Antinuclear

$2 billion wiped off the value of uranium miner ERA

Darwin-based miner was closing its Ranger uranium tailings dam for 12 weeks because heavy rain was expected for the rest of the wet season

Energy Resources of Australia tumbles as rain takes a heavy toll Matt Chambers  The Australian * January 29, ENERGY Resources of Australia (ERA) suffered its biggest one-day share slump in two years, after the uranium miner said heavy Northern Territory rain was expected to wipe out nearly a full quarter of this year’s production and would result in no final dividend for 2010.

The continued bad news, which comes on the back of resource downgrades and poor 2010 production, led to a 13 per cent plunge in the share price to a two-year low of $10.34 yesterday.

This means investors, including 68.4 per cent owner Rio Tinto, have now had a total of $2 billion, or 50 per cent of the market value of the company, wiped off the value of their holdings in the past year……

But the real surprise was in an earlier announcement that said the Darwin-based miner was closing its Ranger uranium tailings dam for 12 weeks because heavy rain was expected for the rest of the wet season and earlier rains had already filled up the dam beyond normal levels for this time of year.

January 29, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, business