Financing uranium mining raise concern

The hearing on uranium mining conducted in Chatham on June 22 by the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission Subcommittee has received wide comment. One such commentary was by Schapiro in the Richmond-Times Dispatch in which he referred to the joining of the Coles mining company, "having merged with Canada's Santoy Resources, Virginia Uranium is on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Coles and 31 other local investors hold tons of store and now have access to a world of capital."

That brings up a current growth in financing uranium mining which is causing international commentary that "world of capital." Uranium One Inc., the second biggest uranium mining company in Canada, is reportedly being taken over by ARMZ, a division of the Russian State Corporation Rosatom. For 51 percent of the stock of Uranium One, ARMZ, Rosatom, will pay Uranium One $610 million U. S. dollars and the controlling attention in two Kazakhstan uranium mines.

The CEO of Uranium One, Jean Nortier, referred to this as a "move to Russian-style Capitalism." If this Uranium One/Rosatom contract goes to completion, as reported, then a uranium project, Honeymoon Well, in South Australia planned to be in production by the end of 2010 will also be under the control of the Russian Government. Uranium One owns 51 per cent of Honeymoon healthy.