Buyers and sellers in the spot uranium market continued to play their cards close to their chests this week. The excitement over price increases in recent weeks has worn off, especially with no sign of utilities making a return to the market just yet.

Both Ux Consulting and Tradetech, the two main publishers of spot uranium prices, have left their price indicators unchanged at US$64.50 a pound U3O8, despite the slowdown caused by buyers putting their collective foot down on higher prices.

Hope of a return to the market by utilities remains, but that proverbial event is still weeks, if not months, away. Still, the current drop in volume has yet to negatively affect the metal’s spot or term price; the latter remains at US$80 a pound U3O8 at least through the end of August.

A quick look into the future reveals a positive long-term forecast for uranium, with August contracts priced at US$66 a pound U3O8; September contracts worth US$67 a pound U3O8; October futures worth US$69; November US$70, December US$72; June 2009 worth US$74; and September 2009, December 2009 and March 2010 futures all worth US$78 at this time.

This week also marked the first increase in the weekly Toll Cross Junior Uranium Index in some time, which jumped nearly one per cent, to 270.98 from 268.71. According to Toll Cross, junior explorers and producers were just about flat compared to this time last week, advanced explorers dropped 5% and production visibility companies gained 3%.

In global nuclear news, French nuclear giant Areva on Friday signed a deal with the Central African Republic government to mine uranium at a site that was previously disputed. That’s according to news agency Agence France-Presse, which reported the mine at Bakouma is scheduled to come online in 2010. It’s expected to be worth US$40 million over five years to the Central African Republic.

The Globe and Mail newspaper reported Canada has changed its policy on nuclear non-proliferation to accommodate India, a country that’s recently been allowed to trade openly in nuclear fuel and technology despite active nuclear weapons programs.

Canada supported a nuclear-inspection plan for India that was approved by the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday. The plan could bring into action a controversial US-India deal on nuclear cooperation. According to the Globe, Canada is now expected to back an exemption for India at the Nuclear Suppliers Group at a meeting later this month, which will allow India to start importing uranium and nuclear technology.

Critics of the move pointed out its success would essentially declaw a 1968 treaty that recognized only the United States, Russia, China, France, and the UK as nuclear powers and prohibited trade in nuclear technology and supplies to all other nations known to be in possession of nuclear weapons. According to the Globe, Canada is choosing to make an exception to the world's non-proliferation rules because of India’s position as an emerging global economic power.

Earlier this week, international nuclear agreements continued to roll in. The latest news came from Jordan, which planned to sign nuclear cooperation deals with Russia, the United States and China in the fall. The southwest Asian country is after a civilian nuclear energy program and has been busy establishing other cooperation deals this year with Canada, France, and the UK.

Finally, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency called for the creation of a global energy institution this week to help the world with its energy crisis. Mohamed ElBaradei feels a global energy body would bring a new perspective to issues of new energy technology, the role of nuclear power, distribution of energy where it’s needed and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.