The same conditions--low prices, inventory liquidations by utilities, and foreign competition--that existed in 1983, continued into 1984. Production exceeded consumption and, as a result, exploration for uranium in the United States declined for the sixth straight year. In 1984, an estimated $30 million was spent on uranium exploration, including 2.5 million ft of surface drilling. This drilling was done mainly in the producing areas and in areas of recent discoveries.

Production of uranium concentrate declined in 1984, for the fourth straight year, when 15 million lb of uranium oxide (U₃O₈) were produced. Uranium produced as the result of solution mining and as the by-product of phosphoric acid production accounted for about 35% of the total production in the United States. Due to the soft market, numerous mines and 4 mills closed in 1984.

Canada continues to dominate the free world's market with the opening of the world's largest uranium production center at Key Lake, Saskatchewan.

The decline of the domestic producing industry in 1984 is expected to continue into 1985, and the United States will slip into third place in uranium production in the free world.