More bad news for Australian uranium companies, Toro and Paladin
Oz Minerals pulls out of Toro uranium JV,9 News, 19 Nov 11 OZ Minerals has pulled out of a uranium exploration
joint venture with Toro Energy in South Australia, saying no economic uranium has yet been found at the Mt Woods project.
The Toro board has accepted a $3.75 million cash offer from OZ Minerals as consideration for the termination, Toro said in astatement on Friday. “No potentially economic uranium results have been reported from the
Mt Woods project,” Toro said…. Shares in Toro were down 3.41 per cent at 8.5 cents at 1540 AEDT while
OZ Mineral shares were 1.89 per cent weaker, compared to losses in the broader market of about 1.8 per cent.
http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/newsbusiness/aap/8376270/oz-minerals-pulls-out-of-toro-uranium-jv
BHP’s Annual General Meeting dominated by questions, angry Aboriginals and other speakers
Road ahead looks uncertain for BHP, Canberra Times, BY GREG ROBERTS,18 Nov, 2011 “……Chief executive Marius Kloppers said yesterday businesses were cutting back on inventory and taking fewer risks as liquidity and trade financing dried up.
Australia needing protection from nuclear China? – but keen to sell uranium to China
Hey China, come get our uranium, Northern Territory News, DAVID WOOD | November 8th, 2011 TERRITORY Resources Minister Kon Vatskalis has told Chinese mining conference delegates there were many uranium mining investment opportunities in the Territory for the next decade…..
Mr Vatskalis said since the start of a government strategy to increase Chinese investment, there had been 16 agreements signed between Chinese and Territory companies and 53 exploration licences granted to Chinese exploration companies with $157 million in publicly announced deals.
There have been 21 Chinese companies investment in exploration and mining in the Territory…
He said that there was great potential for uranium mines, with a prime example being a majority equity investment in the Energy Metal Bigrlyi project in the Ngalia Central Australian mine by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group…..
http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2011/11/08/271261_nt-business.html
Expansion of renewable energy power spells doom for costly nuclear energy
Nuclear power ‘doomed in Australia’ by alternative energy, Adelaide Now, by:RUSSELL EMMERSON,The Advertiser November 10, 2011 THE success of a competitive energy market and the rise of wind power effectively spell doom for an Australian nuclear industry, an expert says.
A paper authored by University College London director Tony Owen links the rise of nuclear power to government backing, but warns the private sector is unlikely to see an economic case for nuclear power because companies will face greater investment risk without government security. Continue reading
Australian uranium producers struggle, Paladin’s shares dropped 70 % this year
Paladin punished for African shut-downs, THE AUSTRALIAN , November 01, 2011 SHARES in Africa-focused miner Paladin were punished after it reported a fall in uranium production amid weak market prices, despite record sales for the September quarter.
Paladin produced 1.24 million pounds of uranium in the September quarter, a 15 per cent fall compared with 1.46 million pounds in the previous quarter.
The fall was due to shutdowns at Paladin’s operations in Namibia and Malawi, including a ground movement that affected the Malawi mine and reduced its production by 30 per cent.
Paladin shares fell 6.5c, , or 4.2 per cent, to close at $1.50….
Chief executive John Borshoff said the persistent deterioration of the uranium spot price since the Fukushima nuclear accident in March was affecting financial returns..The effects of Fukushima on the industry had highlighted its inability to sustain production growth in an orderly way, he said.
Uranium prices had recently fallen to levels of about $US50 a pound, last seen after Japan’s nuclear accident, causing grief to struggling Australian producers such as Paladin. Paladin’s shares have slumped 70 per cent this year, mainly because of the Fukushima accident.
Big losses at Paladin uranium mine
Paladin uranium miner struggles with continued losses and share price falls
Paladin chief slashes his pay, SMH, Peter Ker,November 1, 2011 PALADIN Energy boss John Borshoff has taken the knife to his $2.5 million salary, in the latest chapter of a miserable year for the struggling uranium miner.
Barely 10 months after enjoying a 5 per cent pay rise, Mr Borshoff has agreed to reduce his pay by 25 per cent as part of a drive to reduce administration costs at the Africa-focused company. The pay cut coincided with a lacklustre quarterly report from Paladin, which has earned a reputation for over-promising and under-delivering. ……… mine production targets were missed by 15 per cent over the past three months, while the company’s forecasts for the uranium price also proved too optimistic.
But the cut to Mr Borshoff’s pay was the stand-out item in the report, and comes after much agitation from investors who have watched the share price plummet since the Japanese nuclear disaster in March. Mr Borshoff’s remuneration package was worth $2.522 million in the year to June 2011, up from $1.9 million the year before.
That increase to his remuneration, which included a 5 per cent rise in fixed pay, came in a year when Paladin made an increased trading loss of $US82.3 million. The company sought to justify Mr Borshoff’s remuneration by describing him as a ”recognised global authority” on nuclear power, whose expertise was in ”extremely limited supply” around the world….
Paladin shares fell 6.5¢ to $1.50 yesterday. The stock was fetching $5 in March before the Fukushima nuclear disaster damaged investor confidence in the uranium sector…. http://www.smh.com.au/business/paladin-chief-slashes-his-pay-20111031-1ms4l.html#ixzz1cV3q88BL
New Olympic Dam uranium mine unlikely to make any money from uranium
The Olympic Dam expansion would cost tens of billions of dollars, and BHP Billiton may want to secure more than longterm contracts to move forward with the expansion
URANIUM Olympic Dam Expansion Has Doubters But China May Hold the Cards. – Nuclear Intelligence Weekly, 27 Oct 11, . While BHP Billiton’s recent statements have indicated a willingness to proceed with the expansion of the Olympic Dam copper, uranium and gold mine, sources throughout the uranium industry are skeptical the project will ever come to fruition…….
An expansion would boost annual uranium production capacity from the current 4,500 metric tons of U3O8
(3,392 tU) to 19,000 MT U3O8 (16,112 tU). But after conducting a thorough outside analysis of the project, the producer said he concluded “it never ever makes money.” Continue reading
Uranium is not much of an export earner for Australia. Do we really need this dirty industry?
Do we need the money from uranium? How does uranium compare to our other exports? According to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) export data, in the decade from 2000/01 to 2009/10, uranium exports averaged $596 million/year. Lamb, cheese, cotton, barley, sugar, wool, wine, other crops, wheat, and beef-veal, each averaged $664, $806, $955, $1,170, $1,286, $1,825, $2,309, $3,463, $3,665, and $4,002 million/year, respectively…..
Expanding Olympic Dam: with great power comes great responsibility, Gavin Mudd, The Conversation, 12 October 2011, “……..In a post-Fukushima world, the hard questions need to be asked: what is Australia’s role in fuelling nuclear disaster, creating high-level nuclear waste and feeding nuclear weapons risks around the world? Continue reading
Energy Resources of Australia begging shareholders for $500 million
ERA begging for $500m boost, The Age Barry FitzGerald October 13, 2011 THE fall from grace of Rio Tinto-controlled Energy Resources of Australia has become absolute, with the Ranger uranium miner going cap in hand to shareholders for $500 million in equity funding in a heavily discounted rights issue.
The 12-for-7 underwritten issue of new shares at $1.53 a share represents a near 30 per cent discount on ERA’s share price before the stock went into a trading halt. The funds will go a long way to overcoming ERA’s water-handling issues, as well as funding potential mine life-extending activities….. Rio is also to act as sub-underwriter to the equity raising. Should that role be fully utilised, its holding in ERA could increase to 82 per cent, reducing liquidity in what is an already thinly traded stock.
ERA has been producing uranium at Ranger for 30 years and is only the second mine in the world to have produced more than 100,000 tonnes of uranium. But its shares have been in free fall for the past 12 months on the realisation that despite the long production history, it has not been on top of the environmental threat that a record big wet in Kakadu poses.
The build-up of water around the mine and in its pits forced the decision in January to suspend processing operations as a ”precautionary measure” to ensure levels in the operation’s tailings storage dam remained below the authorised limit. More rain forced a further suspension to late July…..
Rio’s decision to back ERA’s equity raising suggests Rio is confident that ERA’s Jabiluka deposit near Ranger might one day be developed.
Jabiluka is one of the biggest undeveloped uranium deposits in the world but its development is being vetoed by traditional owners. http://www.theage.com.au/business/era-begging-for-500m-boost-20111012-1ll13.html#ixzz1ahltBWq2
With Diesel rebates, BHP’s Olympic Dam Royalties likely to return poorly to South Australian Government
Mike Rann has claimed that the new open-pit mine will be his “economic legacy to the state.” However, a consideration
of the financial return to BHP through diesel rebates alone indicates that this legacy may be somewhat overstated…
BHP stands to gain $128 million per year in diesel rebates in the initial development period of the mine, $144 million per year in the intermediate stage, and $178 million per year at full production.
Public resources for private profit: free water for the largest open-pit mine in the world Coober Pedy Regional Times, by: Nectaria Calan, 13 Oct 11, “………With approval of the new mine announced on Monday, the next stage of the approval process is the negotiation of a new Indenture Act which will apply to the new mine. It is expected that the revised Act will be introduced into the South Australian parliament next week, given Mike Rann’s commitment to finalising the indenture agreement before his retirement on October 20.
It is within the power of the South Australian government to negotiate a substantially different indenture agreement, or to repeal the Indenture Act completely. Continue reading
You’ve heard of Penis Envy? Now Rio Tinto brings Dirty Great Uranium Hole envy
Under today’s announced agreement, Tasman will get an immediate cash injection of A$10 million from Rio Tinto and that would see Tasman undertake a A$5 million search programme over Vulcan in the next 12 months. Tasman’s executive chairman Greg Solomon said Rio has the right but not the obligation to earn up to 80% in the project by committing to a two-stage farm-in arrangement by spending up to A$75 million and, in addition, paying Tasman up to A$17 million including the initial A$10 million payment….
The ambitious programme would see Olympic Dam transformed from a big underground mine to an open pit, but the ore system is under about 400 metres of sterile cover and would involve creating mountains of stockpiles in the pancake-flat terrain.
The market is awaiting a decision on Olympic Dam going open cut and it was considered imminent given the fact that South Australian Premier Mike Rann, who is soon to depart, indicated that he wanted to stay in the chair to be able to announce the mine upgrade…. http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page103118?oid=137193&sn=Detail&pid=102055
A better plan for South Australia than accepting BHP Billiton’s toxic radioactive plan at Olympic Dam
“There is an alternative model that would see a lower greenhouse footprint and skilled jobs retained in South Australia. A peer-reviewed study by Monash University’s Dr Gavin Mudd demolished the myth that uranium is central to the mine’s expansion. His model for the expansion is safer, would use much less water and energy, and would mean more jobs and greater economic return for the local economy.
Scott Ludlam, 10 Oct 11, The Federal Government’s approval of the Olympic Dam expansion will see the creation of a carcinogenic mountain range of finely powdered radioactive waste in South Australia, the Greens warned today. Australian Greens spokesperson for nuclear issues Senator Scott Ludlam said the proposed expansion of the BHP Billiton site to will be a disaster for the environment, human health and local jobs.
“BHP Billiton has designed a world’s-worst-practice uranium mine. Continue reading
Uranium SA address to shareholders – all the right weasel words
Russel Bluck Chairman Uranium SA Limited gave a brave Address to Shareholders
on 6 October. It was designed to jolly them up, and Mr Bluck is to be admired, for he has learned all the right terms. I was reminded of schooldays, when I was taught certain religious beliefs and words by rote. Obviously Australia’s uranium mining executives have followed the same sort of teaching.
First comes the admission – ” The rate of corporate and generational change has been slowed [ a better word than plummeted?] by external circumstance”
But this is followed quickly by the new nuclear dogmas: about “robust returns on invested capital”,…..”The failure of the Fukushima nuclear plants was an industrial [ not a nuclear?] catastrophe within the context of a major natural disaster.”…
…as the fog of disinformation [does he mean the facts on radiation?] clears , it is again clear nuclear power generation is safe and made even safer by the lessons of Fukushima,…
New uranium mines not likely to be viable, with costs greater than uranium prices
with demand lower than was expected before, the price outlook is also down in both the medium and long-term..
It is clear that some of the anticipated new mines, heavily promoted by financial backers, will be ‘out of the money’—in other words, too expensive to develop in the new environment. Future uranium projects are very sensitive at prices in the $50 to $70 per pound level, and many may need more than $70 for viability.
Uranium – what are the prospects post-Fukushima?, Nuclear Engineering, Steve Kidd Deputy Director General of the World Nuclear Association, 06 October 2011“………..Falling uranium demand in the short-term is likely to delay some new projects, particularly those in Africa where financial requirements are heavy. But the reaction of producers will largely depend on the continuation of China’s new build programme and its willingness to finance new mines abroad.
…….Turning to potential new reactors, where the anticipated demand has been important in pushing up the uranium price since 2003, the position has also become arguably more difficult. A highly politicised industry has become, rightly or wrongly, even more politicised, and nuclear plans in some countries may be scaled back, or at best delayed. The position of China in this is not surprisingly crucial, as it has almost half of the reactors under construction around the world. Its immediate reaction to stop the approval process for new units and look more closely at the safety of those already approved is a typical reaction. Continue reading
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