falls schon einmal gepostet,hab zwar nicht gesehen das es hier schon einmal stand....seis drum ;-)
Uranium spot prices steady
Snapshot: CCO DML EQN FSY LAM PDN STM U URE UUU
Uranium spot prices steady
Monday, February 18, 2008
By Luke Brocki
Steady demand for the radioactive metal a good sign in a down market.
Uranium seems to have finally found a low. The metal's recent dismal performance in the spot market is over and its spot price is stable. Both industry indicators?Ux Consulting and Tradetech?were unchanged this week at US$75 a pound U3O8, with long-term prices sitting at US$95 a pound.
According to Tradetech, while some sellers remain in the market, the aggressive sellers have left the playing field and no more cheap uranium is expected to be sold. If this is indeed a low, the cycle will begin again. Is $75 a good price for a pound of uranium these days? Some buyers think so: Tradetech reported a couple of hedge funds are browsing with intent to buy at current levels.
It's encouraging that the price of uranium is holding steady given the instability of North American markets. Commodities stocks are having a particularly tough time holding their ground amid panic that a U.S. recession is just around the corner.
Many analysts now feel the probability of a recession is high, given that American credit remains shot after last year's sub-prime fiasco and weak sales and jobs reports continue to plague the country's economy. And, of course, given the trade relations between Canada and the US, those fears don't stop at the border.
But while major indices like the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 struggle to stay out of the red, uranium's new composite index is looking sharp.
The World Nuclear Association's composite Nuclear Energy Index, which tracks the movements of 66 chosen companies with a total market capitalization of $1,248.36 billion, was worth US$3,595.89 come about 1pm PST on Sunday, having gained $9.92, or 0.28 per cent, on foreign exchanges since Friday's close on the NYSE. (For comparison, the index was worth US$3,580.17 on Thursday evening.)
On the news front, it was interesting to see the company that put a rollercoaster in Canada's largest shopping mall is now looking to enter Saskatchewan's resource sector as a uranium player.
Triple Five Energy, a division of the Ghermezian's Triple Five Worldwide Organization, best known for its massive West Edmonton Mall, plans to explore and develop what is allegedly Saskatchewan's largest uranium discovery on English River First Nation's territory in that province.
The company signed agreements with seven Saskatchewan First Nations Thursday for the development of oil, gas and uranium. This latest major investment in Saskatchewan confirms feelings that Alberta is no longer the only "have" province in Canada.
Uranium company newsrooms were quiet this week, save for a blunder by Australian explorer Marathon Resources, which continues to cost the company dearly months after it happened.
Australia's Department of Primary Industries and the Environmental Protection Authority started investigations of Marathon last December, when bags of drilling samples were found buried just below the surface at an outback wilderness site.
Authorities agreed disposal of waste at the site was a significant breach of the company's exploration license, which, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, has since been suspended by the South Australian government until Marathon cleans up the site.
Marathon doesn't trade on the TSX, but its stock has been on a steady decline on the Australian exchange since sitting above AU$6 before last summer's price correction. When the news broke Tuesday, the company dropped another 24 cents, or 16.9 per cent, to AU$1.18.
Come Sunday afternoon, Marathon stock had rebounded to AU$1.30, but its troubles serve as a stern reminder that there's no room for cutting corners in the uranium industry, especially given increasingly scrutinizing stares from environmentalists worldwide.
Elsewhere, Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO, Bullboard), having skirted another takeover bid by BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP, Bullboard), announced record annual results and said it plans to double its annual uranium production by 2015. The company made about $7.3 billion in net earnings in 2007, having produced 7171 tonnes of uranium. Rio is already the world's second largest uranium producer and claims to double output would have it leap well clear of current leader Cameco's (NYSE: CCJ, Bullboard)/ (TSX:T.CCO, Bullboard) production rate of 8250 tonnes of uranium per year.
But Cameco also plans to increase capacity, as does Kazakh giant KazAtomProm. Both companies are planning extensive and expensive expansion projects. One can only wonder if the system will absorb the extra supply without crippling effects on the metal's recovering spot price.
And finally, in another chapter of Iran's nuclear saga, that country's new centrifuges have started processing trace quantities of a gas used to make the core of nuclear warheads, allegedly in a standard effort to test the new machines.
Confirmation of the new centrifuges came last week from diplomats with the International Atomic Energy Agency, who are investigating Iran's nuclear program.
A spokesman from Iran's foreign ministry told the press Iran provided the UN nuclear watchdog all information it requested on the new generation of centrifuges.
Iran remains under sanctions from the United Nations Security Council for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment, which it began years ago in a secret program. The West suspects Iran wants to make nuclear weapons, but the latter systematically denies it. Furthermore, Iran remains defiant, ignoring sanctions and saying it has the right to develop civil nuclear technology for power generation.
About the Author
Luke Brocki is the managing editor of uranium news site U3O8.biz. He's an award-winning, Vancouver-based journalist with an academic background in the natural sciences. He splits his time between U3O8.biz, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and freelance writing projects.
U3O8.biz - offers uranium investors and the industry comprehensive news, views and commentary on all aspects of the uranium business including information on the industry's leading companies, players, news and events.
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