nuclear-news

Uranium Recovery Postponed as Price Drops to 2-Year Low Bloomberg, By Christopher Donville – Sep 19, 2012  Uranium’s recovery from the Fukushima nuclear accident may take one or two years longer than analysts estimated as stockpiles in Japan  and Germany  keep prices low and cause mining companies to defer new development.

The price of uranium for immediate delivery declined to $47 a pound as of Sept. 17, its lowest in two years, according to Ux Consulting, a Roswell, Georgia-based uranium information provider.BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) and Paladin Energy Ltd. (PDN) have slowed or deferred development this year of some projects to produce the raw material in nuclear reactor fuel……

BHP, the world’s largest mining company, last month put on hold an expansion that would make its Olympic Dam project in Australia  the biggest uranium mine.

Cameco Corp. (CCO), the world’s third-largest producer, said in July that its Kintyre uranium project in Australia would need a $67 uranium price to be economical. The company sold uranium for $42 a pound during the second quarter..

… Paladin, an Australian company that mines uranium in Africa , is delaying a feasibility study on phase four of its Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia , the company said on a conference call in May….Dustin Garrow, Paladin’s executive general manager of marketing.: “You’d have to see $85 uranium on a sustained basis to justify construction of new mines ..”