A majority in the Danish parliament is prepared for the first time to repeal Denmark’s so-called zero-tolerance policy on the radioactive metal, according to media reports.

The world’s fifth largest uranium deposit, Kvanefjeld, is situated in the south of Greenland and if the Danish self-ruled territory makes a formal request to exploit it, Denmark could become one of the biggest exporters of the radioactive metal.

Uranium is created as a byproduct when extracting many valuable and strategically important metals used in for example mobile phones. Uranium is also used for nuclear power and atomic bombs.

Because of the security political significance, Greenland will have to ask Denmark for permission before the zero-tolerance policy can be repealed.

“We have to approach this positively. We would be caught in a very weird Danish role if we block Greenland’s wish,” foreign policy spokesperson Rasmus Helveg Petersen from the Social Liberals, one of the parties constituting the Danish government, told the newspaper Politiken.

New report to be published

Greenland, a former Danish colony, was granted home rule in 1979. Thirty years later, Greenland assumed self-determination with responsibility for judicial affairs, police, and natural resources, but the Danish government is still in charge of foreign affairs, financial policy and security.

In spring, a report by the Greenlandic Directory for Raw Materials on uranium’s effect on the environment and public health will be published. If the report doesn’t point to major issues, there is likely to be a majority in Greenland’s parliament for extracting uranium.

“We support uranium mines as long as these are handled in a proper way and in collaboration with Denmark,” said Greenland’s Deputy Prime Minister Jens Frederiksen, a member of the Democratic Party.

“If everybody else can sell uranium, then we might as well. There’s a lot of money in it,” he said.

[More on a failing uranium industrycan be found here https://nuclear-news.net/2013/01/29/petition-to-save-nuclear-news-net-and-antinuclearnews-net/ ]

Meanwhile, Greenland’s Prime Minister Kuupik Kleist said his party Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) wants a public debate in Greenland on uranium first.

“Until there is a good reason for repealing the zero-tolerance policy, we will keep our zero-tolerance policy,” Kleist said.

U-turn on uranium

Uranium is a toxic and radioactive metal and uranium exposure can affect a person’s kidney, brain, liver and heart. Many studies have also found workers working with uranium in mines to have a higher risk of developing lung cancer.

The main use of uranium in the civilian sector is to fuel nuclear power plants and its large-scale exploitation could potentially change Denmark’s position on the international stage.

“This is a huge turning point in the kingdom’s foreign policy,” said uranium expert Cindy Vestergaard from the Danish Institute for International Studies.

“If the zero-tolerance policy is being repealed, Denmark will become part of the world’s atom circuit which is one of the most powerful voices in the nuclear field.”

Hypocrites

Mads Flarup Christensen, the general-secretary of Greenpeace Nordic, said that if Greenland started exporting uranium, it would be “the height of hypocrisy.”

“We have been against reprocessing nuclear waste, and we fought to get Barsebäck [a Swedish nuclear power plant situated close to Copenhagen] closed and pay a lot of money to get reactors in Eastern Europe closed, so if we at the same time allow extraction of uranium in Greenland, it’s deeply hypocritical,” Christensen told the daily Berlingske Tidende.

Denmark has been known for many years as one of the world’s most environmentally conscious countries. The Scandinavian country was the first to implement an environmental law in 1973, and wind energy today counts for 25% of the energy supply.

The government also aims to make the capital Copenhagen carbon neutral by 2025, with the whole country set to follow by 2050.

Christensen added that Denmark had a “misunderstood fear” when it comes to Greenland. “Of course we have to respect Greenland’s home rule law which says we are in charge of foreign and security matters and they are in charge of raw materials. The problem is that this issue lies in both camps,” the Greenpeace general-secretary said.

“At a minimum we could say that ‘this is Greenland’s decision, but that we think it’s a bad idea’. Because it is definitely a bad idea,” Christensen stated.

Greenland going alone

In December, Greenland passed a bill setting the framework for foreign mining and exploration companies to start exploiting Greenland’s natural resources. It included plans to open up the country to foreign labour, including workers from China.

The legislation defines the size of large-scale projects and regulates the minimum salary of foreign workers. It has been criticised for allowing companies to employ cheap foreign workers, at the expense of local employment.

Despite having passed a law against social dumping in Denmark two months ago, the Danish government is backing the Greenlandic law.

Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Kleist said he had rejected requests from the European Union to block access to its deposits of rare earths, strategically important metals in which China has a near monopoly.

http://www.euractiv.com/specialreport-rawmaterials/turn-denmark-ready-uranium-adven-news-517403

Dodgy goings on in the Stock exchanges? .. Uranium prices updated

Uranium spot prices rise on flurry of buying activity: analysts

Washington (Platts)–29Jan2013/243 pm EST/1943 GMT

Uranium price publishers TradeTech and Ux Consulting increased their weekly spot prices for uranium to $43.75/pound U3O8 and $44/lb, respectively, due primarily to purchases last week by Deutsche Bank, market sources said.

TradeTech’s price Friday was up $1.25 from its previous weekly price, and UxC’s price Monday was up by $1.50. Analysts said Tuesday they expect U3O8 spot prices to soften during the next few days, noting that prices have retreated since Friday when there were several transactions at above $44/lb. Buyers “backed away from the market” late in the day, UxC said. This followed offers Friday by Goldman Sachs to sell U3O8, a source said.

Deutsche Bank’s purchases got the attention of uranium market participants because of the perception that the bank “looks at uranium as a long-term play,” one source said. “When people see “Deutsche Bank is buying material…, this sends a signal that [the bank] feels in the longer term the price of this commodity will go up,” the source said.

Overall, there were nine transactions totaling nearly 1 million lb U3O8 last week, TradeTech reported and 10 transactions totaling about 1.1 million lb, UxC reported. Deutsche Bank’s purchases last week were 300,000 to 500,000 lbs. U3O8, a source said.

Both of the uranium reporting services said prices were buoyed by buyers reacting to reports of political unrest in the West African nation of Mali, raising security concerns about uranium production in nearby Niger–the world’s fourth-largest producer. “[S]uppliers have been reticent to sell, creating a situation where the market has traded up as material was being placed in the market at successively higher prices,” UxC said.

In addition, TradeTech said “others believe buyers are acquiring material in order to cover previous delivery commitment or in anticipation of upcoming mid-term opportunities.” It said that a non-US utility, which it did not identify, “is seeking approximately 2.2 million pounds U3O8 equivalent for delivery between 2014 and 2020.”

The Platts NuclearFuel range for the week is $42.50-$46/lb.

UxC reported that its Broker Average Price, or BAP, was $44.06 Monday, unchanged from Friday. UxC said the BAP is a calculated average mid-point of bid and offer prices as supplied to UxC by Evolution Markets and Armajaro Securities Ltd.

http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/ElectricPower/6089722

“…I have looked at the numbers for all the big public miners and the average cost to run the businesses is about $106/lb. So at $40/lb they are losing about $66 on every pound they sell. You can’t make that up without the price going up. So, yes, I think we are going to see the price come up. I absolutely think that we’ve seen the bottom. I think $80/lb is not unreasonable and $100+/lb is more likely….”

“…One company I was concerned about was Paladin Energy Ltd. (PDN:TSX; PDN:ASX). I told my readers that they should be very careful. It has some great assets and a long-term supply contract with one of the French utilities, but it’s experienced some problems turning a profit. So going back to acquisitions, it might make sense for a big mining company to take over Paladin. It has a lot of debt. It’s a $712 million ($712M) market value with $830M in debt. In addition, the company has $125M of convertible bonds coming due in two months, which will lead to converting up to 147M shares. That’s a big dilution. This might be something for readers to look at down the road after these bonds convert. If the share price sinks below a significant point where the dilution’s not going to hurt quite as badly, that could be a possibility. It may be that Paladin is worth a flyer for its assets after the dilution happens….”

TER: Any final advice for energy investors?

MB: I’m pretty excited about the developments that are going to happen, but you have to be careful….”