URANIUM EXPLORATION: Moratorium lifted in northern Labrador

The Nunatsiavut government has lifted the moratorium it compulsory three years ago on the exploration, development and mining of uranium on lands belong to the Labrador Inuit.. The ban was compulsory to give the government time to create an environmental protection act and regulations that will guarantee Inuit participation in any mineral activity.

Several Canadian mining companies were hunting for uranium in the region when the ban was imposed. The mainly advanced project was probably the Michelin project owned by Aurora Energy, since 2011 a subsidiary of Western Australia’s Paladin Energy. The Michelin project was in the higher exploration stage, and a positive preliminary economic assessment was made public in 2009.

The Michelin deposit is situated in the Central Mineral Belt, 140 km north of Goose Bay. It contains 7.1 million tonnes at 0.8% U3O8 in the measured category, 23.0 million tonnes at 0.11% U3O8in the indicated group and 16.0 million tonnes at 0.10% U3O8 in the inferred category. Paladin has five other deposits in the region, and the company’s possible uranium oxide inventory could be as high as 135 million lb

Paladin's Kayelekera mine costs offset uranium profits

NET losses by uranium miner Paladin Energy sank to $US123.4 million ($120m) in the quarter ended September 30, as a $US178.9m harm on its Kayelekera mine wiped out modest profits from its uranium sales in a quarterly activities report, Paladin said that revenues in the quarter additional than doubled to $US103m from $US49 1m in the same quarter the year before.

But rising production costs still left the company in the red after amortisation and depreciation, and weakness in the uranium price forced Paladin to write down the haulage value of Kayelekera, a mine in northern Malawi with a resource of 19.1m tonnes.

Paladin said its selling price in the September quarter was an average $US51 per pound, against $US55 over the year to the end of June the regular production cost from Kayelekera and the bigger Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia during both periods was $US35.

Uranium miner seeks $70m in fresh funds

IT IS not the best of times for a uranium producer to be patter the market for fresh funding but that is what ASX-listed African uranium producer Paladin Energy is doing, in search of up to $70 million from an institutional placement of shares.

The funds are needed to strengthen the group's balance sheet to "ensure the company is well placed to meet all future commitment and pursue recognized growth options"" it was not inspiring stuff from a company whose share price has been trashed because investor confidence in uranium stocks was undermined by the incomplete meltdown at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant in March.

Expansion at the group's Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia and the improvement of the Kayelekera mine in Malawi have also cause some headaches, fundamental to the group's 74 per cent share price fall.

Italy's 'non' vote hits uranium explorers

AUSTRALIAN uranium explorers have endured yet an additional bad day of trading, with confidence in the nuclear power sector additional injured by political developments in Europe. Italy has joined Germany and Switzerland in rotating its back on nuclear power, after a public referendum on Monday voted to rescind laws that meant to revive Italy's nuclear industry. Introduced in 2009, the laws were the initial step in plans to have 25 per cent of Italy's electricity complete by nuclear power by 2030.

But concerns over the current nuclear meltdown in Japan prompted more than 90 per cent of Italian voters to dispose of nuclear power, just as they did at a referendum in 1987 following the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown. Several ASX-listed uranium explorers observe their share price fall on the news, with Paladin Energy diminishing 18¢ to $2.61 and Energy Resources of Australia falling 21¢ to $4.04.

Falls were also record by Toro Energy, Extract Resources, Marathon Resources, Marengo Mining and Bannerman Resources. Many of individuals companies have watch their market capitalization more than halve because the Fukushima disaster in March.Energia Minerals - whose share cost fell 1¢ to 9¢ - will be directly precious by the Italian decision given the company's plan to expand two uranium projects in the Lake Como region of northern Italy.

Paladin hail Uranium One stake sales

Paladin Energy on Wednesday welcome news that uranium producer Uranium One (UUU), which is scheduled on the JSE, had disposed of its interest in its company. Paladin said the move leaves it as the only completely independent, publicly listed pure play uranium manufacturer in the world. Uranium One said on Tuesday that it "recently sold substantially all of its previously acquired shares of Paladin Energy".

It said the sale proceeds would supplement the capital capital available to the company for the cash outflows contemplated by its proposed acquisition of two more mines in Kazakhstan. The company plans to get JSC Atomredmetzoloto's (ARMZ) 50 percent interest in the Akbastau Uranium Mine and its 49.67 percent interest in the Zarechnoye Uranium Mine.

"The acquisition will increase Uranium One's steady state production from its Kazakhstan assets by just about 60 percent, from approximately 10 million pounds to approximately 16 million pounds," Uranium One said in a statement.ARMZ currently holds 23.1 percent of Uranium One's outstanding general shares.