Natural uranium is significantly less expensive than gold on a per-weight basis. While gold is a precious metal commanding thousands of dollars per ounce due to its rarity and widespread use as a financial store of value, uranium trades as an industrial energy commodity priced by the pound (typically fluctuating around $90 USD per pound). Even when processed and enriched for nuclear reactor fuel, raw natural uranium does not approach the soaring market valuations commanded by precious metals like gold or platinum.