Australian Uranium.com.au Newsletter: April 2006

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Editorial

March was a huge month for uranium-related stories in Australia, beginning with India expressing interest in our metal, and culminating in today's much awaited and controversial signing of an export agreement between Australia and China. The Indian deal was pretty much ruled out by Downer and Howard, but the China deal heralds an almost certain shift in Australia's attitude to uranium mining.

To date, almost all media reports and comments have been in favour of the deal (or at least neutral). . If the Northern Territory and South Australia start raking in the Yen, it will be interesting to see how long Queensland and Western Australia can hold off. In other news, uranium stocks skyrocketed yet again, floats were massively over-subscribed and many investors have tripled their money in a matter of months. Is it a uranium bubble, or a justified reaction to demand? You'd have to read the news to form an opinion, here's the top stories of the month:

Deal done on uranium sales to China

April 3, 2006 at News.com.au: China would only use Australian uranium for peaceful purposes, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said today. His comments came after Foreign Minister Alexander Downer signed two agreements with China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing on supplying uranium to China. The agreements, signed following a meeting this morning between Mr Wen and Prime Minister John Howard, cover nuclear transfer and nuclear co-operation...

Too much at risk not to change policy

Comment by Ian Smith in The Advertiser: ...The story behind the demand for uranium is simple. The rapid expansion of China's economy along with the more recent economic development of India has put enormous pressure on world energy supplies. To date those countries have relied heavily on coal-fired power stations to fuel their economic growth. But while millions of people have been lifted out of poverty in China and India, and the standard of living has improved greatly, rapid economic growth has come at great cost to the environment, especially in terms of air quality. As the possessor of enormous deposits of uranium, Australia has a responsibility as a supplier of uranium to assist the sustainable development of these regional neighbours...

Australian Conservation Council resolution on uranium sales to China

ACF Media Release: ...The Australian Conservation Foundation strongly opposes the proposed Nuclear Cooperation Treaty for uranium exports to China which will compromise rather than strengthen nuclear safeguards. Nuclear is too dangerous, too dirty, too expensive and too slow to provide any legitimate answer to climate change or to energy security for the developing world...

Govt under fire over China uranium stance

At ABC North Coast NSW Local News: A local Greens' MP has accused the Federal Government of being hypocritical when it comes to overseas countries having nuclear power ... "One thing I think is an interesting issue is that there is uranium produced in China, particularly in the Tibetan provinces, therefore if China receives sufficient Australian uranium for domestic and peacetime purposes then it has an unregulated supply that's then freed up to be used in weapons research," he said.

Mines policy hamper investment

In The Australian: The mining industry has warned that Labor's three mines uranium policy could hamper possible investment resulting from a new nuclear pact between Australia and China...

Uranium Stocks Soar

From AAP in The Australian Financial Review: Australian uranium stocks continued to fire up today as the federal government finalised agreements with China that will allow for the eventual export of uranium to the Asian giant. Most stocks in the sector have gained in the past week and a half in anticipation of the signing. Patersons securities analyst Alex Passmore said the uranium sector has had a good run. "It has been a very exciting couple of weeks in the uranium sector," he said. "The investment community seems to be factoring in upside for many uranium cases very early on."...

Dangers of meltdown as uranium overheats

April 2, 2006 at TMC.net: The oil and mining boom continues with few signs of a bust. But one sector is clearly overheating - uranium explorers, where one Australian stock floated a week ago has already risen sixfold. Mining experts warn of the classic signs of a speculative frenzy and say it dwarfs the Poseidon nickel boom, which - like most booms - ended in tears...

Uranium prices predicted to get hotter

March 29, 2006 in The Australian Financial Review: Spot uranium prices may surge as much as 45 per cent to a high of $US58 a pound by mid next year, potentially driving further gains for sharemarket-listed explorers hoping to cash in on expectations that demand for the nuclear fuel will outstrip supply over the next 10 years. The growing political acceptance of uranium mining has spurred a boom in uranium stocks that has investors paying between $US3 and $US4 a pound of uranium mineralisation, according to a Resource Capital Research report released yesterday. The report covers 22 global uranium exploration and development companies and focuses on Australia, Canada and the United States...

PM Hunts for nuclear loophole

March 29, 2006 by Dennis Shanahan in The Australian: Australia is exploring avenues "a step at a time" to sell uranium to India, which refuses to join nuclear non-proliferation pacts, as it prepares to sign the first uranium deal with China. John Howard said yesterday that Australia's first nuclear deal with China could be signed next week during the visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. "It's possible that the discussions could be satisfactorily concluded so that something could be said or signed when the Chinese Premier visits Australia next week," the Prime Minister said. Mr Howard said the negotiations with Beijing had been on the basis that China was a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but the negotiations with India were in a different category...

States in conflict over uranium mining

March 28, 2006 reported by Peta Donald on the ABC's PM Program: The Labor State Governments, which currently ban uranium mining, are showing no sign of buckling to new pressure for a change of policy. The Premiers of Western Australia and Queensland were among those who welcomed a deal, which now seems both likely and imminent, to allow for uranium exploration and export to China. But they insist that if the radioactive ore is found in their states, it won't be dug up. Others believe that with billions of dollars to be made, it will happen eventually...

US Looks to global nuclear 'rebirth'

March 20, 2006 in EnergyReview.net: THE United States hopes to see a "global rebirth" of nuclear power to meet soaring demands for energy – forecast to increase by as much as 50% over the next two decades – while slowing the growth of greenhouse gas emissions and pollution worldwide. Speaking after a meeting of energy ministers of the powerful Group of Eight countries in Moscow, US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said, "We are hopeful of a very substantial rebirth of the global nuclear industry," the BBC reported.

Uranium to China: it's a deal

March 19, 2006 by Brendan Nicholson in The Age: An agreement clearing the way for massive uranium sales to China is almost certain to be signed when Premier Wen Jiabao visits Australia early next month. The deal would give Australia the ability to monitor the use of its uranium in China to ensure that it is only used for peaceful purposes...

Trip confirms worldwide interest in NT mining: Minister

March 13, 2006 in ABC News Online: The Northern Territory Mines Minister says he hopes to see more uranium mining operations started in the Territory in the next few years. Kon Vatskalis has just returned from a week-long trip to North America where he met mining companies and promoted the Territory as a mining resource...

Australia denies uranium to India

March 12, 2006 at IBN Live : Despite a successful visit to India by Australian Prime Minister John Howard, the issue of Canberra exporting uranium to India is hanging in balance. Howard may have shown some uncharacteristic signs of indecisiveness over the issue of uranium sale to India, Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer does not seem to be in any mood to oblige the south Asian economic powerhouse at this stage. “Australia will maintain its ban on uranium exports to India and other countries, which have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),” Downer said on Sunday...

About time Canberra dusted off its uranium policy

March 11, 2006 in The Sydney Morning Herald: SUN XIAODI is a man with an interesting story to tell the Australian officials rushing to fix up a safeguards agreement covering future uranium exports to China before next month's visit by the Premier, Wen Jiabao. Mr Sun, aged 50, spent much of his working life at the No. 92 uranium mine in a remote Tibetan-populated region of Gansu province. A year ago he surfaced in Beijing with some startling allegations about malpractice at the mine. As well as accusing mine administrators of allowing radioactive contamination of local land and water, resulting in above-normal cancer rates, Mr Sun said they had been operating the mine illegally after it was officially closed in 2002...

Howard stands firm on uranium policy - for now

March 7, 2006 by Louise Dodson and Cynthia Banham in The Sydney Morning Herald: JOHN HOWARD has moved to douse fears Australia is planning to dilute its nuclear safeguards policy. Under intense pressure from the Indian Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, who wants Australian uranium, Mr Howard said: "There is no change in policy". He said Australia's 30-year policy limits uranium exports from Australia to countries which have signed up to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. But Mr Howard praised some aspects of the controversial new nuclear co-operation agreement between the US and India...

India Seeks Australia uranium deal

March 6, 2006 by Greg Sheridan in The Australian: INDIAN Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will ask John Howard to back his nuclear co-operation deal with George W. Bush and to lift the ban on sales of Australian uranium. On the eve of Mr Howard's visit to India, Mr Singh said he would like to buy uranium from Australia to feed his country's growing appetite for the raw material. "I hope Australia will be an important partner in this. We are short of uranium. We need to import uranium and our needs will increase in years to come," he said. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer last week categorically ruled out changing the Government's policy of not selling uranium to nations such as India that have refused to sign the UN's Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, comments that privately angered Indian officials...

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