ERA uranium miner’s share loss, new project now unlikely
Like the rest of the uranium producers and explorers, ERA’s sharemarket rating has been hit by the fallout for uranium demand expectations from the Fukushima nuclear-power meltdown in March……..Analysts believe that ERA is unlikely to commit to the heap-leach project while Ranger continues to struggle with water-handling issues. The mine is surrounded by Kakadu National Park.
Rio Tinto on fire despite drenched Ranger, Sydney Morning Herald, Barry Fitzgerald, July 14, 2011“…….Water-handling issues at ERA’s Ranger mine in the Northern Territory have savaged the operation’s production levels. In the June half, production collapsed by 65 per cent to 601 tonnes of the radioactive material….
ERA is still a fraction of the company it was in October last year when it shares were selling at $14.78. The value hit stands at more than $2 billion, most of which is worn by Rio as ERA’s 68 per cent shareholder. Continue reading
Australians investing in solar power, but choosing Europe
Australian uranium companies’ share price tumble
Uranium Companies, Bloomberg, by Shani Raja, 2 July 2011, Mining companies sank as an index of metals traded in London dropped 3 percent through June 30, driven by reports showing that manufacturing growth in China, the U.S. and Europe slowed in May. Speculation that rising inflation may prompt Chinese authorities to raise interest rates cut the shares.
Uranium miners Paladin Energy Ltd. (PDN) and Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. (ERA)tumbled more than 30 percent as the crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant continued to roil the global nuclear-energy market. Paladin’s valuation, at 1.6 times its assets, has fallen so much it may become a takeover target, Citigroup Inc. said in a June 21 report…… http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-01/australia-stocks-post-first-quarterly-loss-in-year-as-oil-prices-retreat.htmlhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-01/australia-stocks-post-first-quarterly-loss-in-year-as-oil-prices-retreat.html
Economic sense for BHP to pull out of Western Australian uranium mining
“Australian uranium exporters and investors are uniquely vulnerable to the volatile and unpredictable nuclear industry that has never lived upto the promises it has made in the past,” ….. “The nuclear renaissance is dead. The nuclear industry was in enormous trouble well before the disaster at the Fukushima complex…BHP Billiton moving senior staff away from Yeelirrie uranium project
Query on Yeelirrie after BHP moves PETER KLINGER, The West Australian, June 20, 2011, A fortnight after admitting it had put the Yeelirrie environmental approvals process on hold, BHP Billiton is understood to have begun dismantling the senior management team charged with overseeing WA’s biggest uranium development.
The miner is under enormous pressure from investors to find and develop projects that will make a material difference to its top and bottom linesComplicating the matter for BHP is that development of Yeelirrie would create significant political and community backlash in WA, where there is vocal opposition to uranium mining, in return for only modest financial rewards for the world’s biggest miner…..http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/a/-/wa/9669593/query-on-yeelirrie-after-bhp-moves/
BHP Billiton looks like pulling out of Yeelirie uranium mining
“the nuclear industry is increasingly unpopular and unprofitable and BHP Billiton has seen the writing on the wall for the uranium trade in WA”.
BHP’s Yeelirrie doubts reflect high risk and low return from uranium mining, 20 June 11, WA’s peak environment group today welcomed news that BHP Billiton’s Yeelirrie uranium mining project is indefinitely on hold, with growing speculation that BHP will pull out of the project altogether. Continue reading
Australia’s uranium industry hit as European countries reject nuclear power
The downturn in European interest in nuclear energy has now impacted Australia, the world’s third largest exporter of uranium oxide after Canada and Kazakhstan.
Fallout From Fukushima Rattles Australia’s Uranium Mining Industry, The Street, 16 June 2011 The slow-motion Japanese Fukushima reactor debacle has sent ripples worldwide, with Germany, Switzerland and Italy all now deciding to exit nuclear power. Continue reading
Oblivious of world trends, Australia’s nuclear marketeers hype on
Greens’ Senator Scott Ludlam says the Minister is underestimating the impact of this year’s nuclear disaster in Japan….”The nuclear industry’s been going backwards. They’ve closed more reactors than they’ve opened since 2002.”
Uranium exports predicted to quadruple ABC 
News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Jun 10, 2011 An independent analyst has supported a statement by the Federal Government that Australian uranium exports could quadruple in the next 20 years.
The Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson, made the statement during this week’s AusIMM uranium conference in Perth….
Get ready for nuclear, Sydney Morning Herald, Mark Hawthorne, June 11, 2011
WITH energy needs, carbon pricing and the tragic events at Fukushima firmly on the agenda, Andy Lloyd walked into Media House this week to deliver a Lowy Institute lecture on Australian attitudes to nuclear power.
Lloyd is chief development officer for uranium with Rio Tinto and, despite the tragedy at Fukushima, had a clear message – unless we are willing to pay more, nuclear power will have to play a major role in Australia’s future energy mix …….”I am not advocating a start on nuclear power today, but we need the foundations for a nuclear future.”
Erica Smyth –Nuclear power should also be considered for Australia, she says.”We have good, stable geology, we have the right sort of environment, particularly on the east coast,”
– Female trailblazer Erica Smyth still fired up * Matt Chambers The Australian *June 13, 2011
“……Smyth, 59, is now a professional director, with one of her roles being chairwoman at uranium explorer and developer Toro Energy…… Continue reading
Australia’s mining industry to promote itself again with $multimillion advertising
Miners dig in to improve image,The Age Clare Kermond, Lucy Battersby.June 10, 2011 THE mining sector is ramping up its new multimillion-dollar marketing campaign, expected to run for the next three years, aimed at improving the industry’s public image. A second wave of ads about the industry’s contribution to the nation is due for release soon, with three already in rotation….
Bad news for uranium shareholders
Paladin reacts to share price drop SMH, June 10, 2011 Uranium miner Paladin Energy Ltd has sought to dampen market rumours about the company’s financing arrangements, a potential capital raising and a potential sale by Newmont Mining of its 6.71 per cent stake in Paladin.
Paladin issued a statement on Friday to clarify its position, after the company’s shares came under “considerable selling pressure” for two days……http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-business/paladin-reacts-to-share-price-drop-20110610-1fvoe.html
EYE ON EQUITIES Analyst urges caution as First Uranium dips to all-time lows, DARCY KEITH Globe and Mail UpdateJun. 09, Shares in First Uranium Corp. (FIU-T0.56-0.02-3.45%) remain snuggled close to all-time lows after getting smacked Wednesday in response to weaker than expected fourth-quarter results. A resurgence in negative sentiment toward uranium producers after the Japanese nuclear crisis hasn’t helped matters.
Raymond James Ltd. analyst Bart Jaworski thinks investors may be wise backing away from the stock for the time being…..http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/investment-ideas/features/eye-on-equities/analyst-urges-caution-as-first-uranium-dips-to-all-time-lows/article2053830/
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Rio Tinto and ERA’s shame in Ranger uranium mine and collapse of share price in collapse of
the collapse in the group’s share price from a 52-week high of $15 to yesterday’s closing price of $4.68 suggests, there is something very wrong with ERA….Most analysts now believe the development of a heap leach operation at Ranger will not proceed…
Ranger a ride of shame for ERA and Rio Tinto, The Age, Barry FitzGerald.June 8, 2011“……….Bad news is selectively released to brokers and analysts, keeping the dissemination of ugliness to assessments of what it means in share price terms.
That is the strategy Rio has employed with its major shame in this country – Energy Resources of Australia, the Ranger uranium miner, of which Rio owns 68 per cent. Continue reading
Australia’s nuclear salesmen at Canadian “clean” energy talks
Australian scientists tops in international talks about CLEAN ENERGY . Sounds great, doesn’t it? But what are these talks, and who are Australia’s scientific representatives?
Well, the (poorly attended) talks were in Canada, (another uranium producing country), and of Australia’s four representatives, two look very like nuclear salesmen.
There’s Barry Brook, well known nuclear power enthusiast, and Robin Batterham, formerly of giant uranium mining company, Rio Tinto
Fortunately the other two have more believable credentials on clean energy.- Christina Macpherson
Aussie scientists dominate global energy talks ABC News By Sara Phillips, Jun 7, 2011 Australian scientists represent almost a quarter of invited guests at an international energy conference that aims to “reboot the global dialogue on energy”. The Equinox Summit 2030 in Waterloo, Canada has gathered 17 international experts in energy generation, storage and distribution to map a path to a clean energy future.
With the world in dire need of an alternative to fossil fuels to prevent further climate changing greenhouse gases from being released into the atmosphere, the race is on to develop and roll out cleaner technologies. Continue reading
Australia’s nuclear salesmen dream on, in secluded comfort in Perth hotel
In the safe and comfortable ambience of the Pan Pacific Hotel, Perth, the nuclear salesmen dream on.
Nuclear reactor by 2022, uranium body says, Sydney Morning Herald, Josh Jerga June 8, 2011 Australia should try to get its first electricity generating nuclear reactor up by 2022, despite the Fukushima nuclear plant accident in Japan, the head of the Australian Uranium Association says.
Michael Angwin, CEO of the AUA, told an International Uranium Conference in Perth on Wednesday he was puzzled why the country was debating a carbon price without talking about…….
Toro talks up uranium, as its shares slump
UP AND ATOM Sydney Morning Herald, Colin Kruger June 7, 2011 Human catastrophe and financial markets are never a pretty mix. Just ask the uranium explorer Toro Energy, which dedicated yesterday’s shareholder update to clearing the air on some of the ”sensationalist” media coverage of the Fukushima nuclear plant accident.
Toro’s concern is understandable. Its share price nose-dived after the incident and the stock is retracing recent lows following Germany’s promise to close down all its nuclear facilities by 2022.
The company says ”a sequence of extraordinary forces unleashed by an unprecedented natural disaster” caused the accident at the reactors, ”not an operating failure, human error or design fault of the reactors themselves”.
Your columnist feels safer already.
”The lessons learnt from this incident will make nuclear power even safer than its already impressive record would attest,” the company says, while noting that the precautionary radiation checks provided ”plenty of sensationalist film footage” for the media and anti-nuclear groups.
It was not enough to cheer up its share price yesterday. The stock continued its slide, closing 0.3¢ lower at 8¢…http://www.smh.com.au/business/taking-on-water-and-headed-for-the-rocks-20110606-1fpa2.html
15 Australian energy companies call for effective price on carbon
“Australians want action on climate change and a clean energy future,” the letter said. “Business wants certainty to invest in more clean energy projects and jobs.”
Energy players urge effective carbon price Trading Room News, MELBOURNE, May 29 AAP May 29 2011, A group of 15 energy companies has called for the urgent introduction of an effective price on carbon. Continue reading
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