Flat outlook for uranium spot prices

26 August 2009 by Michael Mills

Equity research company Resource Capital Research (RCR) said it is not expecting any significant changes to uranium spot prices in the near term.

The uranium spot price is currently trading at US$47.50 per pound, down 8% from the US$52 three months ago.

At the end of December 2008, the prices were US$52.50 per pound.

According to the company, the Fund Implied Price (FIP) is currently the same as the spot price, indicating there is no significant price change anticipated by the market in the near term.

The company announced this forecast in a major quarterly report into 19 global uranium exploration and development companies, launched today,

The report reviews companies listed in Australia, Canada, USA and UK that are active in established uranium, including Australia, Canada, USA, Argentina, Peru, Mongolia, Zambia, Tanzania and Namibia.

The long term contract uranium price is US$65.00 per pound, which is down from US$70 per pound price at December 2008.

However this has been relatively stable since peaking at US$95 per pound from May 2007 to March 2008, the company said.

There are 413 new nuclear reactors planned or proposed globally as of August 2009, 30% up from the 318 at the same time last year.

There are also 436 nuclear power reactors in operation and 49 under construction, the company said.

According to RCR, the market valuation of Australian companies with one or more uranium projects is up 11% over the past month and 24% over the past three months but and down 6% over the past 12 months.

By comparison, Canadian companies with one or more uranium projects are up 9% over the past month, up 19% over the past three months but down 26% over the past 12 months.

http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/Article/Flat-outlook-for-uranium-spot-prices/495758.aspx

Denison's risk profile remains high

Comment: Why is Virginia pushing for uranium mining when it will ruin our water, our lives, and our water! Price of uranium determines if the mine stays open! When uranium price is down, workers are laid off for months at a time, and the mine is closed! Southside Virginia deserves clean and healthy jobs, not dirty, cancer causing jobs! Demand our leaders to ban uranium mining!

Posted: August 14, 2009, 11:15 AM by Peter Koven

Uranium company Denison Mines Corp. has cleaned up its balance sheet after securing a strategic investor and completing an equity offering. But RBC Capital Markets analyst Adam Schatzker wrote that the operations remain very risky going forward.

His big concern is that the company could have trouble fulfilling its contract obligations. On a conference call to discuss its second-quarter results, Denison reiterated that the Caribou and Midwest projects are on hold, and that Midwest is being reviewed for possible cost reductions.

The lead times for these Canadian projects are very long, and Mr. Schatzker thinks there is a "very high chance" that Denison will have little-to-no Canadian-sourced production in 2011.

That could be a problem, because it would mean that contracted sales in 2011 would have to be sourced solely from Denison's U.S. operations, Mr. Schatzker wrote. He estimated that those contracted sales are for between 1.5 million and 2 million pounds of uranium.

"Given the operating costs and operational volatility at these [U.S.] mines, we think Denison's risk profile is quite high," he wrote in a note.

Denison also noted its Mutanga project in Zambia is progressing well, but Mr. Schatzker believes that the project is "marginal or uneconomic" at today's uranium prices.

He maintained an "underperform" rating on the stock and a target price of $1.80 a share.

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/tradingdesk/archive/2009/08/14/denison-s-risk-profile-remains-high.aspx

Denison Q2 loss widens

By: Liezel Hill
13th August 2009

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canadian uranium miner Denison Mines on Wednesday reported a second-quarter net loss of $18,2-million, compared with a $13,8-million loss for the same period last year.

Revenue for the quarter slid to $13,4-million, from $31,7-million in the second quarter of 2008.

The company sold 128 000 lb of uranium, at an average price of $52,44/lb.

The firm also ended the quarter with uranium inventory of 554 000 lb, worth about $26-million at current spot prices, plus 1,18-million pounds of vanadium, worth around $7-million.

Denison has uranium mining assets in the US and Canada, as well as exploration properties in Zambia and Mongolia.

However, the firm has curtailed some operations because of lower uranium spot prices.

Denison also appointed a new CEO, Ron Hochstein, during the second quarter.

Edited by: Liezel Hill

http://www.miningweekly.com/article/denison-q2-loss-widens-2009-08-13

Uranium mining hinges on markets, courts

NUCLA - The promises of uranium on the Western Slope will be fulfilled or dashed in the courts and the commodities markets.

People here follow uranium news so closely that Nucla's local newspaper, the San Miguel Basin Forum, prints the market price of uranium every week on its front page. It's hovering around $52 - well below its high of $138 during a speculative bubble in 2007, but more than double the price during the 1980s and '90s.

The price was right for George Glasier, a local rancher with a long career in the uranium business, to form Energy Fuels Corp. three years ago. Glasier wants to build a mill in the Paradox Valley to process uranium and vanadium, an element that's used to harden steel.

At $50 a pound, uranium mining makes sense in Colorado as long as there's a mill, Glasier said. His company is here to stay, he said, unlike some firms that make money by "mining on Wall Street."

"This is a company that has experienced guys," Glasier said. "We're producers, not promoters."

Glasier is confident he can raise the $125 million in financing needed for the mill, even though the company's stock is now about 30 cents a share. It once traded as high as the $4 range during the 2007 uranium bubble.

Apart from the markets, judges and government agencies also will have a say over whether and how the mines reopen.

The Montrose County commissioners and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment will consider permits for Energy Fuels to build the Piñon Ridge mill. The state government has the power to enforce federal laws on air pollution and radiation, so federal agencies will not have a role in approval of the mill.

Lawsuits seek halt to mine leasingBut two federal agencies - the Department of Energy and the Bureau of Land Management - do have a say over mining, and both are defending lawsuits from Durango's Energy Minerals Law Center.

The Department of Energy's Office of Legacy Management decided in 2007 to offer leases on some of the 25,000 acres it manages in Colorado. Durango's Energy Minerals Law Center is leading a legal challenge to the leasing program.

Travis Stills, the lawyer for the plaintiffs in both lawsuits, says the pattern of secrecy that the government started on uranium during World War II continues today.

"The common thread is important information is concealed from the public and people making decisions. Fortunately, current law doesn't allow that. That's why we're in there trying to enforce it," Stills said.

The first lawsuit targets the BLM for not releasing documents about uranium mining under the Freedom of Information Act.

"It's meant to keep the public informed. It's not a trivial law," Stills said. "Here it is three years later, and we're still having to drag public documents out of the Bureau of Land Management."

In June, U.S. Senior Judge John Kane ordered the BLM to do a more thorough search for uranium documents in its possession.

But those documents, which Stills said show BLM workers had concerns about the uranium-leasing program, were kept from the public during the comment period for the OLM's environmental study.

Stills also filed a FOIA lawsuit against the Department of Energy, but he lost that case.

Another lawsuit asks the court to overturn the OLM's decision to lease parts of its 25,000 acres in Southwest Colorado to uranium miners.

The lawsuit, which is the centerpiece of environmentalists' legal strategy, seeks to overturn the decision to lease lands. The plaintiffs - several environmental groups - say the OLM should have done a full environmental impact statement, not just a less-detailed environmental assessment.

The OLM is fighting the lawsuit and maintains that it followed all environmental laws. The office approved expanded leases in Colorado to comply with Congress' 2005 Energy Policy Act, which called for more nuclear power, OLM lawyers said in their response to the lawsuit.

Work with us, mill backer saysLawsuits might dog the Piñon Ridge mill, too. Glasier said he wouldn't be surprised to be sued over the mill. His county permit, if it's approved this month, gives him five years to get the mill built.

Stills also is working with mill opponents. He and his allies say the mill will have troubles with water supply and might pollute groundwater - a charge Glasier disputes.

"It's nonissue. We aren't going to affect anybody's water rights," Glasier said.

The mill will use 130 gallons a minute - less than he uses to irrigate the hayfield at his ranch, he said. The Paradox Valley's farms are mostly on the lush west side, where the water table won't be affected by the mill's wells, Glasier said.

Opponents also say dust from the mill will be blown out of the windy Paradox Valley east to Telluride. But Glasier says dust will not be a problem. The mill keeps the uranium wet, so the dust will never be dry enough to fly away, he said.

Glasier said he will make whatever health and safety improvements anyone suggests to the mill, but he won't back away from it altogether.

"The environmental community ought to be involved in a dialogue to make this mill better, not to stop it," Glasier said.

jhanel@durangoherald.com
http://durangoherald.com/sections/News/2009/08/12/Uranium_mining_hinges_on_markets_courts/

Industry needs much higher uranium price to fund new production

Comment: Virginia is pushing for uranium mining at Coles Hill. Why the push when the price of uranium is so low? Local people, wake up, the state of Virginia wants the uranium! The state of Virginia only cares about the profit and not her people!

By: Liezel Hill
Published: 10th August 2009

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The uranium-mining industry will likely need to see prices lift “considerably” before lower-grade, higher cost mines can be brought into production, Jean Nortier, the CEO of Vancouver-based Uranium One, said on Monday.

Uranium One also announced earlier in the day that it had agreed to buy additional assets to speed up its production plans in the US, and that it is in negotiations to sell its shuttered Dominion mine, in South Africa, for about $38,5-million in cash, net of transaction costs.

Speaking on a conference call, Nortier refused to speculate on the short-term outlook for the price of the nuclear fuel, but said he remained “as bullish as ever” on the medium- to long-term prospects.

Uranium One produces uranium from mines in Kazakhstan, and owns 51% of the Honeymoon project, in Australia, as well as some processing facilities and deposits in the US.

“If you look at our results – and we have probably the cheapest producing uranium mines in the world from a public company perspective – and you say our cash costs are $16/lb to $17/lb, plus we sit with noncash costs of $14/lb to $16/lb. So it's $30/lb to $32/lb before you start making an operating profit,” Nortier said.

“And if the cheapest uranium mines in the world are producing at those numbers, then your marginal cost of production is a number significantly higher.”

Pricing service TradeTech reported on Monday that uranium-oxide for immediate delivery rose 1,1%, to $47,50/lb last week, the first gain in eight weeks.

The increase was linked to new demand from a non-US utility.

Nortier said lower-grade deposits, such as in Namibia, or some conventional mining projects in the US, will need much higher prices to be economically mined.

“We continue to think that the uranium price needs to lift considerably before you will start to see enough production come online to fill the market.

“My view is that we need to see $80/lb to $100/lb before we are going to see marginal mines being brought into production,” he said.

http://www.miningweekly.com/print-version/industry-needs-much-higher-uranium-price-to-fund-new-production-2009-08-10

Uranium Shares Struggle in the Wake of USEC Loan Denial

Comment: Yeah! No to uranium mining!

By the tickerspy.com Staff
On Wednesday July 29, 2009, 12:25 pm EDT

Uranium stocks got hammered on Wednesday after the Department of Energy denied USEC's (NYSE: USU - News) request for $2 billion in loan guarantees.

Yesterday USEC expressed its disappointment in the Department of Energy's denial of its previously promised loan guarantee. Without the government support, private financing cannot be obtained according to the company. USEC's CEO, John K. Welch said, "President Obama promised to support the loan guarantee for the American Centrifuge Plant while he campaigned in Ohio. We are disappointed that campaign commitment has not been met." Investors share Welch's disappointment, as they are now down close to -40% in two days.

As a whole, the Uranium Stocks Index is down by -4.1% today. It is now lagging the S&P 500 over the last month by -15.7%.

All the Index's components are down by more than -2% today. Paladin Energy (OTC: PALAF - News) is leading the drop, down -7%.

Uranerz Energy (AMEX: URZ - News) and Toronto-based Denison Mines (AMEX: DNN - News) are down by -4% in the selloff.

Uranium Energy (AMEX: UEC - News) and Cameco (NYSE: CCJ - News) are top performers with losses of less than -3%. Cameco will report its earnings on August 12.

As of this writing the Uranium Stocks Index is the second-worst performing tickerspy Index over the last month, down -10.6%.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Uranium-Shares-Struggle-in-indie-2279813385.html/print?x=0

Addressing the Uranium Mining Hype

Comment: another great article about uranium mining problems!

(Reader Linda offers this guest post responding to the hype of uranium mining. If you are an activist who cares about this issue, take the time to read this post!)

Mining promotes energy independence.

Energy independence is not a retreat from global economic interdependence, a move that would disrupt free market trade and that would lead America toward economic and politial isolation. Nor is energy 'independence' dependent upon mining. Energy independence means that a search for alternative energies must be a global effort. The point, in my opinion, is to create alternative energy supplies that run on renewable resources. Uranium is not renewable.

It could hold down electric rates.

First, I'm unsure how much uranium is to be mined at Coles Hill, and I doubt anyone knows this amount for certain. Secondly, the assumption - at least the one that this Washington Post story took last year - was that the uranium in this particular project would supply the country's nuclear 140 power plants for about two years.

I'm unsure whether this is a true statement or not, so I won't get into the financial logistics of the cost of the mine and mining compared to two years' worth of nuclear power nationwide, but it seems disproportionate. The real cost behind this mine is the land values, water safety and individual health. While a handful of families plan to make money on their properties, others may lose everything they have. In fact, the mine proposal already has affected home sales and business recruitments in the area. While the statement above seems to provide hope for the immediate future, in the here-and-now just the mere topic of this mine is costing this area money.

Thankfully, this statement uses the word, "could." Any time that word is used, it means that no one knows the answer.

It complements existing nuclear design and construction operations in Lynchburg and Newport News.

I'm of the opinion that nuclear power is no safer than it was two decades ago, because uranium mining and depleted uranium - or, the before- and after-products of nuclear power - are the "dirty" parts of this picture that have changed little since this country began to use nuclear power. If Virginians want to mine uranium, then Virginia also should create an enrichment plant and plan to store depleted uranium so populations in other states won't be affected by Virginia's decision to mine and transport yellowcake.

The Coles Hill mining project is expected to produce yellowcake (also called urania). The uranium ore is mined and then milled on the mine site to separate the uranium oxide from other substances. This yellowcake is then put into containers and shipped off to be enriched - but, sometimes the yellowcake simply is stored at other facilities in hopes that prices will increase on this commodity. Yellowcake is owned by various business entities and governed by U.S. and international laws. That uranium from the Coles Hill project could end up anywhere. Take, for example, Lehman Brothers' ownership of 450,000 lb of uranium stored in Canada.

Currently, the only enrichment plant in the U.S. is located in Paducah, Kentucky - however, some yellowcake also is shipped to a plant across the Kentucky River from Paducah at Metropolis Illinois, and other enrichment plants are planned (such as the one at Lea County, New Mexico, five miles east of Eunice). Other enrichment plants are located in Canada.

To understand more about how the market sees yellowcake, please read this Forbes article written in 2007 - this article was written just when the market began to see a possibility that nuclear reactors might make a comeback. However, pricing uranium is another story - previous to twenty years ago, uranium was not privitized. Therefore, pricing uranium is a risky business. This is not stopping many risk-takers in their efforts to mine, mill, enrich and store depleted uranium products and byproducts in this country. Uranium, to these folks, is an investment opportunity rather than a source of energy.

Uranium mining further complements this state's lack of renewable energy resources (But, customers can purchase "green" energy through renewable energy certificates (RECs), which Virginia's power companies purchase from other resources).

Mining is potentially hugely profitable, and, by extension, a potent source of local and state tax revenue. A mine would generate jobs in a region rapidly losing them to the collapse of manufacturing.

Uravan, Colorado, a mining town that was shut down in the early 1980s when the demand for uranium and vanadium waned, is uninhabitable even after the Superfund cleanup (which lasted twenty years at a cost of $120 million). The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) plans to turn a portion of the Uravan area into a campground with a museum focused on the history of uranium mining in Colorado. Yet, more than 13 million cubic yards of mill tailings, evaporation pond precipitates, water treatment sludge, contaminated soil, and debris from more than 50 major mill structures on the site and from a nearby abandoned mill in Gateway, Colorado, and mill tailings from the Naturita, Colorado, millsite are contained in the ground at Uravan.

Why a campground? Because homes cannot be built there. Granted, Uravan was a major project that lasted almost five decades. And, because of that project and others, a special program was set up just for uranium miners who worked with radioactive substances. If uranium was not a health problem, why was this program developed?

Outside of total depletion of land values with uranium mining, I've never met a rich miner, no matter the substance he or she was mining. So the question I would ask here is, "hugely profitable" to whom? As I mentioned previously, uranium prices are subject to fluctuation and have no historic bearing to help determine the actual price of yellowcake on the market. To state that yellowcake is a "potent source of local and state tax revenue" is making a promise based upon a theory.

Uravan consisted of about 800 people, and that number included wives and children of the miners. That town was involved with active mining with no other income from businesses that would sustain that town outside the mining. If the Coles Hill mine is expected to carry the county with the loss of manufacturing businesses, it sounds to me that Coles Hill is about to become another Uravan.

While I've never met a rich miner, the cost to the miner is high. Here's another link to the RECA, or the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. If you scroll down the page, you'll see that a miner isn't eligible for a claim on this act unless the claimant worked in a uranium mill for at least one year beginning January 1, 1942 and ending on December 31, 1971. What I find interesting is the information in the first paragraph, which shows that uranium miners from this era actually receive higher compensation than anyone who was exposed to a nuclear weapons test. This attests to the fact that long-term exposure (at least one year) to uranium mining and milling is, indeed, hazardous.

The time frame mentioned in the RECA compensation is important, because it means that this compensation may not apply to miners who work at the Coles Hill project. Taxpayers have granted $1,396,375,620 [PDF] as of 23 April 2009 for radiation exposure claims through this program and taxpayers may still pay the Navajo Nation for the deaths, birth defects and diseases caused by uranium mining on their lands. But, this latter struggle is now ten years old. What would a miner expect from a private company, if previous uranium miners still are fighting for compensation for illnesses from the U.S. government?

Finally, at the end when all mining is done, who cleans up the site? Although most contracts for uranium mining put this onus on the mining company, the first story I've seen about a company that has been forced by the government to clean up a mining site was published just this April. Atlantic Richfield Co. has agreed to spend $10.2 million for future and past cleanup efforts at an old copper mine in Yerington, Nevada. This was not a uranium mine, but it was a mine that produced a uranium byproduct, which contaminated the site along with arsenic and other heavy metals. Other than this site, taxpayers pay for remediation for sites such as those on Navajo land. Other sites are now claiming funds for cleanups that have been decades in the making. These cleanup operations now are paid by Superfunds or stimulus funds (such as Moab, Utah).

What makes me think that a private company would do a better job than the government at protecting their workers and cleaning up - which was a lousy job at best when done by the U.S. government? What could make me believe that this project may cost local, state and national taxpayers more than it proposes to benefit those taxpayers? I don't have the answers, but it appears that many government entities, geologists and others who want this Coles Hill mine are repeating many of the same things that the government told the Navajo Nation and the Uravan workers fifty years ago.

How does repeating history make uranium mining dramatically different and far safer today than it was when it was run by the government?


http://dembones-dembones.blogspot.com/2009/04/addressing-uranium-mining-hype-guest.html

Sluggish uranium prices leave Cameco vulnerable

Comment: Cameco Corp is a Canadian corp. which has uranium mine in US!!!

Posted: April 06, 2009, 11:15 AM by David Pett

The much anticipated rally in uranium prices hasn't happened yet, leaving Cameco Corp. earnings vulnerable, says Blackmont analyst George Topping.

"While we are bullish on uranium, we are wary of Cameco as we get closer to the Q1 release due May 1," he said in a note to clients.

"Cameco has a history of disappointing."

Mr. Topping noted that his biggest concern is the lingering effect of the financial crisis on uranium prices. Despite a favourable supply/demand environment, the spot uranium price hit an average of US$44 per pound in the first quarter versus the US$69 per pound for the term price.

The Blackmont analyst said the weak Q1 has forced him to reduce his 2009 price from US$70 per pound to US$60. He also reduced his future years forecast by US$10., with 2010 prices now expected to average US$70.

Regarding Cameco, he noted additional concerns, including the major recession in Ontario and the effect that will have on Bruce Power.

He also doesn't like the lack of control over Centerra Gold's cash flow. Cameco owns a majority position in Centerra, which operates the Kumtor mine in Kyrgyz Republic.

The sum of these concerns will lower Cameco's cash flow this year, but due to improved investor sentiment, Mr. Topping maintained his "hold" rating and $26 price target.

David Pett -->

Is uranium DOA?

Comment: Do we want jobs that are tied to an unstable market? No!!!

Official: HRI’s Churchrock uranium project on hold

Copyright © 2009Gallup IndependentBy Kathy HelmsDiné Bureau

CHURCHROCK — A proposed in-situ leach uranium mining project near Churchrock is on hold, according to Rick Van Horn, chief operating officer of Uranium Resources Inc.

With spot uranium prices down, Uranium Resources Inc., parent company of HRI-Churchrock Inc., is still awaiting a decision from the 10th Circuit Court in Denver regarding an underground injection control permit.

On Dec. 5, 2006, Hydro Resources Inc, or HRI, entered into a joint venture with a wholly owned subsidiary of Itochu, one of Japan’s largest trading companies, to develop its Churchrock property in New Mexico. Under terms of the joint venture, both parties had until April 2, 2007, to make a preliminary investment decision and over the past two years, mutually agreed to extend the date for the decision.


However, earlier this month URI received notification that Itochu had terminated the joint venture.

“We decided mutually that it was in both of our best interests for them to, at this time, pull out. Uranium prices are depressed, we’re still awaiting the court decision, and right now the project is on hold until we get that decision,” Van Horn said Wednesday.

“It basically gives us the whole project back.

Instead of having a partner in there, we’ve got the whole thing back and we look at it as a positive,” he said. The company could seek other investors.

Asked whether uranium prices and the lawsuit were factors in Itochu’s decision, Van Horn said,

“It might have, but I can’t speak for them. I think the big thing is that it was not going anywhere, mostly because of the uranium prices and the general malaise in the market, and the inability of anybody to get financing for anything.

“The only two industries that are going well are Walmart and McDonalds,” he said jokingly.

Approximately 70 million pounds of uranium reserves are known to exist on the Navajo Reservation, Van Horn said.

“Right now, it’s a very valuable asset for the Nation.

The thing that we have to get around is the ban that the Nation has on uranium mining.”

Through legislation sponsored by Resources Committee Chairman George Arthur, the Navajo Nation imposed a ban on uranium mining and milling within Navajo Indian Country in April 2005.

The same year, New Mexico Environment Department received a request from HRI for an underground injection control permit to operate a uranium in-situ leach mine in Section 8.

As a result, NMED formally requested U.S. Environmental Protection Agency make a decision on the Indian Country status of Section 8 land, with the underlying issue being which was the appropriate agency to consider the permit application.

On Feb. 6, 2007, EPA found that Churchrock Chapter, which includes Section 8, is a “dependent Indian community” and that EPA was the proper authority to issue the permit.

The case was appealed to the 10th Circuit in Denver, which has yet to rule on oral arguments heard last May from attorneys for HRI and attorneys for Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining.

According to URI’s year-end report for 2008 released March 10, revenue for the fourth quarter was $2.2 million, a $6 million decrease compared with $8.2 million during the fourth quarter of 2007, as significantly fewer pounds of uranium were sold at a lower price per pound. The net loss for the fourth quarter was $7.5 million.

During the quarter, URI sold 38,700 pounds of uranium, a 65.8 percent decrease from the 113,000 pounds sold in last year’s fourth quarter. URI received an average selling price per pound of $56.76 in the fourth quarter, down from an average per pound price of $72.72 in the 2007 quarter.

Uranium spot prices, or short-term, were at $42.50 Wednesday.

“There’s also a long-term price and that’s at $70 right now. It depends on what your contracts are like.
We have no contracts for New Mexico. We are currently producing in Texas and we produce into an average of the long-term and short-term price,” Van Horn said.

“We are only producing at the Kingsville site. Rosita has been shut in and is under restoration, and Vasquez has been shut in and is under restoration. All three are in Texas.

Kingsville, we are currently producing out of some well fields and restoring in others.”

URI has closed an exploration office in Corpus Christi, Texas, and has consolidated it into the Kingsville operation.

The company’s Albuquerque office also has been closed.

“The good news is we’re still here. We have cash enough to last for two years without any additional infusions of cash and to continue the restoration activities we are conducting here in Texas.

We are also working with Navajo EPA to do some work on Section 17 in Churchrock as far as some characterization of possible legacy contamination,” Van Horn said.
T
hough HRI/URI did not put the contamination there, “We are funding a study to see what is there. I think that’s an important thing with all of these legacy issues. There are a lot of numbers that are flying around and a lot of supposed facts. We need to get out and get the facts: What is the contamination? What is critical? What needs to be done to protect the health and safety of the people in community, and the people in New Mexico in general.”

Van Horn said HRI applied for and was issued the permit by the state, but the project can’t proceed until they get a court decision on who has the authority to issue the permit, the state or EPA, based on whether the proposed site is in Indian Country or not Indian Country.

“We have our NRC license. The only permit we’re lacking right now is the underground injection control permit. We have been issued one but we couldn’t act on it,” he said

Western lands uranium gopher for 03/21/09

Mining uranium press releases for useful news

Parts of this blog post were previously published in Fuel Cycle Week, V8N319 for March 18, 2008 by International Nuclear Associates, Washington, DC

The closing stock prices for the informal collection of uranium firms tracked here continue to fall. In the past month only one of the firms, Uranium Energy (AMEX:UEC) saw an increase in its stock price due to a joint venture announcement in the Grants Mining district in New Mexico.
Penny for your thoughts or your company?

However, at these prices no CEO is going to come to the market to sell shares to raise investment funds since they'd essentially be giving the company away. The stock chart is being discontinued due to the fact that it has gotten too hard to scrape the bottom of the barrel every two weeks to find the price data. This is a metaphor about price data and not a value judgement about the companies noted in this blog post.

Most uranium companies are grossly undervalued given their assets in the ground and the brightening future for nuclear energy. Get it? Got it? Good.

U3O8 price plunge continues

The every present threat of hostile takeovers has been mitigated by the falling spot price of uranium.

Ux Consulting reported a spot price of $43.50/lb down more than $10/lb from a six month high of $55/lb last December. As long as uranium prices continue to fall, investors will likely seek other industries for a more attractive return on their capital.

The plunging price of uranium triggered several responses to previously inked mining deals.

South Korea's state-run electricity company cancelled a deal signed in May 2008 with Yellowcake mining (OTC:YCKM) to jointly explore the Beck uranium mine in western Colorado. The Beck property has 12 known deposits which have been subject to varying amounts of drilling in the past. Beck is in the Uravan historic uranium district with a history of profitable mines.

Bluerock folds U.S. operations

Another compelling picture of what these numbers are doing to the industry is painted by the recent actions of Bluerock Resources (CVE:BRD).

Once one of the most promising of the uranium juniors doing business in western Colorado, the firm has ended its toll milling agreement with Denison's White Mesa Mill.

The settlement includes a payment of stock in lieu of cash worth approximately $500,000 which is more than half of its total market capitalization as of March 13.

In the past few months the firm shutdown the Whirlwind and J-Bird mines laying off all employees at these operations.

Clearly, it makes no sense for firms to deplete their resources in the ground when uranium prices fall below the break even point.

Denison to suspend operations at White Mesa Mill

Reuters reports that shares of Denison Mines (AMEX:DNN) plunged 20% after the firm suspended some of its operations and said it may have to sell assets to keep from violating a debt covenant.

The firm will temporarily suspend production at its Sunday and Rim mines. and will likely temporarily shut its White Mesa mill in May, once it produces the 500,000 pounds of uranium the company is under contract to produce in 2009.

The mill is be expected to restart in 2010.

It is the only operating uranium mill of its kind in the Uranvan mining district spanning Colorado and Utah. Two other projects to build new mills in the region, Mancos in Green River, UT, and Energy Fuels in Montrose, CO, are expected to be impacted due to falls prices of uranium.

Reuters reported Denison’s announcement focused on a steep loss of $56.8 million, or $0.30/share, due to non-cash write-downs of $59 million brought on by falling commodity prices.

Speaking on a conference call, Denison Chief Executive Peter Farmer said the company was in danger of violating a debt covenant tied to its profitability, and that the company was reviewing "strategic opportunities" to keep that from happening.

Options could include: "entering into contracts with utility companies... asset sales, purchases and joint ventures, investments by private equity investors and potential corporate transactions with other uranium producers," Farmer said.

In a press statement, Denison said, significant events in the fourth quarter include:
- Denison sold 400,000 pounds U3O8 during the quarter from U.S. production at an average price of $61.50/lb and 177,000 pounds U3O8 from its Canadian production under the existing long-term contract at an average price of $52.28 per pound.

- Denison and its joint venture partners, AREVA Resources Canada Inc. ("ARC") and OURD Canada Co. Ltd. announced the postponement of the development of the Midwest deposit.

- Denison announced the suspension of mining at the Tony M mine located in Ticaboo, Utah.

- Denison opened the Beaver mine on the Colorado Plateau. The Beaver mine is capable of producing ore containing over 200,000 U3O8 and 600,000 lbs. of V2O5 in 2009 and will be one of Denison's lower cost mines in the region. This may be the only new ore that reaches the White Mesa Mill.

Uranium mining expansion facing delay, warns analyst

Comment: Uranium Mine Jobs has lots of Ups & Down, Bad Times means No Jobs, The Mine Shuts Down when uranium goes down!!

By Nick Harmsen
Posted Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:16am AEDTUpdated Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:17am AEDT

A resource analyst is warning the global financial crisis could force BHP Billiton to delay a planned expansion of the Olympic Dam mine in outback South Australia by at least two years.

He has told a conference in Adelaide that the uranium industry is enduring a major shake-out thanks to the downturn.

Among an array of resources, Olympic Dam near Roxby Downs has the world's largest known uranium deposit.

The SA Government has long heralded a massive expansion of the mine, saying it will underpin an economic boom.

But the financial crisis has already claimed 85 jobs at Olympic Dam and an expansion date of 2013 is not set in stone.

Resource analyst Warwick Grigor forecasts a delay.

"Olympic Dam is probably going to slip by at least two years in its timetable, if not longer," he said.

But a tough credit market and a 68 per cent plunge in ore prices is making life much tougher for the once red-hot uranium exploration industry.

Bad News for Uranium Mining

Comment: Postings of Money Problems for Mining Industry and Workers: (just click links for the whole article)

http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page72068?oid=79276&sn=Detail

Miners anticipate wave of bankruptcies as more explorers forced out of business.
The newly released 2008/2009 Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies finds some miners believe the current industry shake-out will be good for mining.

Author: Dorothy Kosich, Posted: Friday , 27 Feb 2009RENO, NV -

The annual Fraser Institute survey released Thursday found many in the mining industry expect a large number of bankruptcies with some believing that more than half the exploration companies will be forced out of business.More than half the respondents believe that exploration and development activities of junior explorers will decline "a great deal," while nearly 85% say the activities of production companies will be curtailed.

http://www.northernontariobusiness.com/Around-the-North/thisweek/NAP-has-bad-year,-but-optimistic-for-2009.aspx

NAP has bad year, but optimistic for 2009
By: Northern Ontario Business Staff

North American Palladium (NAP) posted a $160.7 million loss for 2008, including a fourth quarter loss of $112 million. Because of a drop in metal prices, the Toronto-based miner shut down its Lac des Iles mine in northwestern Ontario in the last quarter.

http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page72103?oid=77926&sn=Detail

Economic downturn means uranium companies face huge challenge

In a news release, Strathmore CEO David Miller said, "The current downturn has created a greater challenge for uranium companies than any time during the past ten years. "

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssUtilitiesElectric/idUSSEO6930720090302

S.Korea scraps uranium deals on weak prices-report

SEOUL, March 2 (Reuters) - State-run Korea Electric Power Corp (015760.KS) has cancelled two preliminary deals to develop uranium mines in the United States and Slovakia due to weak product prices, local media reported on Monday, citing officials from the energy firm.

http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN1326573420090214

UPDATE 1-Cameco profit falls despite higher revenue

NEW YORK, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Canada's Cameco Corp (CCO.TO) said on Friday its fourth-quarter profit nearly halved despite higher sales and earnings from its gold and uranium business.The world's top uranium producer earned C$31 million ($25 million), or 8 cents a share, in the three months ending Dec. 31. That was down from C$61 million, or 17 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

Cameco Corporation: Cigar Lake Re-visited!

Comment: A Flooded Modern Uranium Mine

Posted By Uranium Stocks On February 6, 2009 @ 10:57 pm In Uranium Mining

Friday, February 13, 2009 is a date for your diary, as ominous as it may be, as that is when Cameco will publish its next quarterly news release containing a summary of the progress being made at Cigar Lake. As a reminder this it what Cameco said in its last quarterly news release in 2008.

On August 12, 2008, Cameco suspended remediation work in shaft 1 at Cigar Lake after an increase in the rate of water inflow to the mine.We are continuing to investigate the source of the inflow. Based on the information collected to date, we have identified a potential source at the 420 metre level of the shaft.

This area was developed many years ago to assess the practicality of developing a working level above the orebody. This proved to not be feasible due to poor ground conditions. A concrete bulkhead was put in place and the remainder of the level was subsequently used for minor mine infrastructure and storage.

Our investigation is currently focused on this area. However, we continue to review the area in and around the plug that was poured subsequent to the October 2006 inflow, as well as the two areas where it was previously determined additional precautionary measures were not necessary. Information collected to date does not suggest any problem in these areas.

Submersible remotely operated vehicles (ROV) are being deployed in the mine to explore the potential sources, provide visual and sonar imaging of the mine workings and measure parameters like water flow and temperature. At the same time, we are pumping water from the mine to create water flow to assist in identification of the inflow source. While the work is time consuming (some items like doors and pipes have to be cut away to allow the ROVs access), it is progressing steadily and providing good information to the investigation team.

Once the source of the inflow is identified, we will develop a remediation plan.

Progress on the remediation of shaft 2 continues. The inflow sources have been sealed and the effectiveness of the seal has been demonstrated. The shaft is now ready for dewatering and will be scheduled as part of the overall remediation plan for Cigar Lake.

In order to keep our stakeholders informed on the progress of remediation activities, we will provide updates with each quarterly MD&A or more frequently if there are significant developments.

Hopefully Cameco will have determined the source of water ingress in shaft 1 and have compiled at least an outline plan of action for its containment. On shaft 2 its fingers crossed that the seals are still holding, however it is not clear to us just when the dewatering will commence, hopefully this next update will contain a little more detail of the engineering problems, the alternative solutions available and an outline schedule for the works to completion.

The provision of a doable schedule and an achievable end date would give investors a well deserved boost. Its now a case of watch this space!

Over the last month or so Cameco’s stock price has deteriorated from around the $24.00 level to close yesterday at $20.00 so we are looking for some good news in order to reverse this downward trend.

Cameco Corporation has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a 52 week high of C$44.38 and a 52 week low of C$14.33, turnover yesterday was 3.67 million shares and trades as CCO on the Toronto Stock Exchange and as CCJ on the New York Stock Exchange.

For disclosure purposes we do not own this uranium stock.

Mining town balks at uranium

Ghislain Lévesque has dealt with many contentious issues during the 12 years he's been mayor of Sept Îles. But nothing has stirred emotions in the regional hub, 650 kilometres northeast of Quebec City, like the proposal to mine uranium on the outskirts of the city.

MARK CARDWELL, Special to The GazettePublished: Saturday, February 07

"I've never seen people here get so worried and upset over a single subject," Lévesque said about the groundswell of public opposition to the project in recent weeks, included petitions, a demonstration, and a threat by most of the city's doctors to leave the region if it goes ahead.

"It's the only thing people are talking about around town these days, and almost everybody seems to be against it."

That's why, he added, city councillors voted unanimously in favour of a resolution on Jan. 26 asking the province to declare a permanent moratorium on uranium mining in its territory. By so doing, Sept Îles became the seventh municipality in Quebec - and the first on the North Shore - to make a similar request to government in recent years.

And it likely won't be the last.

That's because, after a 30-year lull, uranium is back on the radar of Quebec's mining industry. And that is raising concerns - whether real or imagined - among people who live in areas where there are known uranium deposits.

Although Canada is the world's biggest producer of uranium, accounting for roughly a third of the 100 million pounds that are sold on the global market each year, all of our production comes from three mines in Saskatchewan's Athabasca Basin, which contains the biggest and richest known deposits of uranium on Earth.
About 85 per cent of that production - worth some $500 million annually - is shipped to the United States, Japan and western Europe, where it is used to produce energy in nuclear reactors. The rest is used here at home to produce electricity, mostly at nuclear power plants in Ontario and here in Quebec, and to produce isotopes for cancer treatments and other medical purposes.

Quebec also has the capacity to be a major producer of uranium, a silvery-grey metal that is ubiquitous in nature and weakly radioactive, says Robert Marquis, director general of Géologie Québec, the office within the provincial Natural Resources and Wildlife Department that collects and studies scientific and field evidence of mineral resources and assesses their potential.

"Mining companies are always on the lookout for minerals and they have found many occurrences of uranium here over the years," Marquis, a geologist and past president of the Geologic Association of Canada, said from his office in Val d'Or this week.

Located mostly in four geographical areas - the Otish Mountains in central Quebec, Ungava Bay, Mont Laurier and the Ottawa Valley, and the North Shore - those finds contain relatively low-grade uranium that is not economically feasible to produce when commodity prices are low.

That has been the case since the 1970s, when the world soured on nuclear energy and commodity prices went south. But the price of uranium has been on a tear in recent years. Though it has fallen sharply in recent months due to the global financial crisis, a pound of uranium fetched a record $138 U.S. in June 2007, a tenfold increase over 2004.

"When prices get that high," said Marquis, "uranium production here has the potential to be profitable."
That's what prompted Terra Ventures, a small, publicly-traded Vancouver mining company that is involved in uranium projects in the Athabaska Basin, to stake a claim over a 2,166-acre property around Lac Kachiwiss in March 2007.

Located 20 kms north of Sept Îles on high hills that are sparsely covered with trees, the site was first drilled for diamonds in the 1970s. Instead, it was found to be chock full of low-grade uranium, with an estimated 5 million pounds of the material locked in the granite rocks that cover the area.

According to Terra Ventures geological director, Mike Magrum, the company spent about $3 million at the site last year diamond drilling 12 holes totalling 4,000 metres. The results of those assays, which were announced in January, suggested the site "is of similar character" to Rio Tinto's Rossing mine in Namibia, which produced seven per cent of the world's uranium.

"To get the uranium out we'd need to build a standard mill with a leeching process in which an acid dissolves the uranium, which is then extracted," explained Magrum. From a practical operating point of view, he added, the low grade of the ore means it would be no more dangerous to handle and process than iron ore, a commodity that is already heavily mined in the area and is important to the local economy.

Sept Îles is Canada's second largest bulk port, after Vancouver. Iron ore made up roughly 85 per cent of the 23 million metric tonnes of cargo shipped from the facility in 2008.

"We're still a long way from a mine but we're interested in pursuing the project," said Terra Ventures's Magrum. "But we want to work with the community and we are sensitive to social concerns."

Those concerns were first heard last summer, when local media began reporting on Terra Ventures's exploration efforts around Lac Kachiwiss.

"I couldn't believe it," said Marc Fafard, an engineer by training and a father of four who lives with his family in the old English school on the now-closed military radar station at the mouth of the Moisie River, just west of Sept Îles.

The Terra Ventures project would be a disaster for the region, says the self-described social activist who read up on uranium and uranium mining. In addition to creating unsightly mountains of crushed rocks, Fafard said, a uranium mine would necessarily result in the concentration and release of the metal's radioactive particles, called radon, which could contaminate underground aquifers and end up in rivers and drinking water.
"We live in a natural paradise here," said Fafard, who complained to city hall about the project and condemned it in letters to local media. "Why risk all that?"

Others felt the same. One was Rasvan Popescu, a local engineer who immigrated to Canada from Romania. A former employee in an old Soviet-era nuclear generating station who says his mother and other family members died from the fallout of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster in nearby Ukraine, he made headlines last fall with a public call for a permanent moratorium on uranium prospecting on the North Shore.

Popescu said he is aware of the water contamination caused by the uranium mines that operated in Elliot Lake, Ont., until 1996. And, he notes, even during exploration, the drilling breaks through aquifer lines, contaminating water tables.

He said he has heard talk in the mining community of plans for as many as a half-dozen uranium mines along the North Shore, including one at Port Cartier.

"It would be a disaster for all of us. It would change our way of life," Popescu said.

In December, 31 doctors in the city of 25,000, which is already struggling with a doctor shortage, signed a public letter also calling for a moratorium on the Terra Ventures project - and threatening to leave if a uranium mine is developed. "I chose Sept Îles for the quality of the environment," pneumologist and letter author Bruno Imbeault told a local journalist. "(But) if I'm going to be poisoned like I would be (living in) Montreal, I'll leave."

Around the same time, Fafard launched a one-man movement - Sept-Îles sans uranium 2009 - that he said received 3,000 phone calls, Christmas cards and emails of support from local residents. He also started a petition that was copied and circulated across town, calling on the city council to declare a moratorium. "After that," he said, "everything just kind of snowballed."

In response, the council held a closed-door meeting on Jan. 19 with public health and mining officials to learn more about the potential effects of the uranium project. Among other things, the city councillors were told the risks posed by uranium exploration were almost non-existent and that actual mining, when done according to the stringent rules and regulations set down by the Quebec and federal governments, would also be relatively safe.

"There really is no danger," says Dr. Rénald Cloutier, director of public health for the North Shore. He attended the meeting and later issued a public advisory in the region that gave detailed information about uranium. It concluded that risks associated with the project were "controllable," but that it was "legitimate for the community to weigh the socio-economic benefits and socio-environmental costs and ethical questions about the commercial and military uses of uranium."

In an interview, Cloutier said: "The most worrying thing is how people in Sept Îles are so worried. That's why we issued (the release), to try and defuse some of the tension and bring some balance to the debate."
Sept Îles Mayor Lévesque agrees there's probably no danger but, he says, people's preoccupation with the project became his main concern.

"Who are we to say whether they are right or wrong to be worried?" he asked. "We want mining, we're a mining town. But we don't want something that is so divisive."
- - -
On Jan. 26, the day the council voted on the resolution asking the province to declare a permanent moratorium on uranium mining in its territory, Fafard organized a noontime march through downtown Sept Îles. Despite frigid temperatures, some 300 people showed up. About 100 also attended a late-afternoon vigil outside city hall and cheered the announcement that the council had voted in favour of the moratorium.

The resolution has been sent to the Quebec Natural Resources and Wildlife Department, where it joins similar ones made by seven other municipalities across the province since 2007, including Cantley, Chelsea and La Pêche in the Outaouais region, and Lac St. Paul, Chute St. Philippe, Rivière Rouge and Ferme Neuve in the Laurentians.

"The government of Quebec has a role to protect people from projects that threaten them," junior minister Serge Simard told The Gazette.

"And the people of Sept Îles aren't the only ones who are worried about uranium."

Simard refused to speculate on when, where or if the Liberal government might pass a moratorium on uranium mining. Instead, he said, there will be more public debate on the matter, beginning with a forum of North Shore mayors later this year.

"We want people to well understand all the issues that are involved with uranium," Simard said. "Transparency is the key."

Though concern over the project has subsided in Sept Îles since last week's council vote, Fafard says people remain wary and they are not letting their guard down.

"We don't want to talk about or debate the pros and cons of uranium exploration and mining," he said. "We don't want a uranium mine here, period."
- - -
Mining industry employs 50,000 in Quebec

Only a handful of the 270,000-plus claims currently staked in Quebec will ever develop into working mines, says Robert Marquis, director general of Géologie Québec.

According to government figures, mining companies spent $430 million on exploration in Quebec in 2007, almost three times more than in 2003. Including the activities of the 20 mines and dozens of quarries and sandpits that extract commodities like gold, iron, copper and salt from Quebec bedrock, the mining industry employs some 50,000 people across the province.

Often ranked No. 1 in the world by the Fraser Institute for its favourable mining policies and mineral potential, as well as the quality of its training facilities and labour pool, Quebec is doing all it can to keep the industry churning. "Our objective is to diversify," said Marquis. "That's the key to success."

Because investment follows market forces, money tends to flow to projects aimed at finding and developing minerals with the hottest stock prices. "There tends to be a flavour-of-the-month approach," said Marquis.
"A decade ago it was diamonds. Today it's gold and uranium.

After Uranium [Price] Bombs, Prepare for the Fallout: Chart of the Day

Paging Patrick Wales...here's a news flash for ya!

Kazakhstan will boost production 14 percent to 9,700 metric tons of the nuclear fuel this year, Macquarie said. Global uranium supply will exceed demand by 1,914 tons, it said.

By Thomas Biesheuvel

Last Updated: January 12, 2009 19:01 EST

Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Uranium prices may add to the biggest drop on record as Kazakhstan, the world’s third-largest supplier, boosts production of the metal used to make nuclear fuel, according to Macquarie Group Ltd.

“Kazakhstan has been the driver of global uranium production over the past five years,” analyst Jim Lennon said in a note yesterday. “We continue to believe that the uranium spot price will remain under pressure.”

The CHART OF THE DAY shows mining and processing companies gauged by the World Uranium Index of global stocks, which includes BHP Billiton Ltd., Rio Tinto Group and Cameco Corp., tracked the metal lower since peaking in mid-2007. Uranium prices slumped 40 percent last year, the biggest annual drop since at least 1996, according to prices compiled by Metal Bulletin.

Kazakhstan will boost production 14 percent to 9,700 metric tons of the nuclear fuel this year, Macquarie said. Global uranium supply will exceed demand by 1,914 tons, it said.

Uranium prices rose to $138 a pound in June 2007 before declining on signs of slowing world economic growth. Cameco is among companies that have cut output and spending on new mines because of the global credit crunch and declining prices.

To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Biesheuvel in London tbiesheuvel@bloomberg.net.

(Click on the link below and then on "Graphics" to see Money & Politics' graph of uranium's price fall.)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=agD3ceKVufWU&refer=asia