Uranium

An odd market – Sprott’s Rick Rule picks platinum, palladium and uranium

By Lawrence Williams

In his pre-lunch presentation at the Metals & Mining Investment Conference in New York, consummate presenter, Sprott Global Resource Investment’s chairman, Rick Rule, began by describing the current market for mining stocks – and for gold stocks in particular – as an odd market, not acting in the way most had expected it to, including himself.  Read more

Uranium – poised for another boom?

By Lawrence Williams

Only a short time ago it seems (five or six years actually) the uranium price was riding high, uranium explorers were springing up everywhere and uranium producer and explorer shares were among the strongest in the mining sector.  The spot price soared to close on $140/lb in 2007, but then collapsed to the $40 or so level by early 2009 before making something of a recovery up to around $70/lb by early 2011, Read more

Iran opens two new uranium mines as nuclear talks fail

By Lawrence Williams

Immediately following the breakdown of talks between Iranian authorities and representatives of the EU, US, Russia, China, France, the UK and Germany in Kazakhstan, an announcement on Iranian President Ahmedinajad’s website noted that the country has started operations at two new uranium mines, located in Yazd province, as well as a new process plant to produce yellowcake, which can be a step on the way to producing highly enriched uranium. Read more

High hopes for Ranger mine

ENERGY Resources of Australia hopes to re-establish itself as a significant uranium producer by building a new mine in the Northern Territory.

ERA chief executive Rob Atkinson said approval to build an underground uranium mine would extend the life of its declining and unprofitable open-cut Ranger mine in Kakadu National Park. Read more

URANIUM: Canadian producers gain access to Indian market

Canada’s uranium producers are nothing if not world class. In 2011, 8.69 million tonnes of uranium worth $1.1 billion was produced, all of it from Saskatchewan. That makes us second in the world, behind Kazakhstan (17.8 million tonnes) and well ahead of Australia (5.9 million tonnes).

Canada supplies 18.2% of world’s uranium, but there are certain precautions used when choosing a customer. No Canadian uranium can be sold to a country Read more

Uranium Explorer Toro in Talks With Seven Possible Asia Partners

By James Paton

Toro Energy Ltd. (TOE), the uranium explorer planning a A$269 million ($279 million) project in Western Australia, said it’s in talks with seven potential partners in Japan, China and South Korea.

Toro plans to bring in a company to help develop the Wiluna uranium mine before reaching an investment decision to go ahead with the project by the end of 2013, Read more

Toro turns to financing after nod from Burke

By Barry Fitzgerald

Strateco stock plummets on Quebec uranium mining moratorium

By Boucherville

Shares of Strateco Resources Inc. are down nearly 60 per cent in the first trading session since last week’s decision by the Quebec government to effectively impose a moratorium on uranium mining in the province.

Strateco, which has invested more than $120-million in its Matoush uranium project in northern Quebec, has said it intends to investigate the legality of the province’s move. Read more

Saskatchewan seeks to spur uranium expansion with royalty cut

By Rod Nickel

High-grade uranium mineralization keeps coming for 50/50 joint-venture partners Alpha Minerals (TSX-V: AMW) and Fission Energy at their Patterson Lake project in the Athabasca Basin. It’s a recent discovery that has already yielded some stellar U3O8 grades over broad intercept widths. The latest intercept, according to Alpha and Fission, shows 34 metres @ 4.92 percent U3O8 with as much as 12.5m @ 12.38 percent U3O8 therein. Read more

Uranium miners press Canada to change Cold War rules that restrict foreign ownership

By Rod Nickel

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Two of the world’s biggest uranium miners, Rio Tinto PLC and Areva SA , are pressing Canada to change a Cold War era policy that curbs foreign ownership of uranium mines.

The campaign, backed by the Australian government, two Canadian provinces and Western Australia-based uranium producer Paladin Energy Ltd, Read more

Uranium gets a run for its money

By Andrew Fraser

ADVOCATES claim that its got all the advantages of nuclear power without any of the drawbacks. They claim that power can be produced incredibly cheaply from it with no environmental down side. And furthermore, Australia has the greatest concentration of this material in the world. Read more

Areva’s Imouraren Uranium Mine to Start Output by Mid-2015

By Djibril Saidou

Areva SA (AREVA), the world’s second-biggest uranium mining company, will start production at the troubled Imouraren mine in Niger by the second quarter of 2015, a company official said.

Areva has discussed security issues for workers at the operation in the northeast of the country, Olivier Wantz, senior executive vice president for mining business, Read more

Cigar Lake nears startup as uranium price recovers

By Pav Jordon

Cameco Corp. is just months away from opening its Cigar Lake uranium project, the world’s second-largest high-grade uranium deposit, more than thirty years after it was discovered and just as global prices for the nuclear fuel show promise of a rebound.

“We’re on track with Cigar Lake. We said we’d be starting the mining in mid-2013 and we will and we’ll have first production from the mill in 2013,” said Tim Gitzel, Read more

Niger in Talks With Areva for Uranium Mines to Give More Funds

By Franz Wild

Niger is in negotiations with Areva SA (AREVA) to ensure the world’s second-biggest uranium mining company’s operations contribute more to the nation’s income, Mines Minister Omar Hamidou Tchiana said.

The government in Niger, the third-largest uranium- producing nation, wants new agreements for Areva’s Somair and Cominak mines to be more beneficial Read more

2013 a turning point for uranium – Chang

By Zig Lambo

The Energy Report: During your last interview with us in May, spot uranium was around $51 per pound ($51/lb), with some apparent stability at that level. Now spot is ~$42.50/lb. What’s the source of the downward pressure?

Rob Chang: The excess inventory that was available for sale, most notably from Japan, has been going back Read more

Uranium market woes mainly a timing issue – Musgrave

By Peter Byrne

If a person consumed only nuclear-generated power, the amount of waste generated over his or her lifetime could be contained in a soda can. Compare this to the trainloads of coal delivered daily to coal-fired power plants and nuclear power seems like a no-brainer. Cecil Musgrave of InvestorsGuru.com sees nuclear power as a bridge to a renewable energy mix—but only if supply is reliable. In this interview with The Energy Report, Musgrave explains why supply shortages may create a price spike for the commodity. Read more

Uranium Rebound Seen as Japan Considers Nuclear: Energy Markets

By Ben Sharples

Uranium is poised to rebound from a second annual decline as Japan considers restarting its atomic plants almost two years after the Fukushima disaster and China pushes ahead with the world’s biggest nuclear building program.

The price of the fuel for immediate delivery may average $55 a pound in 2013, according to the median of five analyst estimates in a Bloomberg News survey conducted last month. Read more

China urgently seeking new uranium resources domestically and overseas

By Shivom Seth

China National Nuclear Corporation is to speed up overseas uranium mining exploration. The country’s leading nuclear energy developer is to focus on Australia, Africa and Central Asia, to meet its growing demand for raw material.

Formed in December 2011 in an effort to restructure its parent company, the state owned China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) is undergoing initial examination by the China Securities Read more

Burke’s uranium delay fires up Barnett

By Barry Fitzgerald And Nicolas Perpitch

WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett has accused federal Environment Minister Tony Burke of playing politics by again delaying an environmental clearance decision on Toro Energy’s proposed $270 million Wiluna uranium development.

The project has already been cleared by the state government and is the first of a number of WA uranium Read more

Uranium opportunity ‘at risk’, says secret report

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