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Regular
Join Date: 03-29-05
Location: Australia
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Estimated Recoverable Resources* of Uranium
*tonnes & percentage of world
Australia 889,000 27%
Kazakhstan 558,000 17%
Canada 511,000 15%
South Africa 334,000 11%
Namibia 256,000 8%
Brazil 232,000 7%
Russian Fed. 157,000 5%
USA 125,000 4%
Uzbekistan 125,000 4%
World total 3,340,000
"Although known to exist in Australia since the 1890s, uranium was first discovered at Mount Painter in the Flinders Ranges in the early 1900s. It was not until the 1930s that uranium ore was mined at Radium Hill in South Australia. The radium extracted from the uranium ore was used for medical purposes. The first major producer of uranium in Australia operated from 1954 - 1971. It was the Government-owned Rum Jungle project, in the Northern Territory.In 1958, mining started at Mary Kathleen in Queensland.
After much exploration, discoveries of uranium were also made at Nabarlek, Ranger, Jabiluka and Koongarra in the Northern Territory, Yeelirrie and Kintyre in Western Australia, Olympic Dam, Beverley and Honeymoon in South Australia and Ben Lomond and Westmoreland in Queensland.
Most of Australia's known uranium reserves are in South Australia. In fact, Olympic Dam is the world's largest known uranium resource."
Summary of in situ resources* available in operating and prospective Australian uranium mines
*Deposit- Ore/Resources, Grade U3O8, Contained U3O8, Category
Olympic Dam- 606 Mt, 0.05% 315,800 t Proved & Probable Reserves
1150 Mt, 0.04% 460,000 t Indicated Resources
Ranger- 22.0 Mt, 0.19-0.29% 57,000 t Proved & Probable Reserves
Jabiluka- 13.8 Mt, 0.51% 71,000 t Proved & Probable Reserves
Beverley- not available, 0.18% 21,000 t Resources
Honeymoon- not available, 0.15% 6,800 t Resources
Billaroo West- not available, 0.12% 17,600 t Resources
Koongarra- not available, 0.8% 14,540 t Proved & Probable Reserves
Kintyre- not available, 0.2-0.4% 35,000 t Reserves & resources
Yeelirrie- 35 Mt, 0.15% 52,000 t Indicated Resources
*Some policy info*
Quote:
Safeguards to Prevent Military Use
"Among uranium exporting countries Australia has some of the strictest conditions relating to the use of its uranium. These safeguards (inspections and accounting procedures) ensure that uranium exported from Australia is used for peaceful purposes only and is not diverted for military purposes or used in a way which adds to the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Agreements to this effect between the Australian Government and each country wishing to import Australian uranium are therefore necessary before sales contracts can be completed. Such agreements are in addition to the application of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards arrangements administered under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Australia has in force 17 bilateral nuclear safeguards agreements covering 27 countries - Argentina, Canada, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Hungary, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Philippines, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, USA and EURATOM (including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain in addition); and Taiwan.
The safeguards required under these bilateral agreements with Australia are additional to those under the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Among other things they permit the reprocessing of used fuel only as part of a recipient country's nuclear energy program that has already been approved by Australia. Any reprocessing must be done under IAEA safeguards. The further transfer of nuclear material is only permitted to countries which have bilateral safeguards agreements with Australia."
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More for u all to digest..
Quote:
Friday March 18, 2005, 7:54 pm
Australian Uranium Miners Set For China Export Deal
By Stephen Bell and Veronica Brooks Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
PERTH (Dow Jones)--In a move that could provide energy-hungry China with access to the world's biggest uranium reserves, Australian and Chinese diplomats are trying to hammer out a bilateral nuclear trade deal.
Officials in Canberra believe an agreement could be thrashed out inside 12 months, allowing Australian uranium exports to Asia's biggest consumer of energy to start much sooner than previously thought.
Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said this week he is confident his government can strike a pact with China, throwing open a potentially huge market for the likes of mining heavyweight Rio Tinto Plc. (RTP) and takeover target WMC Resources Ltd. (WMR.AU).
"If China opens up for Australia, that will bolster uranium exports as well as global prices," said Minerals Council of Australia chief executive Mitch Hooke.
China aims to boost nuclear power development to meet the country's surging demand for electricity. The issue has become more urgent as the energy-hungry eastern provinces suffer increasingly severe power shortages.
The country currently operates nine nuclear power plants with a total rating of 7,000 megawatts, about 1.8% of the country's total power generating capacity. According to government plans, 32 new 1,000 megawatt reactors are expected to be brought on line by 2020.
Uranium would diversify Australia's energy exports to China, which consist mostly of thermal coal used in power stations. From late next year China will also begin importing Australian liquefied natural gas as an alternative fuel.
A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman said a bilateral safeguards agreement with China could be finalized in three to five months but realistically it will probably take about a year.
He noted there is no urgency on China's part, as Beijing is looking to secure long-term supplies of uranium, a fuel that has doubled in price over the past year.
Global Uranium Shortfall Set To Widen
Although second to Canada in production, Australia has the biggest reserves of uranium and is close to the rapidly expanding Asian market.
But because of Canberra's tight control over the supply chain, export earnings from uranium are a fairly modest A$360 million a year. This is dwarfed by the billions of dollars the economy draws from gas and coal customers abroad.
Ian Hore-Lacy, manager of the Melbourne-based Uranium Information Center, said that it "makes sense" for uranium-rich Australia to pursue a trade deal with China, where nuclear power is growing.
"There is no reason that a bilateral agreement with China can't proceed, though Australia needs to have the ability to audit where the uranium goes - to see that it is not used for military purposes," he said.
There is already a "broad" international framework in place, in that Australia and China are both members of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty that came into force in 1970, he said.
And Australia already has bilateral uranium export deals with more than 20 countries, including France, the U.K. and the U.S., he noted.
Nuclear power produces no greenhouse gases, which has prompted some countries to consider uranium as an alternative to fossil fuels such as coal and oil.
The renewed demand, along with falling stockpiles of former weapons material, has caused a shortage of supplies.
WMC chief executive Andrew Michelmore told a recent seminar that current global uranium production meets only 58% of demand, with the shortfall made up largely from shrinking stockpiles.
The shortfall is expected to run at 51 million pounds a year on average from next year to 2020. Uranium prices have doubled in the last year to over US$20/lb and are forecast to settle at US$25-30/lb in the longer term, he said.
"A uranium supply squeeze is looming and the market is set to remain tight as nuclear power programs expand," Michelmore said.
"Japan is planning 16 new plants, with India and China building another seventeen. This will come on top of the global supply shortfall facing the current 438 reactors," he said.
The resultant uranium price boom has fired up the share price of several Australian companies, including WMC, which has agreed to a A$9.2 billion (US$7.3 billion) friendly bid from BHP Billiton (BHP).
BHP's timing could be perfect as WMC - which holds 38% of the world's known uranium resources at its Olympic Dam mine - plans to treble uranium production just as a China export deal beckons.
China is trying to join that list, with China International Trust & Investment Corp. (CI.YY) having visited Olympic Dam before Christmas as WMC fought a hostile takeover bid by Xstrata Plc.
At the time, CITIC was looking at taking a stake in Olympic Dam or WMC, people familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires.
"We believe there is significant interest in China in purchasing Olympic Dam uranium," said WMC corporate affairs manager Richard Yeeles.
"Olympic Dam is seen as a long-term supply option because of the very long life of the mine."
Melbourne-based WMC also held talks with French uranium group Areva (427583.FR) before BHP showed its hand earlier this month and trumped Xstrata.
Olympic Dam is Australia's second largest uranium producer. The biggest is Ranger, owned by Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. (ERA.AU), a unit of Rio Tinto.
ERA declined to comment on whether it is looking at exporting uranium to China, following the developments in Canberra.
But Ranger's production, which is due to run out around 2012, is mostly tied up in long-term contracts with customers in Japan, South Korea, the U.S. and Europe, a person familiar with the situation said.
Any future sales into China would likely come from ERA's Jabiluka deposit, 22 kilometers north of Ranger, which began development in 1998 but stalled because of disputes with traditional owners.
Following a deal unveiled last month, ERA needs to secure the consent of the Mirra Gundjeihmi Aboriginal people before Jabiluka - regarded as one of the world's richest uranium deposits - can be developed.
The next official talks between ERA and the traditional owners are not due until mid-2006.
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