RUSSIA should consider limiting exports of uranium, titanium and nickel in retaliation for Western Sanctions, said President Vladimir Putin.
Citing televised remarks by the Russian leader on Wednesday, Reuters said nickel prices and uranium shares were driven higher. Shares in uranium miners NexGen Energy, Cameco, and Denison Mines increased between 5.2% and 5.4%, the newswire said.
Restrictions could also be introduced for other commodities as Russia was a major producer of natural gas, diamonds and gold, said Putin. But he said that measures did not need to be taken “tomorrow”, and must not cause damage to Russia itself.
“Russia is the leader in reserves of a number of strategic raw materials: for natural gas, this is almost 22% of world reserves, for gold – almost 23%, for diamonds – almost 55%,” Putin said.
“Please take a look at some of the types of goods that we supply to the world market … Maybe we should think about certain restrictions – uranium, titanium, nickel,” he told Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
“We just mustn’t do anything to harm ourselves,” he added.
Western countries have sharply cut purchases of Russian oil and gas since the start of the war in Ukraine but Russia remains a major supplier of metals to world markets, so a cut or halt to its exports could cause disruption, said Reuters citing an analyst.
Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange surged 2.6% to $16,145 per ton shortly after Putin’s remarks.
Russia is home to Nornickel, the world’s biggest refined nickel producer. It is a major nickel supplier to China and Europe. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
More than a fifth of the nickel in LME-registered warehouses is of Russian origin, data showed on Tuesday, said Reuters. The metal is used in batteries and in alloys with a wide range of applications including armour plating and turbine blades, it said.
