Pakistan says it, as well as India, should get Australian uranium
Pakistan has contended that since Australia has lifted its ban for a country that has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it too should be allowed to benefit from the concession.
Uranium sale: Australia says cases of India, Pak different, Business Standard, 18 May 12, Unlike Pakistan, India has an exemption from Nuclear Suppliers Group Press Trust of India / Islamabad May 18, 2012, Amid Pakistan’s demand that it be given access to Australian uranium for which India has been granted green light, Australia has said it
believes Islamabad is not eligible to buy the yellow cake from it. Continue reading
Australian uranium company Paladin has to raise wages after African workers’ strike
Paladin agrees to hike salaries Daily Times, , 18 May 2012 Caroline Kandiero Paladin Energy Limited has agreed to review salaries for its local workers but in six months time following the kwacha devaluation.
Workers at Kayelekera Uranium Mine in Karonga run by Paladin from Friday May 11 walked off the mine site in protest against the company’s refusal to agree to a demand to grant an immediate 66 percent pay increase following the recent 50 percent devaluation of the national currency….
http://www.bnltimes.com/index.php/daily-times/headlines/sports/6452-paladin-agrees-to-hike-salaries
Investment fund manager relieved that BHP will delay expansion
Fund manager welcomes BHP’s capex pullback, THE AUSTRALIAN,BY:BARRY FITZGERALD , May 18, 2012 BHP Billiton’s move to wind back plans to spend $US80 billion ($80.5bn) over five years on growth projects has been applauded by the head of Perennial Investment Partners’ growth funds, Lee Mickelburough.
Mr Mickelburough was one of the few local investment managers to publicly criticise BHP’s big-bang growth plan after it was revealed by the company in February last year… subscribers only http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/fund-manager-welcomes-bhps-capex-pullback/story-e6frg9df-1226359363680
Negative investor sentiment delaying expansion of Olympic Dam uranium mine?
the $10 billion initial expansion of Olympic Dam may be stretched out over a longer period, analysts and investors said….. BHP would have to seek an extension from the South Australian state government if it fails to commit to the Olympic Dam project by December, or else it would lose its approvals for the project….
BHP may delay at least two mega projects to rein in spending, By Sonali Paul MELBOURNE May 17 (Reuters) – BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest miner, is likely to delay signing off on at least two mega projects after its chairman put the brakes on an $80 billion plan to grow the company’s iron ore, copper and energy operations, analysts say.
Slumping commodity prices and escalating costs have squeezed cash flows, pushing BHP to join rival Rio Tinto in reconsidering the pace of their long-term expansion in countries such as Australia and Canada. “The major message is: ‘We can’t approve anything right now. We don’t have a spare cent to spend,'” UBS analyst Glyn Lawcock said.
In BHP’s bleakest outlook yet, Chairman Jacques Nasser said on Wednesday the company expects commodity markets to deteriorate further and that investors have lost confidence in the longer-term health of the global economy. Continue reading
Australia’s uranium to India, but not to Pakistan
Nuclear deal with Pakistan not possible: Australian HC, Business Recorder 18 May 12, Australian High Commissioner Tim George on Thursday said nuclear deal similar to Australian-Indo nuclear agreement was not possible with Pakistan. George, whose three-year term as Australian envoy to Pakistan comes to an end, was speaking at a farewell news conference. To a question, he said Pakistan does not qualify for Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) and a bilateral nuclear agreement similar to his country struck with India, was not possible with Pakistan…… http://www.brecorder.com/general-news/172/1190658/
Despite government support, Olympic Dam expansion might not be economic for BHP
BHP cuts spending on major projects, Adelaide Now, Julian Swallow And Cameron England May 16, 2012 BHP Billiton has backed away from a commitment to spend $80 billion on 
major projects over the next five years, including the
Olympic Dam mine expansion. The miner said yesterday it would make a decision on the $25 billion Olympic Dam expansion by the end of the year but made it clear that its key assets globally would be competing for funds.
BHP had previously announced an $80 billion fund, but chairman Jac Nasser said this figure had been reconsidered.
“When (CEO Marius Kloppers) talked about that $80 billion … the environment was different,” Mr Nasser said….. BHP has already started spending $1.2 billion earmarked to kick-start the Olympic Dam expansion, which will eventually involve the company digging a 4km-long, 1km-deep, open-cut copper, gold and uranium mine in the state’s Far North. Continue reading
Share price downward spiral for Paladin uranium miner
Paladin slumps on big loss, The West Australian May 16, 2012, Shares in Paladin Energy slumped to a near seven-year low after the uranium miner reported a $137.6 million loss for the nine months to the end of March because of a $133 million writedown on its Kayelekera mine.
The company also reported a $17.5 million loss for the three months to the end of March, compared to a $13.5 million loss over the previous corresponding period…… Paladin’s share price has been under pressure since last year’s Fukushima nuclear emergency in Japan, which significantly weakened sentiment towards the uranium sector.
Investors have also been concerned by Paladin’s high debt levels.
Mega Uranium’s Ben Lomond project, dangers to water supply, and Bob Katter
Jim Green, 14 May 12, The Ben Lomond uranium (and molybdenum) deposit is located 50 kms west of Townsville. It is owned by Mega Uranium, which purchased it in 2005
As at May 2012, Mega Uranium was undertaking prefeasibility studies with a view to determining the project economics, the preferred mining and processing options and the key steps in mine development. The recently-elected Liberal National Party state government has thus far maintained previous government policy of banning uranium mining, but Mega Uranium is betting on a change of policy.
Far-right pro-uranium federal MP Bob Katter had this to say in Parliament on 1 November 2005:
“ there is a limit to the dangers we will accept. In the case of Ben Lomond, the company said that there had been no spill. The government agency—the forebears of what we now call the Environmental Protection Agency—also said that there had been no spill. That was for the first three or four weeks. When further evidence was disclosed, they said, firstly, that there had been a spill but the level of radiation was not dangerous and, secondly, that it had not reached the water system from which 210,000 people drank.
For the next two or three weeks they held out with that story. Further evidence was produced in which they admitted that it had been a dangerous level. Yes, it was about 10,000 times higher than what the health agencies in Australia regarded as an acceptable level. After six weeks, we got rid of lie number 2. I think it was at about week 8 or week 12 when, as a state member of parliament, I insisted upon going up to the site. Just before I went up to the site, the company admitted—remember, it was not just the company but also the agency set up by the government to protect us who were telling lies—that the spill had reached the creek which ran into the Burdekin River, which provided the drinking water for 210,000 people. We had been told three sets of lies over a period of three months.
So I say to the people of the Northern Territory: make sure that ordinary people have some sort of oversighting mechanism. Do not leave it up to the government or its officials. They will dance to the tune played by whatever piper is in charge money-wise or politically. They will not answer to the tune of protecting the people. That has been my experience.”
BHP Billiton putting Olympic Dam expansion on the back burner
Australia’s Copper and Mining Hopes Expected to be Staggered, Resource Investing News, By Shihoko Goto, 11 May 12 “…..Earlier this month, both Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton suggested that they are reconsidering investment plans in an effort to lower risks amid rising costs and uncertain demand. Greater pressure from governments, particularly in developing countries, to tax mining companies as resource nationalism rises worldwide is also a concern……..
BHP’s head of aluminum, nickel, and corporate development, Alberto Calderon, said that the company will be staggering its expenditure in order to match its cash flows – which could slow down the development of mega-projects, including its Olympic Dam copper-uranium project – so as to maximize value, reduce risk, and balance short- as well as longer-term returns.
The Olympic Dam project has been slated to be taken to the board for approval this year, but BHP has stated that is will “live within its means.” Still, it is unlikely that the Olympic Dam project will remain a priority for BHP Billiton…. : http://resourceinvestingnews.com/36093-australias-copper-and-mining-hopes-expected-to-be-staggered.html#ixzz1ubSgvacP
Australian rare earths company Lynas held back by public opposition in Malaysia
the expanding protest movement …… has already delayed the project by eight months and cast a shadow over its future.
The resistance – fed by social networks and Malaysia’s increasingly lively independent online media – also raises broader questions over the global expansion of an industry that has created huge environmental problems in China
Opponents say the Lynas plant doesn’t meet with best practice standards for the industry as it is too close to heavily populated areas and in a place where the ground water level is high. Molycorp’s plant in California, by comparison, is situated far from residential areas in an arid climate.
Citizen backlash keeps Malaysia rare earth plant on hold, The West, Siva Sithraputhran, Reuters May 9, 2012 GEBENG, Malaysia – The expensive machinery lies silent, idling as Malaysia’s government weighs a delicate decision to allow shipments of raw material to arrive from Australia and finally start operations at the world’s largest rare earths plant outside China. Continue reading
Honeymoon uranium mine ‘not economic’ says Mitsui trading company
Mitsui pulls out of Honeymoon mine, BY: BARRY FITZGERALD The Australian May 10, 2012 JAPANESE
trading house Mitsui is pulling out of Australia’s newest uranium mine, the 340 tonnes a year Honeymoon operation in South Australia’s outback….. Mitsui took up its stake in Honeymoon in 2008. It was a first for the trading house, adding uranium to its better known portfolio of oil, coal and global liquefied natural gas interests.
Honeymoon started production in 2010 after expenditure of $138 million, with Mitsui’s entry cost being a $104m contribution to the capital cost. Its annual production makes it the smallest of Australia’s uranium mines behind ERA’s Ranger mine in Kakadu, BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam in South Australia and Heathgate’s Beverley
mine in South Australia.
Mitsui’s exit follows the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami, which led to meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. But a Mitsui spokesman said the decision to exit Honeymoon was not directly related to the Fukushima tragedy.
Mitsui “could not foresee sufficient economic return from the project”, he said.
Olympic Dam uranium uneconomic? might not proceed, but they will try to blame Australian government
the talk in the market is how big a write-down the company will have to make on these two acquisitions in the next 12 months, how much longer Kloppers will remain CEO, and what will happen to BHP’s pipeline of mega-growth projects.
Miners review plans as tax bites, The Age, Adele Ferguson, May 7, 2012 IN THE countdown to the federal budget miners have made a lot of noise about cost blowouts threatening tens of billions of dollars of projects due for final investment approval this year……..the budget may try and save itself billions of dollars a year by removing the diesel fuel excise rebate…..
The problem facing the government is a two-speed economy in which manufacturing, retail and tourism are being battered, while the mining sector and associated industries continue to do well but at a slowing pace.
This means if the government goes too far taxing the miners, it may give the miners the excuse they are looking for to pull the pin on some projects that are on the borderline of being uneconomic. Continue reading
Now they’re trying to blame the Australian govt for doubts about Olympic Dam’s future
You have to sorta scour the news, to realise that the BHP board has not yet decided to go ahead with the new monster Olympic Dam uranium mine. The decision delay is due to the massive cost of the massive project – which won’t make any money for decades.
However – let’s all pounce on the Australian government’s budget plans as the cause of the delay. (Let’s just forget that the project benefits from all sorts og government exemptions, including the new Mining Resources Tax)
Diesel rebate may delay Olympic Dam Sun Herald, by: By Christopher Russell AdelaideNow May 03, 2012 BHP Billiton could be forced to delay expansion of the Olympic Dam mine if the Federal Government scraps its diesel fuel rebate in next week’s Budget, investment analysts say.
The company hinted at an investors’ conference in Sydney yesterday that another major project, at Port Hedland in WA, would be funded before Olympic Dam. Analysts at the conference said a fuel tax change could make the
difference and cause a delay to Olympic Dam….. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/diesel-rebate-may-delay-olympic-dam/story-fn7j19iv-1226345385388
Financial analysts recognise the risks of radioactive by-products of rare earths processing
Uranium and thorium present real risk to rare earths developers – Dennis Mineweb 2 May Interview with Carolyn Dennis of Dundee Capital Markets “….. TCMR: Some rare earth deposits include uranium and thorium byproducts and, if a company is not recovering those, it needs to dispose of them. Is that a challenge most REE miners face?
CD: It’s a real risk across the board for rare earth companies. Each deposit, depending on the type of mineralogy, will have varying grades of uranium and thorium. The jurisdiction the deposit is in and how it approaches dealing with the uranium, thorium and radioactivity will dictate how much of an issue it is for the project. It can be a problem in processing as well. In a lot of cases, the thorium should be removed from the concentrate earlier in the process in order to improve processing downstream. Beyond that, radioactive waste material needs to be disposed of….”
Doctors slam uranium miner Toro Energy for promoting junk science on radiation safety:
We call on Toro Energy to stop promoting fringe scientific views to uranium industry workers and to the public at large.
The Medical Association for Prevention of War has released a statement signed by 45 medical doctors calling on uranium mining company Toro Energy to stop promoting the view that low-level radiation is beneficial to human health. Toro Energy, which plans to mine uranium at Wiluna in WA and has interests in uranium exploration ventures in the NT and SA, has sponsored speaking tours by controversial Canadian scientist Doug Boreham. The joint statement notes that recent research has heightened rather than reduced concern about the adverse health impacts of low-level radiation.
TORO ENERGY PROMOTES RADIATION JUNK SCIENCE , Statement by 45 doctors – (signatures at end ) 1 May 2012
Toro Energy is an Australian company involved in uranium exploration in Western Australia, the Northern Territory, South Australia and in Namibia, Africa. The company’s most advanced project is the proposed Wiluna uranium mine in the WA Goldfields.
Toro Energy has consistently promoted the fringe scientific view that exposure to low-level radiation is harmless. Toro Energy has sponsored at least three speaking visits to Australia by Canadian scientist Dr Doug Boreham, who argues that low-level radiation is actually beneficial to human health.
Those views are at odds with mainstream scientific evidence and expert assessment. For example: Continue reading
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