Uranium Production Cost Study – 2013 – VERY DIRE!!

“….one of the challenges will be for the supply side of the industry to expand and bring new production to a market still recovering……”

Pinning Down Production Costs

http://www.uxc.com/products/rpt_upcs.aspx

Given the move toward cleaner energy, reduced carbon emissions, and more secure long-term energy sources, uranium supply is becoming more important to utilities worldwide. Currently, in our post-Fukushima demand case, uranium demand is still projected to nearly double by 2030, mainly due to increased demand from Southeast Asia – China in particular.

With the U.S.-Russia HEU Agreement coming to an end this year, resulting in the elimination of 24 million pounds U3O8 per year from the market, and other secondary supplies and mine reserves being depleted, there is much greater emphasis on primary production today than ever before. It has only been until recently that uranium exploration has experienced a revival, but even this is being threatened in the post-Fukushima environment as many suppliers now find it much more difficult to obtain the required financing to bring new projects into production.

As a result, the current menu of worldwide projects is not all that exhaustive due to the fact that most of the recent exploration has been on brownfield sites that were discovered 20, 30, or even 40 years ago.

Although uranium resources are extensive, the vast majority of these are neither delineated nor developed.

As the nuclear industry transforms itself into a safer and robust industry, one of the challenges will be for the supply side of the industry to expand and bring new production to a market still recovering.

September 10, 2013 - Posted by arclight2011part2 | Uncategorized