News
Issue No. 36 - August/September 2007
Two year call for u-mining framework
Reduced political opposition to uranium mining should not be taken to be a starting gun in the race to get new mines up and running, the recent Paydirt Australian Uranium Conference in Adelaide was told.
Warwick Grigor, MD of mining investment analyst house Far East Capital expects compliance will be much more rigorous than for conventional gold and base metals mines.
“It is also likely that there will be a strong political influence throughout the development of any new uranium mine in Australia, and conventional feasibility economics will not be sufficient alone,” Warwick says, in a call for a uranium index to be established on the ASX.
“We are currently approaching 100 listed companies claiming to be uranium vehicles but there is no formal index within which these can be managed,” Warwick says.
“Ideally, we need an index and it needs to be broken into specific categories of existing producers, potential producers, advanced explorers and grass roots explorers.
“There are remarkably few uranium producers listed, not just on the ASX but any exchange worldwide, as 70% of current supply comes from just 10-15 companies.
“For all the enthusiasm in the sector, our Australian producer listings are confined to BHPB, ERA and Palladin Resources.
“The potential producer category is of more value as it offers sharetrading profit potential and can host companies that have some sort of uranium resource able to be exploited over ...
