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The chairman of the up-coming G8 meeting, Japanese Prime Minister, Yasuo Fukuda, has informed the Annual Conference of the Japan Atomic Industry Forum, that he will give special attention to nuclear power.

Yasuo Fukuda told the audience that:

“I think that such a movement, which is called the ‘nuclear renaissance’, is proof that our country’s unwavering strategy to promote nuclear energy has been the right one. I, as the prime minister of Japan, will support your work and I will keep doing my best to promote nuclear power that is safe and steady. It is critical for us to strengthen the utilization of nuclear energy as a major source of power, along with our efforts for energy conservation and to develop renewable energy,”

And it gets better, as he goes on to say that he will be giving special attention to the importance of nuclear energy in our fight against global warming. It comes as a pleasant relief that the Japanese Prime Minister sees the environmental benefits of utilising nuclear power as oppose to coal fired power stations, for instance.

It will be interesting to see what Italy and Germany have to say, as they are still not pro nuclear power. However, both countries buy electricity for France so they are gaining a benefit from nuclear energy, although indirectly. Just maybe they will see the light and give some consideration to their own future energy requirements.

Should make for interesting reading as the situation unfolds.

What will happen when the uranium price begins to rise?

This is exciting… this very low market cap compnay has just released an inferred JORC of 4.6million pounds of uranium…

But the real excitment is that their OBAN deposit is a very small part of their prospective ground.

I’m joking???

This is a nice compact analysis of the Namibian uranium scene with a bit of argy-bargy aimed at Australia… http://tinyurl.com/n36np4

Looks like a match made in heaven….

Novo: TOE
Reptile: DYL

And look at the neighbours

Toro Energy and Deep Yellow Form a JV
Exploring for Uranium in Namibia
There is to be an accelerated uranium exploration campaign by two Australian explorers in the
African nation of Namibia under a joint venture agreement announced today by Toro Energy
Limited (ASX: TOE “Toro”) and Deep Yellow Limited (ASX: DYL “DYL”).
The joint venture, the first between the two companies in Africa will see DYL (through their wholly owned
Namibian subsidiary Reptile Mineral Resources and Exploration (Proprietary) Limited (Reptile)) spend
A$3.5 million over the next two and a half years on three Exclusive Prospecting Licences (EPLs) held by
Toro’s Namibian subsidiary Nova Energy Namibia (Proprietary) Limited (Nova). Reptile will then be entitled
to gain a 65% share of the Joint Venture. Toro will retain 25% with Namibian Black Economic Empowerment
(BEE) Company, Sixzone Investments Proprietary Limited, holding a 10% share. Since late March any
company applying for renewal of EPLs is being informed by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) of a
requirement for involvement of a BEE partner before renewals will be granted.
The new exploration partnership evolved from Toro’s previously announced review and restructuring of
African interests to provide increased shareholder value, more aggressive project advancement and allow
additional focus on Toro’s Australian uranium projects – particularly Wiluna (WA) and Napperby (NT) –
which have which have the potential for near-term production.
Reptile has a substantial exploration base at Swakopmund, close to the exploration areas and a Namibian
exploration team with a proven record of uranium discovery. The Namibian company is now able to
commence work following the grant of renewals for the three Toro-held EPLs, (3668, 3669 and 3670) by the
MME and the approval of the joint venture arrangement by the Minister.
The location of Toro’s EPLs in relation to DYL’s uranium tenements and to other significant uranium projects
and mines, is shown in Figure 1 and include:
• EPL 3668 lies immediately downstream of the operating Langer Heinrich Uranium mine with the
potential for the discovery of a similar style mineralization. Exploration will focus on fully
evaluating the buried palaeochannels within this tenement.
• EPL 3669 is located immediately south of where Bannerman Resources are exploring uranium rich
granites known as Alaskites at their Etango Project. There is also potential for uranium
mineralisation associated with magnetite-skarn mineralization similar to the INCA Project
discovery announced by Deep Yellow (ASX release 23/04/2009).
• EPL 3670 is in the southern part of the Erongo district adjacent to the Aussinanis calcrete deposit
being explored by DYL. The tenement has similar radiometric anomalies that could be evaluated
with shallow drilling.
Toro will maintain an up to date knowledge of the exploration work and findings through regular meetings
and briefings on progress under the joint venture agreement.

The charts on the image show the last three months. GGG is up almost 100% perhaps not suprising as they have Inferred mineral resources of 229 million pounds of U3O8, 988,000t of REO and 1.3Mt of NaF.

The others are all doing pretty well…

During Cameco’s May 1 earnings release conference call, management offered a number of interesting tidbits. First, during the big run-up in uranium prices back in 2007 the company purchased little if any uranium on the spot market. But in the first quarter of 2009 the company was a significant acquirer, as the following quote indicates:

…[W]hile we are reporting lower net earnings than [the] comparable quarter of 2008, a major component of that changes relates to opportunities Cameco finds in the uranium market. Our reason for purchasing [spot uranium] in the first quarter was for one purpose only, to seize trading opportunities which our marketing staff identified. When we enter the market to take advantage of trading opportunities, we often acquire uranium at prices significantly higher than our production cost. This action results in our reported unit cost of sales being driven higher. And of course that flows through to margins and earnings.

Cameco is simply saying that current uranium spot prices–even at recent lows–are significantly higher than its production costs. When it actively buys uranium, the cost of its inventory goes up; its cost of sales rises and depresses profit margins.

Cameco wouldn’t be making these purchases if it felt uranium prices had more downside. The company is essentially speculating that the price of uranium is likely to rise from current levels.

Because Cameco knows a lot more about the uranium market and has more perfect information than I or any other analyst does, I prefer to bet with the company. In other words, if Cameco is buying uranium, you should consider following its lead.

Another interesting comment from the company’s call relates to the source of uranium demand. Consider the following:

…I believe that about half of the purchases [of uranium in the spot market] that have taken place have been made by utilities…a good portion of that would have to be attributed to the Chinese. And in their case, they’re certainly looking to stockpile significant quantities of inventory for the Chinese program.

It seems that the Chinese utilities are also convinced uranium prices have bottomed and are likely to head higher. The Chinese have been extremely smart and strategic when it comes to locking up natural resource supplies they know they’ll need in coming years. It’s not a bad idea to follow China’s lead into uranium.
Excerpt from http://www.petroleumworld.com/sf09051601.htm