Investor support ‘has evaporated’ from Australian uranium mining companies
Investor support has evaporated and the share prices of most ASX-listed uranium plays have fallen more heavily than the wider market. The share price falls have eroded any chance of capital raisings to fund drilling programs or project development while continued production problems experienced by market leader Paladin Energy have added to the negative sentiment hanging over the sector.
The Merrill Lynch uranium equity index, which tracks global listed stocks, is down 19 per cent over the past month and 23 per cent in the past year.
More pain for uranium sector as price dips, PETER KLINGER, The West AustralianSeptember 7, 2011 Already battered by headwinds, including strong opposition from environmentalists, WA’s fledgling uranium sector is set for more grief amid expectation the nuclear fuel’s low price will fall another 6 per cent within the next few months. Continue reading
Oh dear! Uranium price and shares’ inexorable downward slide
Uranium prices plunge causing issues for Australian producers, Herald Sun, Greg Roberts ,September 07, 2011 URANIUM prices have fallen back to levels last seen after Japan’s nuclear accident in March, causing further grief to struggling Australian producers.
The uranium spot price is $US48.85 ($A46.04) a pound, having plummeted from $US67.75 to $US49 immediately after the earthquake and tsunami on March 11.
The spot price had recovered to about $US56.50 after the Fukushima accident. Analyst group Resource Capital Research says the dynamics driving the sector have changed in the aftermath of the meltdown, with Germany planning to close all 17 of its nuclear power reactors by 2022.
The “fund implied price” – an indicator of market price expectations – is signalling a further fall in the spot price to $US45.95. The Merrill Lynch Uranium Equity Index, which measures the performance of uranium equities, has fallen 19 per cent over the past month.
It is down 27 per cent over the past three months and 23 per cent over the past year, according to the latest quarterly report by Resource Capital Research. Shares in Australia’s largest uranium producer, the Rio Tinto-backed Energy Resources of Australia, have fallen 13 per cent in the past month and 73 per cent in the past year.
A year ago, ERA shares were $13.49, compared with $3.65 now, with the company posting a $122 million half-year net loss. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/uranium-prices-plunge-causing-issues-for-australian-producers/story-fn7j19iv-1226130940686
Latest promotion from Australian Uranium Industry – lacking in confidence
“…an extended period of uncertainty…..A mistake by one operator or explorer or project developer in our industry affects all of us.”
Fukushima puts Australia’s uranium industry on the
defensive Independent Australia, 2 Sept 11, The Australian nuclear industry feels the heat after the Fukushima calamity, but spins on gamely. Noel Wauchope reports.
With plummeting uranium prices, and increasinglybad news about Fukushima radiation, Australia’s uranium industry is well and truly on the back foot. But the industry battles on with religious fervour in its belief in the future uranium boom. Continue reading
Flooding in Paladin and Rio Tinto uranium mines in Namibia
Namibia Q2 uranium production down | Industrial Fuels and Power August 30th, 2011 Uranium production in Namibia decreased from 2.35mlb to 2.09mlb in the second quarter of 2011 when compared with the previous quarter.“This was largely due to adverse weather conditions, with some of the mines becoming flooded with the abnormally heavy rains seen this year,” financial group Capricorn Investment Holdings said.Namibia’s uranium is produced by Rio Tinto and Australia’s Paladin Energy.
Namibia Q2 uranium production down | Industrial Fuels and Power
Big loss for uranium miner Paladin miner , and fall in share price
Paladin Energy Q4 loss widens to US$47.7M, The Canadian Press08/31/2011 PERTH, Australia – Paladin Energy Ltd (TSX:PDN), an Australia-based miner that lists on the TSX, cited higher financing costs Wednesday among reasons for a widening of its fourth-quarter and full-year loss.
Paladin Energy, which reports in U.S. dollars, said its after-tax loss for the three months ended June 30 was US$47.7 million or 6.3 cents per share, compared with a loss of US$25.2 million or 3.5 cents in the same year-earlier period….profits were affected an impairment of inventory expense of US$26.4 million at the company’s Kayelekera mine due to higher operating costs during ramp-up and the lower prevailing uranium spot price since last March’s earthquake-induce nuclear disaster in Japan.
The company also faced an earlier, US$6.3-million early buyback of convertible bonds. On the Toronto Stock Exchange, Paladin Energy shares were down nine cents at $2.16 at midday Wednesday.
Uranium miner Paladin calling for more money to be invested
More uranium investment needed, says Paladin CEO, Mining Weekly, 31st August 2011 PERTH − Uranium miner Paladin Energy CEO John Borshoff said that more investment was needed the uranium sector, as supply and demand dynamics would become more strained.
“Discoveries of new deposits have to be made, exploration and high-risk capital needs to be sunk into these programmes, because these programmes determine the long-term future of the mining industry,” Borshoff told delegates at the Africa Downunder conference in Perth on Wednesday…..
“Uranium is still suffering from the impact of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, and the parallel damage to the Fukushima nuclear reactors. The supply sector and the nuclear industry have suffered a bruising effect from this event…
Victoria’s Liberal Government kills off the future for the wind industry
The Clean Energy Council estimates the decision will kill off around $3 billion of potential wind farm developments. …Victoria’s decision removes some of the best wind resources in the eastern states.
What bothers the industry most about the Victorian decision is that the government has refused to explain its rationale and the analysis behind the rulings, or why they have not been applied to other industries, such as coal seam gas. The government is accused of delivering on all of the demands of the anti-wind groups, and more, despite the fact that many of its claims had been dismissed in the recent Senate wind inquiry
Have we blown the RET? Climate Spectator, Giles Parkinson, 30 Aug 11, “….Victoria’s imposition of a 2km setback for wind farms (giving the right of veto to any householder within that area), to exclude vast tracts of the best resources (the prettiest areas along the coast near the Great Ocean Road, the Mornington Peninsula, the Yarra Valley, and Mt Macedon ranges), and an unexpected addition – a 5km setback from 21 regional centres – means that options in that state are fast running out. Continue reading
Uranium company sells Australian projects
Uranex sells Australian uranium assets, Channel 9 News, 24 Aug 11,”……The Melbourne-based uranium explorer on Tuesday said the projects, including Thatcher Soak in Western Australia and Alligator Rivers in the Northern Territory, were being sold to a “Chinese based investment group”.
Uranex plans to focus on its uranium and coal assets in Tanzania, a spokesman said.
The deal is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals including the Foreign Investment Review Board.
“We are confident the Australian uranium projects will successfully progress towards production and further opportunities will be created through our alliance,” Uranex managing director Matthew Gauci said in a statement.
The Chinese party holds the first right of refusal for the sale of any other Uranex tenements in Australia.
Silex, a supposedly solar company deeply involved in the nuclear industry
progress hinges on a world-leading uranium processing method called laser enrichment.
The technology has been acquired by a heavy-hitting US consortium of nuclear companies, Global Laser Enrichment, which has completed a testing program.
(repeating this item, lest we forget Australia’s involvement – C.M.)
Heavy weather for nation’s solitary solar-panel maker, The Australian, TIM BOREHAM , July 18, 2011 AS the head of Australia’s only solar-panel maker, Silex Systems’ Michael Goldsworthy sticks to script and welcomes the pending carbon tax and accompanying billion-dollar renewable subsidy programs that will benefit companies such as Silex….. Continue reading
Pro uranium spin revs up, in Australia and USA
Toro Energy to commence regional public information days for Wiluna uranium project Proactive investors, August 10, 2011 Toro Energ will begin the public information days on the Wiluna uranium project in regional Western Australia on August 15.
Uranium Safe to Eat With a Spoon!, OpEd News.com by David Swanson, 11 Aug 11, Carefully ignoring Fukushima, Los Alamos, Vermont, and Nebraska, a comforting new announcement informs us that “nuclear energy is safe.” A series of soothing television ads and videostells us that mining uranium in Virginia would produce jobs and protect us from scary foreigners.
Virginia newspapers carried an article from theAssociated Press this week that did not pretend to be anything but one-sided, reporting on the agenda of corporations that would profit from mining uranium while including no other views or any verified facts. The Washington Post did the very same thing. These articles are essentially press releases that have been tweaked. The online versions even include the videos.
We can expect even less actual news reporting than that (yes, less than nothing) to come through our televisions. But these ads hyping uranium mining as a job solution will be aired. And the television networks will consequently view the mining corporations as customers not to be needlessly offended or inconvenienced……
Thousands of years of danger, to provide what the uranium mining companies claim might be 65 years of uranium use. That seems like the kind of deal only a U.S. president could consider a bargain. Let’s hope Virginia still has more life left in it than Washington. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Uranium-Safe-to-Eat-With-a-by-David-Swanson-110809-895.html
Alexander Downer’s plan for a radioactive South Australia
You’ve got to hand it to former Liberal MP Alexander Downer. In a week when everyone else is respectfully remembering the Japanese victims of Hiroshima and Fukushima, – or at least tactfully shutting up about Australia’s involvement in the nuclear industry there – Downer comes out with blatant marketing of the nuclear industry. – C.M.
Downer: Nuclear power makes cents – Alexander Downer, The Advertiser, August 01, 2011“…..we could build a nuclear power station. Just imagine replacing the Northern power station at Port Augusta with a nuclear power station which would be pollution free. The uranium would come from just up the road at Olympic Dam, it could be enriched at a new enrichment plant at, say, Whyalla, the waste could be stored at the world’s safest location for long-term storage, near Woomera…..
To me, it all makes perfect sense.
If we were really ambitious, we would use these facilities to make the world a safer place….”
ERA scraps acid leach uranium project, but reluctant to close unprofitable Ranger mine
“ERA should be planning a comprehensive clean up of the mine site and beginning an ordered and managed exit from Ranger.”
Kakadu uranium miner scraps acid extraction project, but wants to go underground, Dave Sweeney, 4 August 11, Energy Resources of Australia’s decision to scrap its plan to use a controversial acid leach mining technique at the troubled Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu is an instance of belated commonsense, the Australian Conservation Foundation said today.
ERA has confirmed it will not proceed with a planned mine expansion based around acid leaching, in which sulphuric acid is injected into low grade and waste rock. Continue reading
Energy Resources of Australia makes a loss due to Ranger uranium mine
ERA reports H1 loss because of rain. SMH, August 4, 2011 Shares in Energy Resources of Australia slumped almost six per cent as the uranium miner posted a first half loss after suspending operations at its Ranger Mine on above average rainfall.
The company posted a net loss of $121.75 million for the six months to June 30 compared with a profit of $22.68 million a year earlier, Darwin-based ERA said in a statement on Thursday…..
Volatility in the spot price of uranium oxide was likely to continue until the nuclear situation in Japan became clearer and the outcomes of the safety reviews of nuclear power facilities in China were released….
The company plans to conduct an expanded exploration program on the Ranger Project area between 2012 and 2014 at an estimated cost of $40 million.
Earnings per share were negative 63.8 cents, compared with positive 11.9 cents a year earlier.
ERA directors decided not to declare an interim dividend for the 2011 financial year, after an interim dividend of eight cents per share the year before. No final dividend was paid for 2010…http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-business/era-reports-h1-loss-because-of-rain-20110804-1icgg.html
Poor uranium market puts Olympic Dam uranium mining future in doubt
BHP likely to stall Olympic Dam plans: report, Business Spectator, 28 Jul 2011 Analysts are predicting that BHP Billiton Ltd will delay uranium production at the Olympic Dam mine expansion in South Australia as a result of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan and ensuing uncertainty about the future of nuclear energy, according to The Australian.
Olympic Dam, home to the world’s largest known uranium deposit, is scheduled to be expanded beginning next year as part of a $US20 billion-plus ($A18.4 billion) expansion that is subject to company and government approval.
However, plans to boost uranium production by a third from current levels may be halted as uranium demand continues to weaken in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster…..http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/BHP-likely-to-stall-Olympic-Dam-plans-report-pd20110727-K6QRR?OpenDocument&src=hp9
Clean Energy Finance Corporation a business plus for Australia
…Far from being a slush fund for the ALP, the proposed CEFC would be a commercially-minded independent authority enabling Australian businesses to commercialise and deploy Aussie renewable energy innovations…..The CEFC is a critical institution for driving Australia’s long-term reductions in emissions at least cost with maximum economic benefit. …
Why we need the Clean Energy Finance Corporation CEFC, Climate Spectator, Simon O’Connor. 22 July 11“……The Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC) has enabled Australian businesses to overcome financial barriers to doing business by bridging market gaps the commercial banks dared not bridge.
Far from being a risky strategy, this commercially-oriented authority has delivered to government dividends totalling more than $100 million in the last decade. Continue reading
1 This month.
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/235274195556
19 May – Webinar- Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia
Start: 2026-05-19 18:00:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
End: 2026-05-19 19:30:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
20 May – Webinar – The dangerous world of AUKUS, US, military occupation and suppression of dissent
National Webinar, 20th May, 2026, 6.30pm AEST. Confronting laws restricting/suppressing protest speech and action
Speakers: Former Sen. Rex Patrick, Lawyer Nick Hanna ,Arthur Rorris ,Jorgen Doyle, Sen David Shoebbridge,
Facilitator Kelley Tranter.
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 