Ziggy Switkowski enthuses about Australia buying Chinese nuclear reactors
“When we are ready to get involved in nuclear power, we will look in a catalogue, pick up the phone and place an order on a Chinese vendor, who will deliver it at a price that we can afford,” Mr Switkowski told a Committee for Economic Development of Australia
Chinese nuke plants could power Australia, Sydney Morning Herald, May 18, 2011 It will soon be possible for Australia to import nuclear power plants made in China, a nuclear policy expert says. Continue reading
Unconvincing argument from Australian company on radioactive wastes
Where is the chosen site for the disposal of the waste? What would make this site suitable for waste disposal? How will the waste be managed? What would be the storage capacity for the radioactive waste? And how many years of waste would it have room for?
To appease the voracious public outcry, it was announced that the International Atomic Energy Agency has appointed a nine-member team to help the Government probe whether the rare earth refinery carries any threat of radioactive contamination.
Less rhetoric, more clarity please (about Lynas dumping radioactive wastes in Malaysia) The Star online by ANITA GABRIEL, 14 May, A victim of a campaign of misinformation.” That’s how Australia’s Lynas Corp executive chairman Nick Curtis characterised his company’s controversial RM1.3bil rare earths refinery being built in Malaysia in a recent interview with an Australian news network.
He’s correct in part. Seriously wrong on all else. Continue reading
Uranium – a constantly losing share price with a doubtful future
Risk fallout hasn’t left uranium stock, May 13, 2011, SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Australian-listed uranium firms are sporting heavy year-to-date losses after the recent disaster in Japan, and while investors appear to be slowly returning to some shares, analysts say the risks haven’t gone away.
Further afield, Canada’s Cameco Corp. has seen its stock fall 37.1% year-to-date, while Uranium One Inc. shares are down 19.8% in Toronto.
Paladin Energy Ltd. shares are down 32.3% year-to-date, while Extract Resources Ltd.shares are down 19.6%, and Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. shares are down 55.8%…..“It is clear to us that the market has — quite quickly — adopted a less positive outlook for uranium-fuel demand,” said analysts at Daiwa Securities, writing about recent share price movements.
The losses for the uranium-producing sector were sparked in March, when an earthquake and tsunami hit Japan and damaged Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex, leaving authorities battling to contain radiation leaks.
The event raised questions about the future of the nuclear-power industry, with Germany suspending operations at its seven oldest nuclear power plants while it reviews its energy policy. China suspended approvals for new nuclear power stations on March 16 — also pending a review……Rio Tinto Ltd. unit Energy Resources of Australia hasn’t performed so well this month, with shares losing another 9.9% to trade at 4.92 Australian dollars ($5.23) on Friday in Sydney. The firm has been battling flooding at its Ranger Mine in Australia’s Northern Territory.
“To get more constructive on the stock, we would need to see progress being made in tackling the water-management problems and commitment from ERA’s board to progress the underground exploration decline,” said the Merrill Lynch analysts, who have an underperform rating on the shares.
Mega Uranium tightens its second quarter loss to $12.3 million, Winnipeg free Press, : The Canadian Press05/13/2011TORONTO – Mega Uranium Ltd. (TSX:MGA) says it lost $12.3 million in its second quarter, compared to $14.5 million in the same period last year. The Toronto-based mineral resources firm is a development-stage company that isn’t generating revenues yet.
It said the loss amounts to a five cent loss per share, compared to six cents per share in the same quarter of 2010.
During the quarter, the company wrote off part of its properties in Western and Central Australia a and ended an option agreement with Forum Uranium Corp. for properties in Saskatchewan. It said the properties were not prospective and no further work was proposed….http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/breakingnews/mega-uranium-tightens-its-second-quarter-loss-to-123-million.html
BHP pushes ahead with uranium mine expansion: public will not be consulted
Time to move beyond talking: BHP Billiton.Adelaide Now Christopher Russell May 14, 2011 THE public will be engaged, but not consulted, on the Olympic Dam expansion, BHP said yesterday. President of BHP’s uranium sector, Dean Dalla Valle, pledged yesterday to continue talking to the community but said the company had to move on to the next phase.
“The formal part is complete,” he said of public input.
Supplementary EIS released for Olympic Dam mine ABC News May 13, BHP Billiton is today releasing its supplementary environmental impact statement (EIS) for the expansion of the Olympic Dam mine. The 15,000-page draft document was handed to the state and federal governments in December.
It contains the mining giant’s response to more than 4,000 public submissions made to the company’s first EIS, released in 2009.The South Australian Government is expected to make a decision on the development later this year.http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/13/3215970.htm
Coming to Australia – Glencore – a company some see as rotten to the core
From Wikipedia “Glencore’s history reads like a spy novel“.[6] The company was founded as Marc Rich & Co. AG in 1974 by now-billionaire commodity trader Marc Rich, who was charged with tax evasion and illegal business dealings with Iran in the U.S., but pardoned by President Bill Clinton in 2001.[7] He was never brought before U.S. justice before his pardoning, therefore there was never a verdict on these charges….
Dealings with “rogue states”
ABC Radio reported that Glencore “has been accused of illegal dealings with rogue states: apartheid South Africa, USSR, Iran, and Iraq under Saddam Hussein“, and has a “history of busting UN embargoes to profit from corrupt or despotic regimes”.[6] Specifically, Glencore was reported to have been named by the CIA to have paid $3,222,780 in illegal kickbacks to obtain oil in the course of the UN oil-for-food programme for Iraq.
… Investments in Colombia
Moreover, Swiss public television (TSR) reported in 2006 that allegations of corruption and severe human rights violations were being raised against Glencore on account of the alleged conduct of its Colombian Cerrejón mining subsidiary. Local union president Francisco Ramirez was reported to have accused Cerrejón of forced expropriations and evacuations of entire villages in order to enable mine expansion, in complicity with Colombian authorities.
Glencore goes in where others fear to tread, Dan Fortson, THE AUSTRALIAN The Australian May 09, 2011 “….To convince investors to buy in, Glencore had to bare all. Last week, it issued a 1600-page prospectus that for the first time revealed the full extent of its empire.
…. It makes for some uncomfortable reading: Continue reading
ERA talks up Ranger uranium mine, despite floods, share price fall
…… Energy Resources itself has also been under siege, with accusations that it may be lax in environmental monitoring during its operational suspension.
fears were raised over pollution leaks from the Ranger mine, and it was accused of allowing 100 000 litres of contaminated water to seep from its tailings dam….
A NEW ERA FOR ERA, Australian Mining 10 May 2011 “……Rio Tinto’s Energy Resources Australia (ERA) has stated that it believes there is an additional 34 000 tonnes of high grade uranium oxide underneath its existing open pit at the Ranger mine, near Jabiru in the Northern Territory. According to the miner, exploratory drilling at its 3 Deeps project is set to increase the life of the mine.This is despite the world’s fourth largest uranium producer’s suspension on its operations.
…… A total of 2 490 millilitres of rain has inundated the mine since September last year, the wettest period it has seen since recoding 2 527 millilitres of rainfall in 2006/07. This rainfall also flooded out Energy Resources’ Pit 3, essentially forming a pit lake. Due to this, Energy Resources Australia does not expect to obtain access to the high grade ore at Pit 3 until much later this year. Continue reading
Collapse of uranium industry affecting Cameco, BHP Billiton
Cameco’s chief executive says “Germany’s ”weak political leadership” had prompted its decision to make an ”illogical and emotional decision to close a number of older nuclear facilities”.
BHP to feel uranium slide, Barry Fitzgerald, Sydney Morning Herald, May 9, 2011 THE partial meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant in March has prompted leading uranium producer Cameco to cut its demand forecasts for the nuclear fuel. The cut has implications for BHP Billiton, which must find a home for the additional uranium it will produce with its planned $30 billion expansion of the Olympic Dam copper/uranium/gold mine in South Australia’s outback. Continue reading
Australia’s uranium marketing frenzy continues
Australia pushes nuclear exports, Al Jazeera, 6 May 2011
Nuclear power ‘not so bad’, says Woodside chief, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 may 2011 THE outgoing chief executive of the energy giant Woodside, Don Voelte, has backed the call by the chairman of Rio Tinto for Australia to embrace nuclear power.
They have not publicly lodged further submissions to the State Energy Initiative directions paper, due today. – WA’s chief industry groups lobby for a nuclear future, – WA Today, Courtney TrenwithMay 6, 2011 – Western Australia’s two chief business lobby groups support calls for nuclear energy in the state…. Continue reading
Shut Ranger uranium mine – it’s losing money anyway
Rio urged to curb uranium mine expansion,ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) By Jano Gibson May 5, 2011 The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has urged Rio Tinto to stop a planned expansion of the Ranger uranium mine in the Northern Territory.Rio Tinto subsidiary Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) runs the uranium mine on a lease inside Kakadu National Park.Production is currently suspended following a record wet season in the Territory and Rio Tinto is holding its annual general meeting in Perth today.ACF spokesman Dave Sweeney says it should use the opportunity to scale back plans for the mine.”Ranger is a leaking, ageing and under-performing mine,” he said.”The mine is currently shut. It is not turning a dollar.”It is losing contaminants into the environment and it is losing money for Rio Tinto and ERA.”
Rio urged to curb uranium mine expansion – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) poor uranium investment future
The Sell argument is summed up by RBS Australia, which suggests there remains downside valuation and earnings risk from any further significant rainfall events. As well, a strategic review is likely to conclude the heap leach and Ranger 3 Deeps projects are not viable, which would further impact on valuation and sentiment in RBS’s view. BA-ML takes a similar view and has stripped both projects from its model.
No Joy For Energy Resources Of Australia, FNArena News – May 04 2011 – ERA proposes increased capex to deal with water issues – Valuations and earnings estimates adjusted lower – Broker opinions and targets remain divided, By Chris Shaw Continue reading
Uranium mining in Australia makes no economic sense
….“With nuclear power in decline, ambitious projections about the future of uranium mining are either delusional or disingenuous. Uranium mining makes no environmental sense and it has become clear that it makes no economic sense, given that it already contributes just 0.3 percent of Australia’s export revenue and just 0.03 percent of Australian jobs.”
Australia – Nuclear industry over-taken by renewable energy – WA Senator, —Social justice and Sustainable Living, Tony Serve , 2 May 11 Nuclear powerhas been out-performed and over-taken by the renewable energy sector and Australian governments must embrace the rise of clean power, say the Australian Greens. Continue reading
South Australia putting all its eggs into uranium basket?
the proposed $21 billion Olympic Dam mine expansion as a future prospect……..”It is expected BHP Billiton will say yes in early 2012 despite the potential for recent developments to affect the future of Japan’s nuclear energy sector – then it would become the world’s largest mine,” the report says. “These prospects shimmer in the future.”
State’s future in mining just became brighter, Greg Kelton , The Advertiser, April 27, 2011 SOUTH Australia will one day be “a titan of the global resource landscape” but is fighting to keep manufacturing jobs, an economic report says. Continue reading
Big drop in value of uranium companies
Uranium Producers in Takeover Play as Assets Exceed Share Price:U3O8, April 14, 2011 — Uranium companies from Toro Energy Ltd. (TOE) to Mega Uranium Ltd. (MGA) are so depreciated they’re trading at less than their assets would be worth in a fire sale. …..Toro, which is seeking to develop the Wiluna deposit in Western Australia, fell to 0.88 times the value of its assets minus liabilities from 1.09 times during the same span, the data show….
Toro is awaiting regulatory approval for its $278 million Wiluna uranium mine.
‘Big Drop’ “We’ve had a big drop because we’re in the development doldrums and people know we’ll need to raise money for Wiluna’s development in 2012,” Chief Executive Officer Greg Hall said in an interview.
Australian uranium shares down, but ERA worst hit
Uranium miner’s shares slump on forecast loss ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) By finance reporter Alicia Barry 13 April 11, Shares in uranium miner Energy Resources of Australia have slumped more than 10 per cent after the company flagged a first-half loss.Speaking at ERA’s annual general meeting, its CEO Rob Atkinson said 2010 was an extremely difficult year after heavy rains suspended production at its Ranger mine in the Northern Territory…..
Uranium mining leads the plunge in Australian resources shares
Uranium miners were among the weakest in the S&P/ASX 200, with Paladin down 4.9 per cent to $3.53…..”There’s no reason to be buying risk assets when you’re told the third-biggest economy in the world has a nuclear crisis potentially as big as Chernobyl.
Nuclear danger poisons bourse: Japan crisis wipes month’s worth of share gains The Australian David Rogers * From: Dow Jones Newswires * April 13, 2011 AUSTRALIA’S sharemarket had its biggest one-day fall in a month yesterday, as Japan’s nuclear crisis worsened, commodity prices fell and BHP Billiton shares reversed after Monday’s buyback-led surge…… Continue reading
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