Nearly 500 companies are posing as 'uranium mining companies' worldwide. Hundreds of those publicly traded uranium companies will never mine a single pound of uranium. Along with the crash-and-burn of those companies, many investors could lose all or a large part of their speculative investment. How can one really find out which companies have an honest shot at becoming uranium miners?

Synatom's Fuel Supply manager Gerard Pauluis said, "As the market matures, we will experience uncontrollable price spikes." Urenco senior executive Maurice Lenders argues, "Suppliers and customers must be open about what they have and what they need so that supply will be available to meet demand."

Soaring yellowcake prices have accelerated a greater number of uranium juniors rolling off the assembly line. As fast as stock promoters can revive old shells, joint venture a more serious uranium company's castaway property into the re-named shell, and then wheel a former 'big name' out of retirement (or a nursing home), the company will announce they are in the 'hunt' for uranium.

The spot price for uranium has jumped by $US18 in a week, and is now at $US113 per pound. The price was paid for about 50 tonnes of uranium at an auction in the US.

Water plays an integral role for In Situ Recovery (ISR) uranium mining. If the water is not in the right place, ISR mining can not take place. A company's 'pounds in the ground' are nearly worthless or may have to be extracted through other means.