things have been trending towards a sort of consensus that the centre-right, free-market, capitalist-oriented and energy-friendly aspects are actually converging. There is a growing number of national governments in Europe and around the world willing to look at nuclear energy and reclassify it as a clean energy source. Of course, it is clean energy, and it is the cleanest and safest clean energy.

Particularly in underdeveloped countries, individual hydropower projects have resulted in far more deaths than the entire history of the nuclear industry. It’s safe and clean. And the consensus that we need more energy production will actually encourage that.

Something that some of my friends have pointed out to me is something I like to do. I’m very interested in discrepancies on a massive scale where someone could enrich me on a scale that’s very important to me, but I’m not. It’s that important to them. It’s not a big problem.

And the cost of uranium for utilities is not that great. You can double, triple, quadruple, quintuple here without laying anyone off. So I think that’s an interesting part of the opportunity. I think this is going to be a big part of our energy future.

I think alternative intermittent energy is trendy. While it may be useful at times, it cannot account for such a large portion of our energy needs, which will be met by petrochemicals and nuclear power.

Coal is perhaps where environmentalists could make more progress in reducing environmental impacts if there was a willingness to use nuclear power. But if they only talk about intermittent energy, it’s just not serious. That’s like excluding them from the serious part of the conversation.

DS: Now, it seems like a lot of people have a lot of fears about nuclear power, whether it’s just an approximation of a local neighborhood, or just the idea of ​​how someone might focus on targeting specific infrastructure if a war breaks out.

Do you think that makes sense, or do you think it’s just kind of a balance if we’re trying to reduce our dependence on energy, coal, and reduce energy costs here for Americans? Should we accept it? Anyone with a different opinion?

CD: Yes, I mean, I really believe in Tom Sowell’s view that there are no solutions, only compromises. So I think it’s a legitimate concern, but it’s largely emotional. What I mean is, making sure our infrastructure is safe, clean, and hardened against adversaries is an important and profound topic. This is what nuclear opponents cynically and inconsistently raise.

There are many parts of the power grid that could be further strengthened, but nuclear power plants are actually already probably one of the safest and best-defended power plants. It’s the same thing as a nuclear bomb. Even if a disaster were to occur, it’s unlikely there would be a mushroom cloud over one of these. But I think there’s an emotional appeal to that connection that’s hard to avoid.

DS: Chris is always writing new ideas for Sifting the World. Check it out here on Seeking Alpha.

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