ERA lifts uranium oxide production

Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) has increased its potential for how much uranium oxide it expects to produce in 2012 to between 3,200 and 3,700 tonnes.The revised forecast issued on Tuesday came as the uranium producer announced its March quarter operations review, which integrated a 51 per cent slide in total materials mined.

ERA, which before expected annual uranium oxide production of 3,000 to 3,700 tonnes, said it had raised its forecast thanks to the earlier than likely re-commencement of mining in the Ranger Pit 3. "However, production for 2012 remains extremely dependent on the level of actual rainfall encountered for the remains of the year," the company said in a statement.

ERA produced 612 tonnes of uranium oxide in the March quarter, 18 per cent additional than in the before corresponding period, despite lower mill head grade.Extreme rain at the Ranger mine in early 2011 had a severe crash on production and caused the suspension of processing operations.

Global Scarcity of Uranium Looms

Challenges in source funds for new mining projects, interruptions in together new and ongoing mine production, as well as the end of the Highly Enriched Uranium agreement are near-perfect ingredients for a lack of uranium in the very near future, a top producer warns.

Tim Gitzel, Chief Executive Officer of Cameco Corp., the world's largest uranium producer, said the problem lies additional on the way investors and producers make their calculations."They take every likely project, think it's going to operate to excellence and add it up and say 'there's lots of supply,'" Gitzel said. "It's easier said than complete.

Gitzel argued that investors, traders, analysts and critics focus too much on a "post-Fukushima attitude.""People don't focus so a large amount on the supply side," he said.Prices of uranium, a radioactive heavy metal used as an plentiful source of nuclear energy, have tumbled 24 per cent since the March 2011 magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan so as to caused a partial meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant.The crisis at Fukushima led nations to pause and re-evaluate accessible as well as future nuclear programs. Germany, for one, announced it will finish its nuclear reactors by 2022.

Uranium Company targets 2013 for fresh Mexico mining

A mining company has announced its next steps and timeframe for start uranium mining in New Mexico. Uranium Resources, Inc. (URI) hopes to begin manufacture by 2013, subject to financing, uranium prices, and final permits being issued by New Mexico and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. If the company stays on path, this would be the first uranium mining in the state since the business closed up shop in the 1980s. But the continuation of uranium mining in New Mexico is a touchy subject because of health and environmental concerns.

“Our release Plan from the New Mexico Environmental Department (NMED) and our Source Material authorize from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) are both in judicious renewal status. We will be meeting with the suitable state and federal agencies over the next some weeks to discuss next steps,” said Don Ewigleben, President and CEO of URI. “URI’s aim is to be in a position to begin uranium production in New Mexico by the first half of 2013, assuming the regeneration processes move forward in a timely manner.

A recovery in uranium prices and the accessibility of financing for the necessary capital expenditures to build the infrastructure,” Ewigleben continued. The company owns 183,000 acres of mineral holdings in New Mexico, which include 101.4 million pounds of uranium. Its present NRC license allows it to mine one million pounds of uranium. The part 8 portion of the NRC licensed area contains 6.5 million pounds of the mineral. Churchrock is about six miles east of Gallup and while not on Navajo condition land, has a population that is crushingly Navajo. 

Japan Said to think Kazakh Uranium Imports Through East Russian Ports

Japan, the third-largest nuclear power producer, plans to ask Russia to permit it to ship uranium from landlocked Kazakhstan through ports along the country’s Pacific beach to cut the cost of importing the atomic fuel. A six-month study to assess the viability of shipments from Kazakhstan, the world’s leading uranium producer, via ports near Vladivostok will begin in August and be funded by the Japanese trade ministry, said two government officials in Tokyo with direct information of the plan, who declined to be named before an official announcement due this month.

The fuel is now shipped to Japan through western Russia and the proposed eastern route could help decrease costs for companies including Marubeni Corp., Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Sumitomo Corp. that have invested in uranium ventures in Kazakhstan. Supplies from the Central Asian country will help reduce dependence on Canada and Australia, which give more than half of Japan’s requirements. “Russia can play a key role and make a big change to Japan’s uranium supply chain in years ahead as Japan is increasing purchases from Kazakhstan,” said Tomoko Murakami, a nuclear analyst at the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan.

Almost all Kazakh uranium intended for Japan is currently shipped through St. Petersburg in western Russia for enrichment in the U.S., Canada and France before it reach Japan’s utilities, said Koji Furui, a spokesman for Sumitomo, which holds a stake in Kazakh producer Appak Ltd. several ore is also enriched in Russia, he said. Under the Japanese suggestion, the Kazakh uranium would be enriched in Russia, according to the government officials.

Forget diamonds, think uraniums

Five years from now Namibia would be perched on a pedestal as one of the world’s major producers of uranium, thanks to the uranium mines that are presently at exploration and pre-production stages coming on stream. Up till now, Namibia’s mining sector has been famous for diamond mining. For the first time, uranium manufacture outstripped diamond output last year, as Langer Heinrich Mine reached its optimal production stage, while the global economic crisis suppressed require for diamonds.

For 2009, uranium sales reach N$4 billion compared to N$3,8 billion for diamond sales. Although require for diamonds would pick up over the course of the year, the country’s growing uranium sector would continue to grow stronger, says the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “Over the coming years, we predict uranium playing an ever more important role within the Namibian mining sector, becoming more precious to the country than diamonds,” says the IMF.

A number of uranium mines are premeditated to enter production stage between 2011 and 2015. Forsys Metal Corps is predictable to open its Valencia project, while Areva SA is expected to begin operations at its Trekkopje Mine. Extract Resources is predictable to start mining at the Rossing South Mine and Bannerman Resources is predictable to begin extraction at its Etango and Swakop River mines.

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.