July 01, 2008
Canada Day Edition : Spot price rises!
Publisher: U3O8.biz
Author: Luke Brocki
--------------------------------------------------
The TSX was dead to the world on Tuesday as Canada celebrated 141 years as a
country, but surprisingly, spot uranium prices stirred from their slumber
for the first time in 2008. Price publisher Tradetech raised its spot
estimate US$1 to US$58, after reporting that market momentum appears to be
shifting. Rival price publisher Ux Consulting followed suit a few days
later, raising its price US$2 to US$59 a pound U3O8.
Tradetech reported six transactions in the spot uranium market last week,
with everyone from traders and investors to producers and utilities looking
to buy the metal. When this coupled with a decline of aggressive sellers
looking to unload the metal, a recipe for higher prices was born.
Tradetech also reported that while demand remains discretionary, new buyers
have emerged in the market and their arrival has caused savvy sellers to
increase prices of the metal. Let's wait for supply and demand dynamics to
do their thing here; it's just a matter of time before the gap between
willing buyers and willing sellers stops looking unbridgeable.
Canadian uranium giant Cameco Corp is in the papers again, and this time,
it's good news. In fact, the miner saw its biggest stock jump of
2008 to date on Tuesday, gaining $3.10, or 7.6 per cent, to close Monday at
C$43.80 amid a flurry of positive sentiment. This included, of course,
uranium's aforementioned first spot price jump of the year, which
interrupted a seven-month drop during which the metal lost more than a third
of its value.
Denison Mines Corp also continued its phenomenal run on the TSX on Monday,
climbing 39 cents, or 5.6 per cent, to C$8.91 on the company's sixth
straight day of higher closes; Denison is up nearly two dollars since a June
20 low of C$6.97.
But Cameco had more to report, including news that it's gearing up to pump
water out of its flooded Cigar Lake mine this week. The StarPhoenix
newspaper reported the process is expected to take several months, but
Cameco has already received approval from the Canadian Nuclear Safety
Commission and several Saskatchewan ministries to de-water the flooded
uranium mine.
Cameco will again appear before the safety commission in September, when it
will apply for a second mine shaft and other improvements at the Cigar Lake
project, which has yet to produce any uranium despite being widely regarded
as one of the richest uranium mines in the world; it has been flooded since
October 2006, after construction activities triggered a rock fall. Cameco
plans to start production at the mine in 2011.
And, striking while the iron is hot, Cameco CEO Jerry Grandey is calling on
Ottawa to Ottawa to show leadership regarding nuclear power, if it's to help
Canada reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Grandey told the Globe and Mail
newspaper the federal government must do more to encourage new nuclear
construction in the country, or risk falling behind other nations more
receptive to nuclear activities, in particular the United States, which has
recently been praised by pundits for its friendly uranium policies, loan
guarantees, and simple permitting processes.
However, the grass is always greener in the neighbour's yard, and the United
States has nuclear troubles of its own. According to a recent report,
current US policies are still not sufficient to give nuclear power a leading
role in climate protection.
According to data from the US Energy Information Administration's Annual
Energy Outlook 2008, current policies promote a 15-per-cent rise in nuclear
power capacity by 2030, but overall American energy use is expected to grow
by 19 per cent.
It's clear that if nuclear power is to wean us off our oil addiction, its
projected growth rates cannot remain flat. Analysts now hope the recent jump
in spot uranium prices will reignite some much-needed nuclear discussions
among governments and regulators.
http://www.u3o8.biz/s/...y&_Title=Canada-Day-Edition-Spot-price-rises
|
Thread abonnieren
ETF-Sparplan