ERA uranium company’s losses, and closed operations due to radioactive spill
ERA narrows loss to A$136m, says toxic spill probe continuing Mining Weekly By: Esmarie Swanepoel 31st January 2014 “…..During the year, revenue from sales decreased 10%, to A$355.8-million, while revenue from continuing operations was down 12% on the previous financial year to A$370-million…..
ERA produced some 2 960 t of uranium oxide in the year under review, which was 20% less than that produced in 2012, as lower mill rates affected output. The suspension of processing operations following the failure of a leach tank in December also negatively affected operations, ERA said.
Processing operations at the Ranger mine, in the Northern Territory, remain suspended pending the completion of a full investigation and regulatory approvals to restart.
ERA was conducting an independent investigation that would run in parallel with the government investigation.http://www.miningweekly.com/article/era-narrows-loss-to-a136m-says-toxic-spill-probe-continuing-2014-01-31
Destruction of Renewable Energy Target would destroy 1000s of solar jobs
Thousands Of Australian Solar Jobs Threatened http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=4147 28 Jan 14 If those who wish to see Australia’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) abolished get what they want, up to 6,750 solar PV jobs could be lost and foregone nationwide in less than 5 years.
The grim prediction comes from REC Agents Association (RAA) in a report due to be released on Wednesday.
“If the Renewable Energy Target is axed, 2,000 jobs could be lost straight away and thousands of new jobs would not be created”, said Fiona O’Hehir, Vice-President of RAA and CEO of Greenbank Environmental, who commissioned the analysis.
“Axing the RET is on the Government’s agenda and they need to understand this would have a diabolical impact on jobs, industry and the hundreds of thousands of Australians who want to put solar on their homes.”
The RAA report states the solar industry employed around 17,000 Australians in 4,300 small and medium sized businesses last year. Continue reading
Chinese nuclear firm saves Australian firm Paladin – for now, anyway
Top China nuclear firm rescues Paladin Namibia uranium mine Business Recorder, 20 January 2014 by Umer Qazi MELBOURNE: China National Nuclear Corp has agreed to buy a The sale rescues Paladin, as it urgently needed to raise funds following three years of pain as uranium prices slumped after the Fukushima disaster, which killed Japanese demand for the fuel and led other countries to halt nuclear expansions.
“Paladin’s out of the woods for the short to medium term. But longer term they need higher uranium prices to pay back their convertible note,” said Simon Tonkin, an analyst at Patersons Securities…….
The company had little bargaining power with uranium prices hovering at $36.05, or nearly half the price they were at before the Fukushima plant was crippled in March 2011…….
While Paladin has booked heavy losses, it is in better shape than rival Energy Resources of Australia Ltd, controlled by Rio Tinto , which had to suspend processing uranium ore after radioactive slurry leaked from a leach tank at its Ranger operation in Australia……http://www.brecorder.com/top-news/109-world-top-news/153926-top-china-nuclear-firm-rescues-paladin-namibia-uranium-mine.html
Accidents and dismal uranium prices plague Paladin Energy
Paladin revenue dwindles as output rises Justin Niessner Wednesday, 15 January 2014 PALADIN Energy recorded strong production figures for the December quarter but posted lower sales revenue on a stubbornly weak uranium price.
Revenues for the quarter were down 31.6% year on year at $US101.7 million ($A11.2 million) on the sale of 2.8 million pounds of uranium oxide. It represents roughly the same sales volume compared to a year ago but at a 23.8% lower price of $36.67 per pound of uranium oxide……
Safety was a difficult issue for the company over the period, with an electrical incident sending three workers to hospital in early October. The company confirmed that the most seriously injured worker died on October 29. Two lost time injuries were recorded as a result of the incident…..
a price of at least $70/lb would be necessary to support new uranium supply Earlier this week Paladin said it would not pursue development of its Manyingee project in Western Australia due to the low uranium price. http://www.miningnews.net/storyview.asp?storyid=801876475
Paladin Energy slashing costs in “unsustainable” uranium industry
Paladin Energy uranium mine sale expected in coming weeks, Mining Australia 15 January, 2014 Vicky Validakis Paladin Energy said talks around the sale of its Langer Heinrich uranium mine were progressing as the price for uranium continues to deteriorate.
The Perth-based miner flagged its intentions to sell its stake in the African mine in August when it announced a raft of cost-cutting measures to combat the weakening price of uranium.………While Borshoff the project was a long-term play for the miner, he said the stubbornly low uranium price meant all new developments had been put on the backburner.
“It’s unsustainable at the moment,” Borshoff said.
“Everyone has declared a moratorium on new projects. It’s all hanging by a thread and at some point this year it has got to turn.” Last year the company made a $US173 million loss in the three months to June.
Paladin signalled it would slash corporate and exploration costs by $US10.8 million, a 24 per cent reduction……..Paladin has five uranium exploration projects operating in Australia. http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/paladin-energy-uranium-mine-sale-expected-in-comin
Following tank rupture, outlook dim for ERA’s Ranger uranium project
Leach tank failure impacts ERA’s uranium production results, Mining Australia,10 January, 2014 Vicky Validakis Production at ERA’s uranium mine took a 60 per cent hit in the December quarter after a leach tank rupture forced operations to close at the site.
While a slight fall in production was expected after the completion of mining in the high-grade open-cut Ranger pit, matters worsened for the miner when a leach tank at the site’s processing plant ruptured and collapsed, causing an acidic radioactive slurry spill.
The incident forced the shutdown of operations and a massive clean-up at the site, with the Federal Government announcing the mine will not be able to restart production operations without regulatory approval and the go ahead from a joint operation taskforce.
Processing operations remain suspended while clean-up and recovery operations at the Ranger processing plant are ongoing.
In an ASX announcement the Rio Tinto-owned ERA revealed uranium production for the December quarter was 503 tonnes, down 17 per cent on the preceding September quarter and 59 per cent down on the previous corresponding period.
The fall cut annual output by 20 per cent to 2960 tonnes……..approval may be difficult to come by with the Mirrar people previously stating that a number of safety incidents at the site had caused distrust.
In early November a mine left the site’s controlled areas sparking fears of contamination, while later that month four uranium storage barrels were discovered in bushland near Darwin.
“Day by day, litre by litre, incident by incident, they’re losing whatever trust traditional owners have in them,” Mirrar spokesperson Justin O’Brien said. http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/leach-tank-failure-impacts-era-s-uranium-productio
In Australia renewable energy now cheaper than fossil fuel
Renewables cheaper than fossil fuels in Australia BY DAVID TWOMEY · JANUARY 10, 2014 IT MAY COME AS A SHOCK TO SOME BUT EVEN WITHOUT A SUBSIDY THE COST OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IN AUSTRALIA HAS FALLEN TO THE EXTENT THAT IT IS NOW CHEAPER TO PRODUCE THAN CONVENTIONAL FOSSIL FUEL POWER SOURCES.
This has emerged from a study produced by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), and shows that even without a carbon price, wind energy is 14 per cent cheaper than new coal and 18 per cent cheaper than new gas.
The BNEF study should certainly provoke a rethink by Australia’s conservative Liberal-National government as it sets about trying to repeal the country’s carbon price laws and possibly change the Renewable Energy Target (RET).
Prices for both renewable energy and fossil fuel-based energy have been changing rapidly in Australia Continue reading
Australian renewable energy technology: sales to Japan?
Renewable energy in Japan: opportunities for Australian businesses Ecogeneration , 10 January 2014 In an exclusive excerpt from the February 2014 edition ofEcoGeneration, Austrade Trade Commissioner in Sapporo Ian Brazier explains how the Japan’s feed-in tariff scheme has made solar PV their fastest growing energy sector, creating new opportunities for Australian technology, equipment and service providers.
……To diversify its energy mix, the Japanese government is moving towards bolstering renewable energy usage. In order to increase supply, a generous feed-in tariff (FiT) regime for renewable energy was introduced in July 2012.
To date, most announced projects that have come as a result of the FiT rely on solar photovoltaic (PV) generation and are based in northern Japan…..
What has been the big impact from feed-in tariffs?
The FiT regime has triggered a 4,086 megawatt (MW) increase in total deployed renewable energy project capacity from July 2012 to July 2013 (latest available figures). Of this total capacity, 3,916 MW comes from solar PV power generation.
The dominance of solar PV generation is likely to continue. Japanese government policy is that FiT will remain in place for at least three years and this will ensure continued solid growth…….
Residential solar is the second biggest growth area in renewables and is an area where Australia has commercial advantage that is of interest to Japan. Under the current FiT regime, each owner may sell only surplus electricity, with the duration of purchase agreements limited to ten years. 646375.png…….
Some large Japanese firms with expertise in large lenses and mirrors and speciality construction are looking to expand into CSP projects overseas, including in Australia. This presents possible inward investment opportunities for Australia in attracting Japanese direct investment.
New trends are also emerging in wind
There are a number of wind projects being progressed due to introduction of the FiT….. http://ecogeneration.com.au/news/renewable_energy_in_japanopportunities_for_australian_businesses/084932/
Australia’s inadequate decontamination of radioactive nuclear test sites
Cabinet Papers 1986-87: The struggle for indigenous land rights, SMH, Damien Murphy, 28 Dec 13, “……….. Decontaminating radioactive sites The McClelland royal commission on British nuclear tests in Australia had recommended that the Maralinga and Emu test sites should be decontaminated to a standard suitable for unrestricted habitation by the traditional owners.
But a technical assessment group found that even the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars would not achieve complete decontamination.
The Resources and Energy Minister, Senator Gareth Evans, recommended that Cabinet consider the lesser option of decontamination sufficient to allow casual access to a larger area than was currently permissible. This option might cost between $20 and $30 million, “much more within the ball park that the UK Government is likely, on present indications, to be prepared to contemplate”.
Cabinet also decided that compensation claims for diseases that might have been caused by radiation would be resisted if the Commonwealth did not believe that a liability existed……….
Traditional owners had been dispersed to Yalata and the Pitjantjatjara lands in South Australia and Coonana in Western Australia. Cabinet allocated an initial $500,000 for projects of lasting and general community benefit…….. http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/cabinet-papers-198687-the-struggle-for-indigenous-land-rights-20131228-3017r.html
Toro Energy snatches at a financial straw for Wiluna uranium mine plan
still a long way off from the $260 million they need to start the project and $260 million they need in upfront bonds for mine closure.
Toro secures $10m in funding. Yahoo News, 24 Dec 13, Toro Energy says it has secured $10 million in new funding from a South African fund manager via an equity subscription agreement.
RealFin Capital Partners will initially invest $5 million in three tranches with the option of 
another $5 million equity subscription before July 1 next year.
The first tranche of shares will be priced at 7.3 cents with the balance of tranches priced at a 10 per cent discount to the prevailing trading price of Toro at the time.Toro managing director Dr Vanessa Guthrie said the subscription agreement provided further funding certainty for Toro as it looked towards a busy 2014 work program……http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/a/20468131/toro-secures-10m-in-funding/
Jim Green’s requiem for the nuclear industry
The nuclear renaissance is dead … stone cold dead. And the prospects for nuclear power in Australia are dead. If nuclear power is economically prohibitive (or nearly so) in nuclear nations such as the UK and the US, it is far more so in Australia given that we have little relevant infrastructure or expertise. The major parties seem to be well aware that nuclear power is a non-starter, so the nuclear debate in Australia is reduced to the slow, repetitive drum-beat of a small but vocal nuclear lobby.
The nuclear renaissance is stone cold dead http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=15860&page=1 23 Dec 13 This year has been the nuclear power industry’s annus horribilis and the nuclear renaissance can now be pronounced stone cold dead.
Nuclear power suffered its biggest ever one-year fall in 2012 − nuclear generation fell 7% from the 2011 figure. Nuclear generation fell in no less than 17 countries, including all of the top five nuclear-generating countries. Nuclear power accounted for 17% of global electricity generation in 1993 and it has steadily declined to 10% now.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has downwardly revised its nuclear power projections, and now anticipates growth of 23% to 100% percent by 2030. Historically, the IAEA’s upper projections have been fanciful, and its lower projections are usually much closer to the mark. So annual growth of a little over 1% is about as much as the industry can realistically hope for.
And the IAEA will further reduce its projections when it factors in this year’s annus horribilis.Perhaps the most shocking developments have been in the United States, Continue reading
Australia’s uranium industry on its last legs?
Is time up for Australia’s uranium industry? ABC , DAVE SWEENEY , 18 Dec 13, Times are tough for Australia’s yellow-cake industry. It is best to put the whole thing out of its misery? “………The Australian uranium industry has long been a source of trouble. Now it is increasingly in trouble. The commodity price has collapsed, projects across the country have been stalled, deferred or scrapped and the recent Kakadu spill has again raised community attention and concern.
Business as usual in a most unusual business is not an option and there is an urgent need for an independent review. For those who make judgements on the basis of evidence rather than enthusiasm the alarm bells have been ringing loud for a number of years. Continue reading
BHP not keen to waste more money developing uneconomic Olympic Dam
Where Olympic Dam is concerned, it’s the outlook for the main commodity—uranium—rather than potential investors that it mostly dislikes.
BHP Warms to Partnerships, But Olympic Dam Remains in the Cold WSJ 10 Dec 13, BHP Billiton Ltd. wants to share the love to get its $10 billion Jansen potash project in Canada off the ground. But the world’s biggest mining company is being a determined single when it comes to another costly development: Australia’s Olympic Dam…….
BHP’s reluctance to seek a partner for an expanded Olympic Dam project in South Australia may surprise as it’s stuck on the back burner, squeezed by low commodity prices and high development costs estimated by analysts at around $30 billion. In August last year, BHP said it would look for a less costly design for the Olympic Dam mine, which had been expected to bring in billions in tax dollars and create thousands of jobs. Up to now, it hasn’t announced any new plans for the site.
At first glance, finding a competitor to share development costs and risks with BHP makes sense. If they also bring in new technology then so much the better.
The problem for BHP is that a partner might actually want to get the project moving, even at a much-reduced scale. That would test BHP’s desire to keep annual spending below $15 billion in future, down by a third from last year’s bill totaling $21.7 billion. With uranium prices continuing to hover near eight-year lows, and several countries debating nuclear power in their energy mix, BHP can avoid such tough decisions by keeping full control of the asset.
“We like partnerships,” Mr Mackenzie told U.S. investors. Where Olympic Dam is concerned, it’s the outlook for the main commodity—uranium—rather than potential investors that it mostly dislikes. http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/12/10/bhp-warms-to-partnerships-but-olympic-dam-remains-in-the-cold/
Energy Resources of Australia (ERA)’s share price tumbles after latest radioactive accident
Rio’s ERA Drops After Australia Uranium Mine Spill: Sydney Mover Bloomberg, By James Paton Dec 8, 2013 Rio Tinto Group’s Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. tumbled the most in almost two years in Sydney trading after an acid and ore spill at its Ranger uranium mine near world heritage-listed Kakadu National Park.
ERA (ERA), 68.4 percent owned by London-based Rio, dropped 13 percent to A$1.135, the most since Feb. 1, 2012, while the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.8 percent…….http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-09/rio-s-era-drops-after-australia-uranium-mine-spill-sydney-mover.html
Unease in share market over ERA’s Ranger uranium mine
it is unclear whether the [Rio Tinto]current leadership, which last month announced the closure of the loss-making Gove Alumina Refinery in the Northern Territory, will continue to show such strong support for a struggling mine with so many environmental and indigenous issues.
ERA shares facing pressure over uranium leak, SMH, Peter Ker, December 9, 2013 Rio Tinto’s hopes of reviving its majority-owned Ranger uranium mine have been dealt another blow by the leak of toxic substances on Saturday….
… Shares in the Rio Tinto subsidiary that operates the mine – Energy Resources of Australia – are traded on the ASX and may come under pressure on Monday morning as federal and Northern Territory regulators conduct investigations.
Processing of uranium has been halted on site until the clean-up and testing can be completed and, with some fearing that halt could last weeks, the market will be keen to know if ERA will need to buy uranium on the market to ensure it can meet its supply contracts.
ERA shares have traded around $1.30 over the past five to six weeks and most of the value in the stock is attached to hopes of starting a new underground uranium mine beneath the Ranger pits, which ceased mining last year after more than three decades.
The underground development is still being explored and will face a heavy load of approvals before it is allowed to proceed. Continue reading
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