URANIUM NEWS ARTICLES

Rio Tinto R?/span>ssing Mine

Rio Tinto currently stands as No 2 uranium producer in the world, after Canada-based Cameco. Rio Tinto holds a majority stake in ERA, and also owns 69% of the R?sing mine, known to uranium specialists as the "grand old lady" of the Namibian uranium industry. R?sing lays claim to 140mlb historical production over 30 years, with current production running at around 8% of global uranium oxide output. R?sing boasted an initial resource of 373m tons grading 0.03% to 0.05% uranium oxide; remaining resources of 250m tons at 0.025% uranium oxide are contained in the monster 5km long, 500m wide and 350m deep open pit.

From MineWeb.com

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Chinese Steel Maker Takes Interest in Uranium Deposit in South Australia

 

Sinosteel has applied to develop a uranium ore deposit in South Australia through its joint venture with ASX-listed company PepinNini Minerals, according to The Australian newspaper.

The joint venture Sinosteel PepinNini Curnamona Management lodged a minerals claim with the South Australian government, which is the step made before applying for a formal mining lease.  Sinosteel said the joint venture to develop the $160 million deposit at Cocker Well has been approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board.

The Chinese steel maker has a 60 per cent stake in the joint venture with PepinNini holding the remaining 40 per cent. Metals & Mining: Uranium Market Review.

Full Article:

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Sinosteel-eyes-SA-uranium-J4LTF?OpenDocument

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Research & Analytics: URANIUM

UxC price update: The UxC spot price fell $4/lb for the week to $58/lb (from $62.00/lb). The long-term price remains unchanged at $80/lb. Five deals were reported during the week totaling 1.6 million pounds. Year-to-date, volume on the spot market has totaled 25.1 million pounds (124 deals) compared to ~13 million pounds (~60 deals) during the same period past year.

UxC Market Review: For the month of September, 11 deals have been reported totaling 4.8 million pounds making this one of the most active volume months since the run on the spot market in the first half of 2005. The lower prices have attracted more buying interest in the spot market with a non-U.S. utility seeking 0.45Mln pounds U3O8e and others posting a number of bid prices. Buyers may be viewing this as a purchasing and an inventory building opportunity. September?s overall volume is likely to hit record levels at this pace. (source: Ux Weekly ? Sep. 22, 2008).

Highlights from the 4th Annual Platts Nuclear Fuel Strategies Conference. The 2 day conference held in Arlington, VA last week had an overall cautious tone amid the market activities and Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. Stephen Maloney, managing consultant of Towers Perrin further eludes to credit crunch issues that will possibly affect the future of the industry. ?The current pending 29 applications for new nuclear power plant licenses will likely not be filled. Only the companies with absolute best credit rating (AA) will be able to fund new reactor construction. Furthermore, due to the current state of the credit markets, lenders will raise premiums causing fewer reactors to be constructed.? Stephen goes on further to compare the late 1970s stagnated nuclear times to events of today saying that the nuclear industry could be in trouble if the market issues persist. AREVA?s new US president, Jacques Besnainou, stressed that the United States is out of options for the storage of uranium and outlines the steps for spent fuel reprocessing, MOX fuel usage, and the use of reprocessed fuel in Generation IV reactors as possible solutions. Laura Holgate of Nuclear Threat Initiative argued for further blend-down of Russian highly enriched uranium as not only benefits to nuclear nonproliferation and the nuclear renaissance but as a possible solution to a post 2011 enrichment problem stemming from the phase-out of gaseous diffusion enrichment.

If the market continues to show negative results, small and large firms may find it hard to raise sustainable capital to increase liquidity.

 

Pricing update and market outlook provided by Ux Consulting Co. LLC

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About Quebec Mineral Exploration and

the James Bay Mining District

According to the Fraser Institute's 2007-2008 survey, Quebec ranks second out of the 68 world-wide mining jurisdictions under study for the attractiveness of its mineral potential, and ranks first world-wide for its exploration investment attractiveness. Exploration in Quebec is also very attractive as the provincial government offers a 45%+ rebate on eligible expenditures for junior exploration companies.

The James Bay Mining District region has experienced a major boom in mineral exploration since the discovery of the Roberto gold deposit in 2003. Several mineral occurrences have been discovered in a variety of metallogenic settings. In addition to the Troilus Mine, the new James Bay Mining District hosts nine (9) deposits with NI-43-101 compliant Indicated mineral resources, namely: Eleonore (Gold), Eau Claire (Gold), ?32? Zone (Gold), Orf? (Gold), Eastmain (Gold), MacLeod Lake (Copper), Lac Rocher (Nickel), Lac Levac (Nickel-Copper-PGE?s) and Apple (Uranium).

Jean Lafleur, President of Bonaventure Enterprises states, "The James Bay Uranium District is an exciting place for an exploration company focused on uranium. We are very pleased to have acquired such a prominent land position in this emerging District. The acquisition and exploration of the K9 Uranium Corridor is in line with our strategy of developing a diversified portfolio of excellent uranium properties in Canada and promising gold properties in Nevada. The K9 Corridor project nicely complements our other uranium holdings in the Athabasca Basin and in the North Shore Properties in Quebec.?

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Cameco sees long-term uranium deficit, price rise

TORONTO, June 11, 2008 - Uranium prices should continue to be volatile over the next few years, but should rise in the long term as uranium supply falls well below global demand for the fuel, a Cameco Corp official said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a mining conference in Toronto, Chief Financial Officer Kim Goheen said new construction of nuclear reactors, led by China, Russia and India, should result in steep uranium production deficits that will drive prices higher.

"Global support for nuclear energy has never been stronger as the world grapples with balancing an increasing electricity demand with security of supply and climate-change issues," he told a mining conference in Toronto.

He said the world's fleet of about 440 nuclear reactors should grow by 83 by 2017, which should result in a cumulative deficit of 450 million pounds of uranium to that point.  Current reactor demand is seen at 182 million pounds this year, while mined output is expected to be about 125 million pounds. Mined uranium production has fallen short of reactor demand for years, due to weak prices in the past decade, which stifled exploration and led to abandonment of mines. The shortfall has been made up by secondary sources, such as decommissioned nuclear weapons or recycled uranium.

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