The mining supercycle and its demise

A world breakthrough in extracting uranium from hyper saline water - previously not possible with conventional technology - has been announced in South Australia by uranium developer, UraniumSA.  Addressing the first day in Adelaide of the Paydirt 2011 Uranium Conference, earlier this qweek, UraniumSA’s Managing Director, Russel Bluck, said the breakthrough had been achieved after collaborative metallurgical research with international and Australian suppliers of the special chemicals used to help extract uranium.

Professor Barry Brook, chairman of the Sir Hubert Wilkins Chair of Climate Change at the University of Adelaide, told the final day of the Paydirt 2011 Uranium Conference in Adelaide that change in supply dynamics would require a large-scale but prudent expansion of nuclear energy infrastructure.

Cameco Corp (CCO.TSX) remains confident that the long-term outlook for uranium is solid despite global anxiety over radiation from an earthquake-crippled nuclear plant in Japan, Chief Executive Jerry Grandey said on Monday. Speaking to Reuters in an exclusive interview at the Mining and Steel Summit, Grandey said that while the so-called nuclear renaissance will be slowed by the crisis in Japan, more uranium will be needed in the next few years to fuel reactors already online and under construction.

The East African reports that the Russian state-owned nuclear energy firm JSC Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ) is shelving a plan to acquire the $1.16 billion Mkuju Uranium assets in Southern Tanzania over the recent Japanese nuclear plant crisis. The move comes a month after the Russian firm obtained a take-over approval from the government of Tanzania under the Fair Competition Act 2003. The Tanzanian government had said that it would start higher grade uranium mining in early 2012 at Mkuju River following the completion of the feasibility study and the approval of environmental impact assessment of the area.

As Japanese workers and scientists battle to prevent a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima plant, most Nunavut residents who showed up to a public forum Thursday night rejected the spectre of uranium mining in the northern Canadian territory. Many Nunavummiut who attended a uranium forum Thursday night said they do not want uranium mining in Nunavut, while some even attacked the territory's Inuit group for supporting uranium development.

Canadian gold and uranium producer First Uranium Corp (FIU.TO) said on Friday it has resumed underground operations at its Ezulwini gold mine in South Africa. A temporary work stoppage instruction was issued on March 12 by the South African Department of Mineral Resources, pending investigations after a worker died in fall of ground.

As Japan teeters on the brink of a disaster at its Fukushima DaiIchi nuclear power plant, Cameco chief Jerry Grandey suggests the […]

While the jury remains out on exactly what went wrong at certain tsunami-and earthquake-impacted nuclear power reactors in Japan, investors took decisive action on Monday, selling down listed uranium stocks by up to a third. Smaller stocks were especially punished. During Australian trade, Pitchstone Exploration was sold down by 32% on the day. The world's biggest listed uranium producer, Canada's Cameco, fell 12.7% to close at $31.70.

Australian uranium counters took a substantial hit on Monday in the wake of the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in […]