Uranium

[cottonpicken]

Kazakhstan’s international energy image is now that of one of the
world’s rising oil exporters, an extraordinary feat given that, two
decades ago its hydrocarbon output was beyond insignificant when the
USSR collapsed. The vast Central Asian nation, larger than Western
Europe, has now quietly passed another energy milestone.

Kazakhstan produces 33 percent of world’s mined uranium, followed by
Canada at 18 percent and Australia, with 11 percent of global output.
Kazakhstan contains the world's second-largest uranium reserves,
estimated at 1.5 million tons. Until two years ago Kazakhstan was the
world's No. 3 uranium miner, following Australia and Canada.

Together the trio is responsible for about 62 percent of the world's
production of mined uranium.

According to Kazakhstan’s State Corporation for Atomic Energy,
Kazatomprom, during January-September, the country mined 13,957
tons of uranium. “The volume of uranium mining in the Republic of
Kazakhstan (for January - September) comprised 13,957 tons, which is
11 percent higher than the same period last year." Even more impressive,
Kazatomprom’s revenues soared 72 percent year-on-year.
Kazatomprom is the state-owned Kazakh national operator for the
export of uranium, as well as rare metals, nuclear fuel for nuclear power
plants, special equipment, technologies, and dual-purpose materials.

To put Kazakhstan’s accomplishment in context, a mere five years ago
Kazakhstan produced 5,279 tons of uranium.

While the March disaster at Japan’s Fuskuhima nuclear complex has
caused several European nations to reassess their commitment to
nuclear power, Kazakhstan’s regional markets seem assured in Asia’s
rising economic powerhouses China and India. While Beijing has reacted
to Fukushima by ordering thorough inspections of the nation’s nuclear
power plants, China's Commission of Science Technology and Industry
for National Defense in its 11th Five-Year Plan for the Nuclear Industry
announced China intended to produce 40 gigawatts of nuclear power
electrical generating capacity within a decade, even though nuclear
power currently accounts for just 1.4 percent of China’s electrical power
generation.

If China follows through with its ambitious nuclear power plant
construction plans the country will need an estimated 44 million pounds
of uranium annually, as by 2020 the country will have a total of 77
planned and proposed new reactors. Of China's 11 current nuclear power
plants, the oldest, Qingshan-1, only came online in 1991.

India’s nuclear ambitions parallel China’s. While nuclear power currently
accounts for only 3-4 percent of the country’s electrical output, India
has 19 planned and proposed nuclear power reactors on the drawing
board.

But the specter of the Japanese nuclear crisis has even overshadowed
Astana’s optimism.

Speaking at the Minex conference in Astana on 5-7April, Kazatomprom
president Vladimir Shkol’nik stated that the Fukushima debacle would
not greatly influence the Kazakh state atomic company’s plans.

Despite Shkol’nik’s optimism, immediately after the Fukushima disaster
the world uranium spot price plummeted from over $70 per pound to
just $49 per pound, but has since rebounded to roughly $55 in
November.

But Kazakhstan is moving beyond the mere mining of uranium to
producing nuclear fuel rods. On 4 November French Industry and Energy
Minister Eric Besson signed a contract with the Kazakh government
allowing France's Areva to open a nuclear fuel plant with Kazatomprom.
A statement from Besson’s office noted, "This deal commits to the
creation in Kazakhstan, the top global producer of uranium, of a nuclear
fuel production plant dedicated to the Asian market. The construction of
this plant could start as soon as the feasibility study is completed by the
end of the first quarter of 2012." According to the agreement, the facility
will consist of a new production line at Kazakhstan's ULBA metallurgical
plant that will be 51 percent owned by Kazatomprom and 49 percent by
Areva.

And flush with cash, next year Kazatomprom may buy into the Russian
Federation’s Urals Electrochemical Integrated Plant (UEIP), the largest
uranium enrichment facility within Russian State Nuclear Energy
Corporation Rosatom. Last month Rosatom CEO Sergei Kirienko told
journalists, "We are involved in purely technical procedures now, taking
into account the organization and relevant restrictions (of a closed
nuclear facility). We are moving within a set timetable. We have a plan -
to complete all work in 2012. And we should begin working with
Kazatomprom in 2012."

Earlier this month, the International Energy Agency released its 2011
“World Energy Outlook,” which states that if the world is serious about
global warming, it should consider the continued use of nuclear power to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With Kazakhstan’s oil exports
currently running at 1.74 million barrels per day and the nation being
now the world’s largest uranium miner, it would seem that Astana is
going to continue to rake in the cash no matter what energy policies the
world adopts in the short term.

By. John C.K. Daly of Oilprice.com

[Hopperbin]

Is UUU tsx the one to watch?

[Hopperbin]

Week old news but relevant

UPDATE 4-Australia PM pushes to end India uranium sales ban
15 Nov 2011 - Reuters
UPDATE 4-Australia PM pushes to end India uranium sales ban* Australia's ruling Labor party seen lifting ban at party conference

* PM says time for her Labor party to "modernise"

* Move ahead of Obama visit to Australia, aligns with U.S. position

* India's uranium needs seen rising as it builds more nuclear power plants

* Shares in uranium miners and explorers rally (Adds India official comment and details)

By James Grubel

CANBERRA, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is pushing to overturn a ban on sales of uranium to India, removing a diplomatic thorn between the two countries and potentially opening up a new and growing market for Australian suppliers.

The move follows a landmark U.S. agreement to support the civil nuclear programme in India, which is seen by Washington as an economic and geopolitical counterweight to China.

Asia's third-largest economy has long complained about the ban. Uranium from Australia would help it meet an ambitious target for nuclear energy growth, hampered by fuel shortages even at existing plants.

Australia has refused to sell nuclear material to India because it has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Gillard's ruling Labor party will debate lifting the ban at its conference next month.

"I believe the time has come for the Labor party to change this position. Selling uranium to India will be good for the Australian economy and good for jobs," Gillard told reporters.

"This will be one way we can take another step forward in our relationship with India. We have a good relationship with India, it is the world largest democracy, a stable democracy."

The move is set to spark heated debate at the party's December conference, but should easily pass with support from Labor's dominant right faction. The policy does not need to go to parliament for approval, but the conservative opposition also supports uranium sales to India.

Gillard's comments came on the eve of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Australia and would bring Australia's uranium policy into line with the United States.

"We welcome this initiative," India's Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna told reporters. "We attach importance to our relations with Australia, which are growing across the board. Energy is one of the key areas of bilateral cooperation."

Washington in 2008 signed a landmark civil nuclear agreement with India over the use of uranium for nuclear energy.

Critics accused the United States of undermining the global non-proliferation regime, but the deal was seen by President George W. Bush as the centrepiece of a new strategic relationship with India.

Australia, one of the United States' closest allies in the region, supported the U.S-India nuclear agreement as a member of the 46-member Nuclear Supplier's Group, but had continued to refuse to sell uranium to India.

Gillard said the policy shift would apply only to India and not open up potential sales to Israel or Pakistan, as only India had sought and received an exemption from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

"So that puts India in a class of its own," Gillard said. "When you look at other nations, whether it be Pakistan or Israel, they are not in that same class."

Australia has almost 40 percent of the world's known uranium reserves, but supplies only 19 percent of the world market. It has no nuclear power stations.

The country now has four mines, BHP Billiton's Olympic Dam, potentially the world's biggest; Energy Resources Australia's Ranger mine; the Beverly mine, owned by U.S. company General Atomics, and Honeymoon mines, owned by Uranium One and Mitsui & Co.

Shares in smaller uranium producers and explorers rose, with Paladin Energy up 3.1 percent and Toro Energy up more than 10 percent.

Toro Energy managing director Greg Hall said the policy shift would help smaller miners attract investment.

"For smaller development companies like ourselves, it brings the opportunity of attracting new investors," Hall told Reuters.

"Indian companies have invested in copper and coal mines in Australia, and they are, of course, a candidate to invest in uranium properties for offtake agreements."


GREENS OPPOSED

While a decision to lift the ban would be welcomed by Australia's mining sector, it is strongly opposed by Labor's political allies, the Greens, who said the move would encourage a nuclear arms race in Asia and make Australia less safe.

Strict conditions are imposed on uranium exports to ensure it is used for power generation and not weapons. Nuclear-armed India has repeatedly clashed with neighbouring Pakistan, which also possesses nuclear weapons.

India has refused to sign the nuclear NPT, arguing it is discriminatory and flawed in allowing only countries which had tested nuclear weapons before 1967 to legally possess them.

Pakistan, Israel and North Korea are the only other non-signatories to the treaty.

Two-way trade between India and Australia is currently worth about $20 billion a year, with the balance skewed in Australia's favour because of India's voracious appetite for resources.

Canberra has forecast uranium exports to rise from around 10,000 tonnes a year to 14,000 tonnes in 2014, worth around A$1.7 billion ($1.74 billion).

BHP Billiton, which is planning a major expansion of its Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine, said it would review its position on sales to India if the government changed its policy.

Rio Tinto had no immediate comment.


POWER PUSH

India's 20 nuclear plants produce only a small fraction of the country's electricity and operate at about half capacity for lack of fuel. It plans to add nearly 30 reactors over the next 20 years, requiring more overseas uranium purchases.

Uranium prices have fallen below $55 a pound since the March 11 tsunami that knocked out Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant. That compares with January's price of nearly $75, itself nearly half a high of $136 in 2007 UX-U3O8-SPT.

For now, supplies of uranium to the world market continue to be supplemented with secondary sources of uranium -- stockpiled fuel and nuclear arms decommissioned since the end of the Cold War -- which are now in decline. That additional supply provided nearly half of demand in 1999 but by 2010 it had dropped to 30 percent, according to sector estimates.

The decline in secondary supply may accelerate once the "megatons for megawatts" programme that converts Russian nuclear warheads into reactor fuel expires in two years, taking secondary supply lines from Russian and U.S. uranium stocks to as low as 5 percent, from 40 percent now, analysts say.

BHP, Cameco, Rio Tinto and others are taking steps to dig new mines and expand old ones to take advantage of a forecast 20 percent leap in global uranium consumption by 2015.

In Australia, BHP also wants to mine 90,000 tonnes of uranium from its Yeelirrie deposit over 30 years but has yet to break any ground. ($1 = 0.980 Australian Dollars) (Additional reporting by James Regan and Lincoln Feast in Sydney and Sonali Paul in Melbourne; Editing by Alistair Scrutton and Alex Richardson)

[cottonpicken]

Do not know the ins and outs of the uranium
industry.Love energy as a whole.

Thought the fact they geared up so quick would be
useful to some in investing.

[Hopperbin]

Learning as we go, was interesting to learn that India's nuclear reactors were not running at capacity because of international politics. One thing we as grain farmers understand is supply and demand plus got a few bucks to put away in the retirement funds.
Between India and China's future demand and the fact that American and Russian nuclear arms stocks will drop from 40 percent of supply to 5 percent in 2 years says something, someone has to make this supply shortage up.

Rio Tinto Gets Canadian Competition Clearance For Hathor Bid
22 Nov 2011 - Dow Jones Newswires
MELBOURNE -(Dow Jones)- Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) said Wednesday it has received clearance from the Canadian Competition Bureau for its 654 million Canadian dollar (US$629 million) bid for Hathor Exploration Ltd. (HAT.T), a junior exploration company with uranium assets in northern Saskatchewan.

The Commissioner of Competition issued a "no action letter," which signals compliance with all requirements of the Competition Act, for the C$4.70 a share offer, the Anglo-Australian mining giant said in a statement.

Rio last week sweetened its bid, pitching it at a premium to a hostile C$4.50 a share bid from Cameco Corp. (CCJ), the world's largest producer of uranium. Hathor's board supports Rio's offer, which is set to close Nov. 30.

Hathor's shares have been trading above the price offered by Rio, which analysts have said supports the view Cameco will counter with a higher bid, and were last trading at C$5.03. HAT on the tsx.

[Hopperbin]

I did not say this part correct.

The decline in secondary supply may accelerate once the "megatons for megawatts" programme that converts Russian nuclear warheads into reactor fuel expires in two years, taking secondary supply lines from Russian and U.S. uranium stocks to as low as 5 percent, from 40 percent now, analysts say.

[wakopa]

hm bought uuu couple years ago at 2.00 sold 5.94. its 2.20 now.

[BTOfarmallll]

wakopokey, I'd be doin The Hokey Pokey wit okey wit them Numbers. Shoulda Mortgaged The Whole God Damn Farm like yer Buddy Tom Jackson's doin. He's playin in The Big Feeler Crowd now Boys & Girls, Word is already Spent $2 Million & Counting trying to get Elected. Probly lose itall This Time Around Playin in The Big Leagues, Seperate The Men from The Boys. Say how bigga Tract was it @ Pilot Mound that went fer $120 to Thee acre?????? Keep The God Damn Hutts off The Land at these Prices!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[wakopa]

checking my source,he is out at hockey rink