URANIUM & ALTERNATIVE ENERGY 2

[SAGI]

Good move! Best move I made was all-out of the miners a year and a half ago.

I think that when I sold the price was very similar to today's for some of these pigs:

AUY 12.57 -0.05 -0.40%

And gold is at an all-time high?

I cannot argue with either one of you on both your points as you are correct. I agree that both gold and Uranium stocks have not done well. Gold and silver have outdone their stocks. Uranium is an anomaly because it is not really traded on the free markets so the only way to trade is through the stocks. This is where Uranium differs as a commodity to Gold and Silver. While Gold and Silver can be purchased on the common market there is that advantage, Uranium in reality cannot though there is a kind of ETF through which one can invest in the metal . Uranium due to its nature is not worthwhile as a hedge against inflation and its use is simply as an alternative energy. However energy is a constant requirement and cannot be replaced once used. I know its an age old argument. Like oil we use it and cannot be replaced or renewed as coal cannot similarly, the difference is the Uranium deposits are not massive in comparison to the former two. Yet the fuel is more efficient and cleaner than either. As a future replacement to coal it looks likely. Hence the stocks have good potential. While presently these stocks are far below their 2007 highs, since then they provide better value than ever before because these companies have garnered bigger deposits and added good value while the price of the underlying stocks has dropped. Apart from that many of the producers have merged and overall provided a greater capacity to develop their deposits. Politics plays a major part on the down side. Fukushima type incidents do not help either. Every commodity has a bubble. Uranium deflated in 2007/2008 like many others and has not recovered significantly. However as the fundamentals become stronger it is likely that this bubble is ready to inflate. I think we will see significant upside in the coming 5 years. Its been a long time coming. Often stocks have other valuables such as MAW.TO which has gold potential, or GGG.AX which has rare earths as well as Uranium or others that have silver and Uranium. I do not advocate a pure portfolio of Uranium, hence it plays a part in the portfolio. Gold and Silver's price has been moving up significantly in the last six months, but the underlying stocks as you stated have not moved significantly, could that be because the stocks moved up far before gold or is it because investors have lost faith in the paper? While the US does not increase interest rates the price of gold going up plays right into the hands of the US government as it makes it more unavailable to private hands and effectively the same result as the law that did not allow US citizens to hold gold. Gold price moving up shows the increase in fiat currency and at the same time may also indicate the decline in confidence in holding fiat currency. going back to Uranium do countries have an alternative to uranium? Sure they do provided they ignore pollution or some radical research shows that carbon increase in the atmosphere is actually helping the planet. That would be the death of Uranium. Aside from such, it would be difficult to argue that the stocks are not worth while investing for the longer term NOW and in the future. As the price for gold increases the demand eventually will wean as it goes beyond comfort of investment especially for the generation that saw prices of 250 dollars. This may not be the case for the next generation that may grow up with the new higher prices and accept this as the norm. It is human nature we must study to understand the desire to buy or sell stocks not the commodity or the stocks.

SAGI

[SAGI]

Panic in mining over Epangelo
By: JO-MARÉ DUDDY
NAMIBIA has “shot itself in the foot� by announcing that Government now has exclusive exploration and mining rights of all the country’s strategic minerals through its state-owned Epangelo Mining Company.
Mines and Energy Minister Isak Katali’s statement in Parliament last Wednesday that Cabinet has declared uranium, copper, gold, zinc and coal as strategic minerals of which Epangelo holds the exclusive exploration and mining rights, is rocking the international investor boat.
Concerned investors, busy with mega-deals locally, have spoken to The Namibian on condition of anonymity from as far as London, expressing their concern and confusion about the announcement. Epangelo, with a budget of only N$5 million for the current financial year, simply doesn’t have the capacity to exercise these rights, they claim.
Approached for comment yesterday, Katali said there should be no confusion.
“Epangelo will have the exclusive exploration and mining rights, all 100 per cent of it, of all these strategic minerals,� he said.
Investors interested in these sectors will have to approach Epangelo to become partners in exploration and mining ventures of this nature, he said.
Katali said Government is aware that with such a small budget, Epangelo has capacity constraints. That is where partners will fit in.
Investors will have to negotiate with Epangelo for a share of the interest in ventures, Katali said. He didn’t want to elaborate on how big a shareholding they will be entitled to, but indicated that Epangelo will be the majority shareholder.
When he announced Cabinet’s decision last week, he said “so that the Namibian citizen can fully reap the benefits arising from the rich endowment of our mineral resources�.
While sources who The Namibian spoke to were afraid to comment on record, world-renowned mining analyst, David Hargreaves, however, didn’t mince his words.
In the latest international newsletter, Hargreaves: The Week in Mining, he said: “Just as you give a nation a clean bill of health, it goes on a foot-shooting spree.�
Recapping Katali’s parliamentary statement, Hargreaves said: “Will Africa ever learn?�
Mining last year contributed about 15 per cent to Namibia’s gross domestic product and its export earnings were more than half Namibia’s total export revenue. Namibia recently retained its position as the fourth biggest uranium producer in the world.
Katali last week said his Ministry’s priority this year will be to finalise the Minerals Bill and minerals policy to allow Epangelo “to fully participate in the exploration and mineral development� in the country.

[SAGI]

MARKETPLACE NEWS
29.04.2011
Mines Chamber wants answers from Katali
By: JO-MARÉ DUDDY

MINES and Energy Minister Isak Katali yesterday confirmed that he has received the Namibia Chamber of Mines’ written concerns about state-owned Epangelo Mining Company getting exclusive exploration and mining rights of uranium, copper, gold, zinc and coal.
The minister is expected to give feedback at a press conference as soon as possible.
“I just got their concerns and will see during the day if we will be able to attend to them and prepare for the press conference,” Katali told The Namibian.
Chamber of Mines general manager Veston Malongo on Wednesday said Cabinet’s approval of a proposal to grant exclusive rights to Epangelo is worrisome.
“We are certainly concerned,” Malango said on Wednesday at the launch of the upcoming Mining Expo.
“We have had a meeting with the minister this morning [Wednesday] seeking clarification, and he asked us to put our concerns in writing,” he said. In a broad-based state of the nation speech delivered to Parliament on Wednesday, President Hifikepunye Pohamba said the law was meant “to ensure that strategic minerals are exploited with the participation of the public sector”.
“It is for this reason that Epangelo Mining company was established as a vehicle for public ownership in the mining sector. I appeal to ... Parliament to speedily pass the envisaged legislation, once it is tabled later this year,” Pohamba said.
Epangelo chief executive Eliphas Hawala told Reuters the state company planned to enter into joint ventures with parties interested in exploration and mining.
“All mining rights in Namibia are vested in the state, including those currently being mined by private companies,” Hawala said.
“The issue is how these rights are controlled through licences. The timeline involved is the prerogative of the state, also depending on consultations with all relevant stakeholders,” he added. – Additional reporting by Nampa-Reuters

[SAGI]

April 28, 2011 12:35 ET

Paladin Energy Ltd.-Langer Heinrich to Be Unaffected by Reported Changes to Namibian Minerals Policy

PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA--(Marketwire - April 28, 2011) -Paladin Energy Ltd. (TSX:PDN)(ASX:PDN) ("Paladin" or the "Company") notes recent market commentary regarding statements made in Namibia concerning the involvement of the state owned mining company Epangelo Mining (Pty) Ltd on specific strategic minerals including uranium.

Paladin wishes to advise that, following discussions with the Government of Namibia, it is our understanding that the equity position and operations of Langer Heinrich will remain unaffected.

The Company will advise the market if and when additional information comes to hand.

[SAGI]

Fundamentals appear to be positive for uranium i would agree. What i am talking about is the characteristic of the uranium shares themselves. If you look back on prior bull markets you will see that once they have a monster runup into a major peak they don't come bakc for a long time. Here they differ from gold and silver shares. You still have numerous opportunities to make a lot of money long gold shares throughout the 80's and 90's. These U shares have for the most part stayed down near their lows since they topped and dropped. Some rallies but mostly they have been on balance fairly weak. I think you will make a lot more money in physical gold and silver the next 5 years than you will in the uranium stocks.

Would you not think that perhaps since a number of years have passed that technically we are at the bottom of the throe and that perhaps factoring in your own observation that we have been downside for a number of years and during that entire period the uranium field has continued to gain in terms of deposits, finance etc. Many of these companies have some very cost effective deposits making them fairly profitable at even current prices. All of the Uranium that is produced is sold, with no stocks left of the material. This is not the case for commodities such as Zinc, Aluminum, copper etc. This leads me to believe that while not all Uranium stocks will move significantly, many of the better ones with good sizable deposits, both producers and explorers will continue to be in the lime light. These may move rapidly if Uranium takes on a position of significance as an energy source.

SAGI

[SAGI]

COFFEE WITH CARROT HEAD!

BULB BUB BUBBLES.

All things are an exchange for fire, and fire for all things, as goods for gold and gold for goods.

Heraclitus (c.535-475BC)


Good morning. Its Saturday and not a morning as I am used to seeing in Africa, however I am at peace in London, despite the paper work and all the various things that must be done to get into the system. Despite the Sagi family having various view points on where the final home shall be, it appears as if we have come to like one particular property just on the outskirts of London on a reasonably large garden and to add to this an Avery. Yes you heard me correct there is an unused Avery on the grounds. Significant grounds but with a manageable house which we felt at home with, remains our sole candidate so far. To more interesting things….

Namibia finally after many years provided disappointment with typical stupid political motivation. The Namibian minister for mines began to talk about their state company holding the majority shares in all deposits found in Namibia. IN SHORT- NATIONALIZATION. I posted several articles regarding this in their full on the thread because I felt it was important enough to make investors decide for or against their investments there. Note that the rule has yet to go through parliament. So its not all done and dusted. The company does not have the finance to bring even one deposit to production later on half a dozen.

This week we also had a small discussion on the behavior of Uranium stocks. I would like to add one more article by Doug Casey which is interesting and informative. This is http://www.tradershuddle.com/2011042...lds-Value.html the article that I am talking about. I do think that Uranium has a lot of potential. While stocks have dropped significant levels, with investor sentiment moving away, the time has been used effectively to increase production as well as reserves. Apart from that a number of the companies have also gone through buyouts and mergers. This adds financial health for these companies despite investors agreeing or disagreeing the groom chosen. While these companies have continued to grow larger their stock price has dropped. In a classic Buffet style investment I would say we have an anomaly in place that gives us the opportunity to invest in stocks at significantly lower prices than when they initially went to the market. This is a long term market. Its fundamentals are strongly correlated and make significant indentations on the investor when things go wrong regardless whether this is political or catastrophe. If an investor can stand these swings and place strategic positions it is possible to make significant amounts of profits in this decade. While there are no guarantees of profits both fundamentals and technical indicators point towards a long term bottom which is beginning to show signs of life. The last significant fall of Uranium stocks was a decline that began in 2007 and culminated into an avalanche in 2008. Prior to that the stocks had bottomed out 7 years prior in 2000 from where they began a gentle incline just as they may be beginning to do now. The 2007 incline and peak was preempted based on rumors however in 2010 with real development investors have shunned Uranium based on previous results. It’s a bit like saying that a college is bad based on one years result. Perhaps it is but one cannot ignore development. The reality on the ground despite investor sentiment is that billions of dollars have been poured into development of Nuclear power stations all over the world, from China, Korea, India, UAE, Jordan, UK, France, Finland, and a host of others. Will these countries actually stop development half way through to allow billions to go to waste? To what advantage? To what alternative solution will they turn to? What alternative energy is going to provide 1700 mega watts per unit and how much land does a country require to churn out 7000 to 10000 mega watts? What we have are the initial stages of what might become a massive bubble. Yes it will be a bubble. Everything is a bubble.

All commodities whether its gold or tulips or technology or real estate, are a bubble. Why? Because all prices are based on sentiment, expectation, prediction and nothing to do with sound fundamentals. If one is trading in a bubble than trade, if you are investing in a fundamental than invest. Speaking of tulips…yes there was a bubble in tulip investment. The later part of the 20th century saw its share of odd financial bubbles. There was the real-estate bubble, the stock market bubbles, and the dot com bubble, just to name a few.
The Dutch in the 17th century when they settled down after their bout with tulipomania, wherein the humble tulip bulb began to sell for prices to make New York Realtors blanch.

As much as the tulip is associated with Holland, it is not native there. Rather it was introduced in 1593 by a botanist named Carolus Clusius, who brought it from Constantinople. He planted a small garden, intending to research the plant for medicinal purposes. Had Clusius’s neighbors been morally upright, the tulip might still be a rare exotic in the gardening world. Instead they broke into his garden and stole some of his bulbs in order to make some quick money, and in the process started the Dutch bulb trade.
Over the next several decades tulips became a fad among the rich of Holland, and prices began to mount. Soon even ordinary bulbs were selling for extraordinary prices, and the actually rare bulbs were astronomical. A single Viceroy tulip bulb would sell for $1,250 roughly, the Semper Augustus bulb could easily go for twice that. the bulbs were deemed too valuable to risk planting by their (formerly) wealthy purchasers, and it became popular to display the plain ungrown bulbs. In at least one instance the plan for safety backfired when a visiting sailor mistook a tulip bulb for an onion, and proceeded to eat it for breakfast.
The height of the bubble was reached in the winter of 1636-37. Traders were making (and losing) fortunes regularly. A good trader could earn up to 60,000 florins in a month– approximately $61,710 adjusted to current U.S. dollars. With profits like those to be had, nothing local governments could do stopped the frenzy of trading. Then one day in Haarlem a buyer failed to show up and pay for his bulb purchase. The ensuing panic spread across Holland, and within days tulip bulbs were worth only a hundredth of their former prices. The tulip bubble had burst.
Looking back through time it’s easy to laugh at the foolish Dutch, paying such prices for simple tulip bulbs, but an economic bubble was nothing new even then. We’re still doing the same sorts of things today. Human beings have always been prone to want things that are difficult to get, especially if everyone else seems to be doing it. Nutty behavior becomes commonplace when enough people are following along. It’s only afterwards that we stand back and shake our heads and wonder what came over us. Bubbles will come and go.

As the story shows it does not take a lot to burst a bubble. The pass the parcel is one of the oldest of games played in any market. The last guy holding the parcel when the music stops, is IT. Meanwhile one needs to discern between volume of the music going up and down and the music actually stopping.

Some bubbles take very long while others are very short. I wonder where Uranium will end up being.

This was certainly not the only Bubble in history as the spice bubble was even larger and longer specifically the cloves bubble where prices exceeded the equivalent price of gold at the time.

Cloves were the most valuable early spice. They originated from the islands of Ternate, Tidore and Bacan in the Mollucca group in Indonesia. Before the birth of Christ, visitors to the Han Dynasty court in China were only permitted to address the emperor if their breath has been sweetened with “odoriferous pistols”—Javanese cloves. Because of limited geographical range cloves didn’t make their way to Europe until around the 11the century A.D.. They were introduced by Arab traders who controlled the trade of many spices to Europe.

During the Middle Ages, Chinese, Arab and Malay traders purchased nutmeg in what is now Indonesia and Southeast Asia and carried it in boats to the Persian Gulf or by camel and pack animal on the Silk Road. From the Gulf the spices made their way to Constantinople and Damascus and eventually Europe.

Early maps of Indonesia showed the archipelago as the place "Where Dragons and Leviathans be." In 1510, a Bolognese traveler named Ludovico di Varthema returned to Italy after a six year trip in the East. He published an account of his journey that drew considerable attention. Among other things he was the first to European to describe nutmeg trees growing in the Banda Islands in what used to be called the Spice Islands and what are now called the Moluccas. They were the only places in the world that nutmeg grew.

The Spice Islands that Columbus was looking for were the Moluccas. After Magellan was killed in the Philippines his crew loaded up with spices in the Moluccas for the journey home. At that time nutmeg and cloves were worth more than gold. "When the cloves sprout," wrote Pigafoote, "they are white; when ripe, red; and when dried, black...Nowhere in the world do good gloves grow except on five mountains of those five islands."

IN fact the spice islands were financed by investors that included royal families, brokers and bankers. The profits were enormous if a ship actually returned with spices because the risks were enormous. Ships were lost to storms and reefs. If the mane to make to their to their destination in the far east they were often robbed of their cargos by Asian and European pirates.

The cloves and nutmeg like all other bubbles before it and after it eventually fell out of favor. The Sultan of Zanzibar’s significance rose and eventually fell with the clove trade. So kings too have lost their crowns to trades, why should we traders of today be any different? In the case of the Sultan of Zanzibar, he was left holding the parcel when the music stopped.

Gold is continuing to push up but as we all realize the stocks are not reflecting these highs. Strange you will say? An anomaly such as this has occurred in the past and when this sort of anomaly does occur we must be careful but anomalies can go on for longer. Silver is reaching the zenith of 50 dollars, for some inexplicable reason it is not moving past. Perhaps this is the resistance point and damn accurate call on my part if it moves down from this point even if I say so myself. Here is an interesting article that is a must read.
http://armstrongeconomics.files.word...411-update.pdf I have written before and I reiterate that if the move is too quick we will see bigger corrections, small slow inclines are always better. http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?id=52256&t=1&cg=4 Silver and Gold are at all time highs (Obvious on this site-every one knows) However how long will it be sustainable and the silver/gold stocks are not reflecting the incline. However bubbles are there its not an infinite graph. Do not kid yourselves. Read the following article http://www.321gold.com/editorials/mo...rty042511.html written by Bob Moriarty.

There endth today’s history lesson.

While Uranium remains one the most powerful generators of power there are alternatives out there; “An alternative to an alternative???”

Yes there are.

Some of these alternatives have been around for generations, and should not be discarded in a fit of mass hysteria as a result of a terrible accident. These alternative energy sources include thorium, solar power, natural gas and hydrogen.
Thorium can be used as a fuel in the nuclear cycle as an alternative to uranium and the technology to facilitate this has been around since the 1960s. Many scientists and others are advocating the use of this element as they claim it has many advantages over the current uranium fuel cycle in place at most plants around the world.
Thorium is a more abundant element than uranium, with Australia, the United States, Turkey and India holding 59% of the world’s reserves of 4.4 million tons. Also, all the thorium mined can be used as a fuel, compared to less than 1% of the mined uranium. Scientists that have studied the thorium fuel cycle maintain that the process produces less waste and is safer than the uranium fuel cycle currently used at nuclear facilities.

Several countries have taken the lead in promoting the use of thorium to produce energy. China recently announced that it would pursue the development of a molten salt nuclear reactor that uses thorium as a fuel. The Chinese Academy of Sciences said the technology was “environmentally safe, cost effective and politically palatable.”
India has also identified Thorium as an energy source in phase three of the Nuclear Power Program that the country adopted in the late 1960s. India is working on the advanced heavy water reactor design to implement this technology.
The disappointing part of the thorium debate is that the United States was one of the leaders in developing this technology generations ago, and was among the first countries to have small scale thorium reactors operating. These have all been shut down and, because the United States lacks a cohesive energy policy, no thorium reactors are currently being considered.

Natural gas can also be used as an alternative source of transport fuel, and has several advantages over oil - the typical fossil fuel that is currently refined into gasoline. Natural gas emits less carbon and other harmful pollutants into the air when burned, and has seen a rapid increase in supply in the United States as the industry has perfected the technology to release the huge amounts of natural gas locked up in shale rock.
Natural gas used as a transport fuel can either be compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG), and is also cheap, less than gasoline on an energy equivalent basis according to the latest analysis by the Department of Energy.


Another alternative source of fuel is hydrogen, which can be used in conjunction with a fuel cell to provide transport. Hydrogen burns clean, can be produced domestically and can be as much as three times more efficient than a typical gasoline powered engine. Hydrogen can be produced through many different processes including from fossil fuels, biomass or electrolyzing water. To get the most benefit from hydrogen as a fuel source, the best method would be to use renewable energy sources to produce hydrogen. Sad as it may seem Nuclear power can be used to produce Hydrogen as a side product.

I do not know if Uranium stocks will ever move up significantly enough for us to make profits. I believe so. I have faith that they will. Perhaps I am bias in my articles. Perhaps because I can clearly see the direction where the mass appear not to. I am powerless to make it move, I simply see it as the only commercially viable alternative to the worlds woes at present. While I do invest in gold and silver for self preservation, Uranium may be the solution to the worlds preservation.


Briefly the dollar is at yearly lows against the Euro, Pound, Canadian, and Australian dollar. Like all things nothing remains down for ever. For the longer term trend of the dollar to move back into decline I would think it would have to break the lows of 2.11 against the pound on the down trend and in the other direction to move below 1.37. If this was the high for the pound than its in a long term down trend for a fade out to occur above 2 dollars. For the present this does not look likely. I would suggest that this downward trend will reverse this year perhaps. I do not believe the woes of the Euro are over merely a temporary reprieve. I am now beginning to think shorting the Euro at this rate might be a good idea. The highs for the Euro were around 1.52, since then it dropped roughly 10 cents and climbed back up recently in the course of a year. The Australian and Canadian dollar are based on commodities. They are riding on the back of these highs. Parabolic highs often lead to crashes soon after. Rises like these eventually leave the atmosphere into …..emptiness and than gravity takes over. I do not know if we have left the atmosphere….lets hope not.


A hearty congratulation to Prince William and Catherine on their royal wedding just in case they do read this. If they do, my word of advice is; “Tolerate each other and forgive each other every night before you go to sleep.”

Have a good weekend.
God Bless!

SAGI


References.
Details of Tulips taken from an article by Cynthia wood titled “The Dutch Tulip Bubble of 1637” written in 2006
Websites and Resources: Different Spices spice-trade.com/types-of-spices ; Spice Plants uni-graz.at/~katzer ; Spice Farming spices.indianetzone.com/1/spice_farming.htm ; History of Spice Trade celtnet.org.uk/recipes/spice_trade ; History Spices, Spices Indian Trade Zone spices.indianetzone.com/ ; Encyclopedia of Spices theepicentre.com/Spices ; McCormik Spice Encyclopedia mccormick.com ; Wikipedia article on Spices Wikipedia ; Wikipedia article on the Spice Trade Wikipedia ; Book: Spice by Jack Turner (Knopf, 2004)

[SAGI]

Uranium prices set to recover
Brendan Ryan | Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:08




[miningmx.com] -- THE fallout from Japan’s nuclear crisis will hit global demand for uranium, but will also negatively affect supply and the uranium market will remain in deficit from 2011 up until 2020.
That’s according to RBC Capital Markets analysts Adam Schatzker and H Fraser Phillips who – in a recently published research report – predicted uranium prices would start to recover in the second half of 2011.
They said: "Based on our forecast of available uranium supplies (mine sourced and non-mine sourced) we do not think that there is sufficient uranium to cover the needs of 2018 to 2020, and certainly not beyond that time frame.
"As a result we expect that, at some point in the next 12 to 18 months, utilities will begin to see an increasingly tight long-term contract market to the point where there is all but no supply availability. This, in our view, will be the stimulus that will cause the uranium price to recover."
The bulk of the world’s uranium supply is purchased by power utilities on long-term contracts, and not on the spot market.
The analysts said: "The long-term price indicator has remained relatively robust – currently $72 per pound – and we anticipate it will continue to outperform the spot market for the next 24 months.
"However, we do not think the current long-term price properly reflects the long-term fundamentals of the uranium industry."
The analysts said they had reduced their forecast on total uranium demand between 2011 and 2020 by about 125 million pounds from their previous estimate published on March 9.
But they have also dropped their forecast on total supply over this period by 49 million pounds, and predict the deficit between uranium demand and supply will be more than 80 million pounds by 2020.
They said: "We believe that the new supplies needed to fill the growing deficit will require uranium prices higher than $80/lb in order to provide the incentive to explore for, finance and develop new projects."
The spot price of uranium fell rapidly from around $68/lb when the earthquake struck Fukushima to bottom at $49.29/lb on March 16, from where it has recovered to current levels just under $60/lb.
The analysts said: “Once the panic sellers stopped placing material into the spot market, the underlying tightness again dominated and the uranium price began to rise again.”
While noting the negative reaction from various countries in terms of shelved or delayed nuclear projects, the analysts’ overall assessment was that “the current leading nuclear builders - China, Russia, India, South Korea – are unlikely to change their long-term plans despite the magnitude of the tragedy in Japan”.
On the supply side, the analysts highlighted the likely impact of the Fukushima disaster on Australia, which has some of the best potential for the development of large new uranium projects.
They said: "In the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster we think that the level of acceptance for new uranium projects in Australia is significantly lower than it was before.
“In our view, the potential for delays or project cancellations is significant and may have a marked impact on the outlook for uranium supply growth in this decade and the next.”
The analysts also pointed to shortfalls in anticipated supply caused by problems with developing uranium projects.
They said: "Looking back at our supply forecasts from mid-2006 to present, we have observed a very clear pattern; the expected supply from 2006 to 2010 has dropped dramatically.
“Most of these shortfalls have been driven by either problems with existing operations or delays in new mine production, with an emphasis on the latter.
“We do not see any reason why the problems that plagued new supply between 2006 and 2009 should disappear; rather, we think there is a good chance that future supply forecasts will again disappoint. We think this fact needs to be reflected in the current uranium price and, in our view, it is not.”
The analysts said: "We believe that most uranium producers have sold the vast majority of their production through to at least 2016. Yet there remains a substantial portion of demand uncovered (30% to 40%) between 2016 and 2019.
“Some of the newer entrants to the producer category – such as Paladin, Denison and Uranium One – likely have material available for contracting in those years but, according to our estimates, they will not have enough to satisfy the forecast demand.
“We think that in late 2011 utility requests for contracted material in 2016 and beyond will be met with fewer and fewer offers, and then perhaps none.
“We believe it is this sequence of events that will provide a significant stimulus to both the spot and term prices and bring them to a level that is sufficient to incentivise new exploration, development and, eventually, production.”

[lhslancers3270]

Sagi what do you think about this one? Washout volume now a buck off the lows.

[SAGI]

Sagi what do you think about this one? Washout volume now a buck off the lows.

The spike in the volume indicates a sell off or profit taking. I will need to look at the technical charts tomorrow and give you some more detailed feedback. As off now I would think it is not yet time I see no volume interests off the chart you have posted.

SAGI

[lhslancers3270]

The spike in the volume indicates a sell off or profit taking. I will need to look at the technical charts tomorrow and give you some more detailed feedback. As off now I would think it is not yet time I see no volume interests off the chart you have posted.

SAGI

Looks like GMTFO volume. Lots of issues mark important bottoms when you see this kind of volume. Uranium is down to $62? This stock is a play on the price of Uranium itself I believe?

[SAGI]

Looks like GMTFO volume. Lots of issues mark important bottoms when you see this kind of volume. Uranium is down to $62? This stock is a play on the price of Uranium itself I believe?

Let us ignore the fundamentals for the moment and simply look at the stock independently. Ideally its a trading stock for the moment. The volumes were during the fukushima crisis. So it went into an oversold position. Its a risk because we are moving into the summer blues. However it did move into oversold position but after that we have not seen any interesting volumes. It has moved past the 20 day SMA which can be considered a BUY signal.

SAGI

[SAGI]

UPDATE 2-Kalahari confident as deadline for Chinese bid looms



By Clara Ferreira-Marques

LONDON, April 28 (Reuters) - Uranium miner Kalahari Minerals (KAH.L) is confident it will seal a deal with China Guangdong Nuclear Power (CGNPC) despite worries over the 756 million pound ($1.26 billion) takeover price that have held back its shares.

"I am confident in CGNPC. They need uranium, and they want to do the deal," Executive Chairman Mark Hohnen told Reuters.

"I am confident the deal will go through."

The state-owned Chinese firm made its move on Kalahari last month -- days before the Japanese earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear disaster -- lured by access to one of the world's biggest uranium deposits at a time when major powers are scrambling for alternative sources of power.

Kalahari owns a 43 percent stake in Extract Resources (EXT.AX), which owns the Husab uranium project in Namibia, potentially the second largest uranium mine in the world.

Kalahari's shares, however, have been badly hit by uncertainty following Fukushima's troubles, and many investors are betting the price could be cut or the deal scrapped.

The original proposal was priced at 290p a share, representing a more than 25 percent premium to the current market value. Kalahari shares are trading around 230p.

Hohnen, speaking by telephone, said the two sides had held "commercial discussions" but declined to comment on whether CGNPC had proposed a price cut in the light of Fukushima.

CGNPC declined to comment.

The Japanese disaster forced a cut in a similar deal last month, when Canadian miner Uranium One (UUU.TO) cut its offer for Australian uranium prospector Mantra Resources by 12 percent, after a material adverse change clause was triggered.

"I would be amazed if they have not discussed price and, specifically, if the Chinese have not asked to cut the price they initially offered," said one industry source.

The current agreement between CGNPC and Kalahari, however, does not include a material adverse change clause after both sides agreed to remove it, sources close to the matter said.

Under UK rules, given the initial release was a "possible" and not a "firm" offer, a change to price offered at this stage would force both sides to return to the negotiating table.

"If there were to be a request for a change in price at this stage, all bets are off," the source said.

FORMALISE, EXTEND OR END TALKS

By May 3, under an agreed plan, CGNPC has to either formalise the offer for Kalahari, agree with Kalahari to extend the bid or scrap negotiations over the deal.

"One of the things they were probably not anticipating was a royal wedding on the Friday leading to a public holiday and another one on Monday. It means access to people they might need to have access to in the UK might cause problems," said one source familiar with the matter.

He added: "Nothing has come our way to tell us the Chinese have lost interest."

CGNPC is still awaiting clarification from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission on whether it will be exempt from takeover rules which would normally force it to launch a full bid for Extract if it buys Kalahari.

The commission is expected to rule by Monday.

Both Extract and Kalahari shares were hit on Thursday over worries about plans by the Namibian government to assign almost all mining and exploration rights to a state-owned company. [ID:nLDE73Q27Z]

Hohnen brushed off the concerns, saying they stemmed from a misquotation, and that the Namibian government would only ever target new projects, doing so at commercial prices.

"This isn't on existing arrangements," he said.

"I am very optimistic. I believe Namibia has one of the soundest democratic systems."

Rio Tinto (RIO.L) has an 11.5 percent stake in Kalahari, with Japan's Itochu Corp (8001.T) owning 13.76 percent. Rio also owns a 14.2 percent stake in Extract. (Additional reporting by Michael Smith in Sydney and Wan Xu in Beijing; Editing by Will Waterman and Jon Loades-Carter) ($1=.6003 Pound)

[SAGI]

FuelCell Energy Team Awarded $11.7 Million Contract to Further Develop Clean-Coal Fuel Cell Power Plant
Award to Demonstrate a 60 Kilowatt Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Module

tweet
Email
Print
Companies:FuelCell Energy Inc.
Topics:Industrial Goods
Related Quotes
Symbol Price Change
FCEL 1.71 +0.03

Press Release Source: FuelCell Energy, Inc. On Tuesday May 3, 2011, 8:30 am EDT
DANBURY, Conn., May 3, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FuelCell Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq:FCEL - News) a leading manufacturer of ultra-clean, efficient and reliable power plants using renewable and other fuels for commercial, industrial, government, and utility customers, today announced an $11.7 million cost share award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for Phase III of the Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA) coal-based systems program. The SECA program is a collaboration among the Federal Government, private industry, and academia to develop megawatt-class solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) power plants that use coal syngas to generate electricity. Power generation from coal syngas advances the nation's energy security while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The total Phase III program cost is $11.7 million, of which $8.2 million will be funded by the DOE.

The objective for this Phase III award is to build and operate an SOFC module with output of 60 kilowatts (kW) utilizing the cell and stack designs of Versa Power Systems, Inc., the technology partner of FuelCell Energy. The design of the 60 kW SOFC module is scalable, allowing a building block approach to create 250 kW modules or larger. The SOFC module is fuel flexible, capable of operating on many fuels including natural gas, coal syngas or renewable biogas. This award will help to accelerate the development of affordable SOFC modules with enhanced performance and endurance.

"Clean power generated from coal addresses both environmental and domestic energy security concerns," said Chris Bentley, Executive Vice President, Government R&D Operations, Strategic Manufacturing Development, FuelCell Energy, Inc. "The ability to continue development, although on a limited scale, is vital for achieving the goal of providing the nation with clean power from an abundant domestic resource."

The USA has approximately one quarter of the world's recoverable coal deposits, the largest of any nation. Almost half of the power generated in the USA is from coal and this coal generated power contributes over one quarter of the nation's total greenhouse gas emissions. Fuel cells operating on coal syngas can generate clean power with virtually zero pollutants and significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

The 60 kW SOFC module is expected to begin operating in the summer of 2012 at the Company's facility in Danbury, CT and the award concludes in the fall of 2012. FuelCell Energy will continue to partner with Versa Power Systems, Inc., managing the project and developing and testing the stack module and power plant designs. Versa Power Systems will continue to develop the core SOFC technology.

Versa Power Systems, Inc. is a leading developer of environmentally friendly solid oxide fuel cells, a clean-tech source of power to generate electricity for a range of applications. Headquartered in Littleton, Colorado, the Company has built systems integral to research projects conducted by partners including Fortune 500 industrial manufacturers, government agencies and associations focused on energy research. FuelCell Energy, Inc. owns approximately 39 percent of Versa Power Systems, Inc.

[lhslancers3270]

Let us ignore the fundamentals for the moment and simply look at the stock independently. Ideally its a trading stock for the moment. The volumes were during the fukushima crisis. So it went into an oversold position. Its a risk because we are moving into the summer blues. However it did move into oversold position but after that we have not seen any interesting volumes. It has moved past the 20 day SMA which can be considered a BUY signal.

SAGI

News events can sometimes mark climactic bottoms and tops. I wouldn't disregard the chart because of the disaster in Japan. As I am sure you know Gold came out of its double bottom right after 9/11. Coincidence?

[SAGI]

News events can sometimes mark climactic bottoms and tops. I wouldn't disregard the chart because of the disaster in Japan. As I am sure you know Gold came out of its double bottom right after 9/11. Coincidence?

I wasn't asking you to ignore the chart nor the fundamentals rather separating the two. Since the fundamentals are bullish we should separate them and look at the technical which reflects the Fukushima incident. Based on this its moving past the 20 day SMA its one way to play it, trade on break out past the 20 day SMA.

SAGI

[SAGI]

Great increases of resource estimates at CUMO project for Mosquito Consolidated gold mines.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/New-NI....html?x=0&.v=1

SAGI

[SAGI]

Extract falls as CGNPC walks from Kalahari
STUART McKINNON, The West Australian
May 11, 2011, 10:38 am
tweet
Email
Print

The West Australian ©
UPDATE 2.20pm: Shares in Extract Resources plunged before regaining some lost ground on news that China's CGNPC Uranium had abandoned a bid for the uranium hopeful's major shareholder, London-listed Kalahari Minerals.

Investors had hoped a takeover of Kalahari, which holds a 43 per cent stake in Extract, would force CGNPC to also launch a bid for Extract under Australian corporate regulations.

CGNPC Uranium originally pitched a £2.90-a share cash offer for Kalahari in March but the Japanese nuclear crisis subsequently prompted it to cut the value of its proposed offer to £2.70-a-share.

However Britain's Takeovers Panel intervened to rule that CGNPC could not go ahead with the cheaper offer, despite the support of the Kalahari board.

Under British regulations a suitor, which proposes a takeover bid without reserving the right to revise the terms, cannot come back with a cheaper bid for three months.

Kalahari announced overnight that an appeal against the ruling to the hearings committee panel had been rejected, prompting CGNPC to withdraw its original £2.90-a share cash offer.

Extract said today it was continuing to progress development of its world-class Husab uranium project in Namibia.

Shares in Extract closed down 30 cents, or 3.9 per cent, at $7.40 after falling as low as $6.87 in earlier trade.

[SAGI]

Nuclear cost-effective for UK cuts
10 May 2011
Nuclear power is likely to play a significant role in meeting the UK's greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for 2020, an independent committee has said. Meanwhile, a think-tank claims over-ambitious renewables targets could harm decarbonisation.

The UK government's climate change bill, launched in March 2007, sets a series of clear targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions - a 26-32% reduction by 2020 and a 60% reduction by 2050, which will be legally binding. The 2050 target was subsequently raised to 80%.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) was set up in 2008 to advise the UK government on climate change issues. In May 2010, the newly-elected coalition government requested that the committee review the potential for renewable energy development and to advise on whether existing targets should be reviewed.

The CCC has now published its findings, saying: "Our overall conclusion in this review is that there is scope for significant penetration of renewable energy to 2030 (e.g. up to 45%, compared to 3% today). Higher levels subsequently (i.e. to 2050) would be technically feasible. Equally however, it would be possible to decarbonise electricity generation with very significant nuclear deployment and have limited renewables; carbon capture and storage (CCS) may also emerge as a cost-effective technology."

According to the committee's report, "Nuclear generation in particular appears likely to be the most cost-effective form of low-carbon power generation in the 2020s (i.e. before costs of other technologies have fallen), justifying significant investment if safety concerns can be addressed." However, the CCC suggests "full reliance on nuclear would be inappropriate, given uncertainties over costs, site availability, long-term fuel supply and waste disposal, and public acceptability." Nevertheless, "given maturity and relatively low costs, [nuclear energy is] likely to play a major role at least to 2050."

The report - entitled The Renewable Energy Review - notes that "nuclear generation is unlikely to be subject to a fuel resource constraint for at least fifty years although this may become an issue in the longer term." It added, "In the medium term, availability of sites may become a binding constraint."

Commenting on the recent accident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the CCC noted, "Whilst the specific circumstances in Japan differ significantly from those for new nuclear in the UK, in principle this could affect the potential for nuclear power to contribute to decarbonisation in the UK." However, it added, "The likelihood of natural disasters of this type and scale occurring in the UK is extremely small." The committee suggests that, should a full review of the UK's use of nuclear energy subsequently call for limiting its future deployment, "a higher renewables contribution would be required."

The review recommends that the government "adopt a portfolio approach to technology development. This should cover both renewable generation and other low-carbon technologies." The CCC said that this "should include market arrangements to encourage competitive investment in mature technologies such as nuclear and onshore wind generation."

The review sets out an illustrative scenario where 40% of electricity comes from renewables, 40% from nuclear, 15% from coal and gas with CCS and less than 10% from unabated gas. This scenario, the CCC said, is based on "commitments on support for offshore wind and marine through the 2020s … broadly in line with planned investment and supply chain capacity to 2020." It is also based on "investment on all eight currently approved sites, with around 18 GWe new nuclear added to the system through the 2020s."

Chair of the committee Lord Adair Turner said: "Our analysis shows that renewable energy technologies are very promising, and have an important role to play in helping to meet the UK’s carbon budgets and 2050 target, alongside other low-carbon technologies such as nuclear and CCS."

Too much too soon?

Meanwhile, the independent think-tank Policy Exchange has warned that the UK's 2020 renewable target, "is unnecessarily expensive and damages the prospects for reducing carbon emissions over the coming decades by wasting money that could be used to fund research and demonstration of a wide range of new, low carbon technologies."

According to a report from the group, requiring the use of specific renewable technologies in the short-term increases the costs of decarbonisation. "The target costs far too much to achieve far too little decarbonisation," it says. In addition, it suggests the government's renewable energy target damages long term decarbonisation efforts both in the UK and abroad.

Policy Exchange suggests that the UK government "needs to take steps now either to renegotiate the target or to reduce the wasted costs of implementing it."

The group studied 16 different models proposed for achieving the UK's target of an 80% cut in emissions by 2050. However its analysis found that "none of the models showed that the UK's commitment to producing 35% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020 was needed to reach its carbon target."

"We conclude that the renewable energy target damages the prospects for achieving decarbonisation objectives in 2050 by allocating resources inefficiently, by failing to maximise innovation in low-carbon generation," Policy Exchange said. In addition, "it sets an example of expensive decarbonisation other countries will find far from compelling."

According to the group's report, the models "indicate the importance of CCS and nuclear. Without one or the other, the costs of decarbonisation rise extensively. Without both (i.e. using solely renewables for generation), the possibility of reaching the 2050 decarbonisation objective is thrown into serious doubt." The obstacles to nuclear, it says, "are predominantly political and economic."

[Bigfoot]

[SAGI]

COFFEE WITH CARROT HEAD!

GOLD IN RANGE, URANIUM BOTTOM, CHINA’S DETERMINATION.

My apologies for the delay in posting the coffee article. Unfortunately time has not permitted me to complete it for Last Saturday.

I like it when my calls come to fruition. I hate it when the bus does not stop at the bus stop its supposed to, indeed, that has not happened yet but the rapidity with which gold and silver have begun to drop as expected is disconcerting perhaps uncomfortable. I am not hoping that that they do move up rather quite the opposite, however it is the angle of decline that is too quick as it was when it was moving up. This makes me think its not done with its upside move now and we may see another attempt at breaking past 1570.00 for gold and 50 for silver. Due to the steep angle also makes it easier for the drop to come to a full stop as speculators if in a greater number could allow this decline to be brought to a stop more rapidly than I would wish for. Nevertheless the price of silver stopped slightly above 48.60. While my call on gold was shattered with gold moving way higher. I called about 1468.00 for gold as the turn around but it went a full 100 dollars past that. Now the question is where will it go and rest. Where will it find support? A major support for 61.8 is at 1317.00 for gold. I do think we will see support there. There is a minor support at 1476.00 too. My feeling is that this support will not be broken this time. If we do see gold come to a full stop in its decline then we should see a reversal taking it through to 1624.00 at a Fibonacci of 0.5 level. I mentioned before that often when the stocks and gold do not correlate with each other. One or the other must play catch up. Often the dive is still in tandem after the fall begins. We wait to see where the support for gold will be found.

Its not been a good week for uranium but we had been expecting this. We are waiting for the bottom or good times to buy. Speaking of buys, I posted a recent report by Mosquito consolidated gold mines recently. The moly silver deposit is coming up nicely. The stock has dropped some in the recent past and is beginning to look attractive. It is getting near to a technical buy as fundamentals for the project remain intact. One rarely goes wrong with good large rich deposits for the longer term. At the end of the week Mr. Warren Buffet and Mr. Bill Gates both gave positive thumbs up to Uranium with the words of Mr. Buffet ringing that the fundamentals regardless of the technical aspects were extremely good. Mr. Buffet found the subject important enough to mention it in his annual meeting for Berkshire Hathaway. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Positi....html?x=0&.v=1 The mention was enough to get the stocks going this Friday. So here are some good buys for the moment.

Paladin has dropped significantly, another good buy is JNR Resources which has also dropped significantly. Currently trading at 0.15 cents on the Venture exchange in Canada. JNR is a long established company with good management and survived as well as significantly developed their properties slowly developing their deposits. JNR is in partnership with several other companies on several different deposits. This provides avenues for finance in the future. http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/a.../04/c9164.html the Namibian announcement appears to be disregarded for the time being and we should see both Kalahari and Extract both regaining some lost ground.

Our small play in Botswana came out with some excellent news in that their estimate of approximately 260 million pounds of Uranium has been confirmed recently. http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=4&...11/May/Friday6 This is rather good news I would think but the markets have yet to react to it both in the North American markets and in Australia.

We have not talked about Moly for a while. I needed to remind myself if the fundamentals remain intact. A recent article I came across puts it eloquently. http://seekingalpha.com/article/2691...s?source=yahoo As the writer puts it, Moly has not moved a lot from where it has been since 2008. The Chinese have taken advantage in the world prices as it cost them less to import than to produce. Moly will remain in demand. People will continue to build and steel will continue to be used. Markets may go up and down but consumption continues. There are two big deposits in the U.S. One is the upcoming Mt Hope project from General Moly (GMO), the other is the CUMO project from Mosquito consolidated MSQ.V. Mosquito’s project and GMO’s project both have Chinese investments.

The journey of knowledge always ends in success. The journey itself is all about failures. It is failure that allows us to learn. Success itself never teaches anything. Success is simply the objective and not the journey itself.

Though Uranium continues to move nowhere and stocks are reflecting this, it will not be long before we do realize the importance of uranium. For the present the list has reduced drastically with the price of Uranium dropping. There are just a handful of stocks to consider. Excluding Cameco, we have UUU, PDN, HAT, FIS, ACB.AX, EXT.AX, KHA.L and GGG.AX. All these stocks have substantial deposits. Enough to keep them going for several decades. Out of these the stock that’s at its lows is Acap or ACB.AX. It can now be considered to have a substantial top 10 deposit. If Uranium goes on a high we only have to look at Extract to understand where it can move. The cost of mining is very viable and economical enough for them to move to begin construction of the mine as soon as possible. I would not be surprised to see the Chinese take up a massive share in this company.

In the recent past articles we talked about China and their focus on the future and their determination to move forward and to survive. Their determination comes from a long and perhaps exciting history made of many wars and invasions and its roots lie in a time when China was not one country but several different dynasties. The great wall follows a strategic line on the top of the northern mountains. A famous general took the responsibility of building this wall after proposing its development to the then new emperoror. The great wall project was more ambitious than anything conceived before and by the 1570’s it was taking up more than three quarters of the finances of the entire Chinese nation. General Chi was determined in the first year to build 70 forts a year at roughly a fort a week which was an amazing thing. In order to do this the workers are required to work day and night. The wall itself required 3000 forts or towers and would stretch about 5000km.

Actually, China is not the only country in history that built wall along its boundary. Athens, the Roman Empire, Denmark and Korea all did so at certain time in the past. The Hadrian's Wall in northern England, built "to separate the Romans from the barbarians", extended 117 kilometres from Wallsend-on-Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west. All the walls were built for the purpose of military defence, and the Great Wall of China was no exception. However nothing as large, as high, as broad, has even been conceived nor after it.

Yet the Great Wall is unique. It was first built in the 7th century B.C. when China was still divided into many small states. After the unification of China in 221 B.C., the first emperor of Qin Dynasty (you must have heard of his teracotta army) linked the walls of the three states in the north and formed the first "Wan Li Chang Cheng" (ten thousand li Great Wall, li is a Chinese length unit, 2 li = 1 km). Since then, the Great Wall was rebuilt, modified or extended throughout Chinese history for over 2,000 years. Most of the Great Wall we see today was built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). In some areas, two walls built in two different dynasties can be seen running side by side. So why the continued history lesson?
The reason is to allow us to understand what drives the Chinese and not to underestimate them or their ability to make the impossible, possible. It was not the emperor who built this great wall nor was it his idea it was General Chi ji Gwan’s idea and he was also responsible for the discipline that to date still works for the worlds largest army. It was a massive enterprise that stretched over several generations before being completed, in fact 17 to be precise. That is a testament to their determination to complete a single task, monumental as it was. This discipline is still active and they use this for all things whether its industrialization, or their development of infrastructure.
To understand what drives them we must go through a lot of history. I leave you all to do your own research. Suffice to say that the Nuclear project is not over and China is determined to complete it. Leaders may change but the project continues. This is where China differs from many other countries. With leadership changing the old regimes ideas are not discarded, because the party remains one. The ideology remains single minded and focused. Personal agendas take a back seat…permanently.
The Indians are not as determined. The largest democracy is too involved in petty politics to have a national outlook. Yet they too have no choice. The sheer demand for power will force them to have a national outlook and beyond the walls of their parliament.
The world at large is slowly beginning to see their shortcomings in a different light. The responsibility for nuclear energy is taking focus. More and more nations are looking at this option than any other. Its easy for those who are green oriented to ignore nuclear in their theories that solar, and wind will solve the problems of the world, those same green individuals do not want the wind generators in their back yard. Solar in hot countries is all very well but the cost of the cells is far excessive to their return. At a private level it is a solution but neither on its own will solve all the power needs of the individual house. Geothermal is a solution for some countries but once more the geological suitability is not universal. Transferring electricity is not easy either.
For the longer term this is the time to invest in Uranium. This is the time to invest in a marathon runner rather than a sprinter. The runner is starting off slow, but as the runner is always pacing himself it’s the right way to go especially if one is competing in a marathon.

I do apologize for the delay and missing of the article last week. Partly due to other work, partly due to the fact that I ran out of writing material and really could not think of any subject matter call it a writers block, but I assure you its temporary. With that I bid you a good weekend.

SAGI

[SAGI]

GREENLAND MINERALS AND ENERGY
Full Greenland Minerals and Energy profile here

Greenland Minerals and Energy Ltd, is a mineral exploration and development company, focused on unlocking the mineral riches of Greenland, one of the world’s last natural resource frontiers. Our aim is simple; to identify large mineral deposits with the potential to underpin long term, economically robust mining operations. This is achieved through technically-focused exploration, aggressive resource development programs, and a strong understanding of the fundamentals that drive the business of mineral exploration and development globally.

Our flagship project is Kvanefjeld, a multi-element deposit located near the southwest tip of Greenland. Through focused exploration, Kvanefjeld is rapidly growing to become one to the world’s largest undeveloped deposits of rare earth elements, uranium and naturally occurring sodium fluoride, commodities with long term forecasts for strong demand increases.
Greenland Minerals and Energy to kick off 2011 Field Program at Kvanefjeld multi‐element project
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Greenland Minerals and Energy (ASX: GGG) will shortly commence the 2011 field program at the Kvanefjeld project in south Greenland, recognised as the world’s largest undeveloped JORC Resource of rare earth oxides (REO).

All work programs are part of the expanding feasibility studies focused on the development of a mine at the multi‐element deposit which is also enriched in uranium and zinc.

Greenland Minerals and Energy is aiming to deliver a Definitive Feasibility Study for Kvanefjeld as its tier‐one asset, which has the potential to become one of the world’s largest and most cost‐effective producers of Rare Earth Elements.

Programs will include resource development drilling to establish initial JORC resource estimates at recently discovered multi‐element deposits located within the broader project area.

Previous drill intercepts from these deposits were released in early 2011, and confirmed that extensive multi‐element mineralization occurs up to 7 km from the resource at Kvanefjeld.

Three diamond drill rigs will be deployed with the aim of drilling approximately 15,000 m across the season.

The company also plans sterilisation drilling in potential infrastructure locations. Holes are planned to the east of the northern Ilimaussaq Complex.
Previous sterilization holes drilled in 2009 adjacent to the Kvanefjeld plateau revealed a significant extension of mineralization from outcropping zones at Steenstrupfjeld.

Stakeholder engagement programs will be conducted along with ongoing environmental baseline studies in areas under assessment for the mine site, processing plant and related infrastructure, and potential hydro‐electric power facilities.

A series of meetings recently took place in Greenland in early April to discuss the ‘terms of reference’ for upcoming social and environmental impact assessments with key stakeholder groups. This follows the procedures specified by Greenland’s Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum.

In addition, there will be field assessments for constructability studies relating to site selection for key infrastructure items.

Key personnel have now mobilised to the company’s operations base in Narsaq, south Greenland, and drill crews will be arriving onsite in the coming days.

GMEL said it is is fully funded to September 2012 by the exercise of the options that expire 30 June 2011. The company is currently in discussions with a number of investment banks and broking firms in regard to the underwriting of these options.

An Interim Pre‐feasibility Report on the Kvanefjeld study was released in February that indicates the potential for the multi‐element resources to sustain a large‐scale mining operation for decades.

On March 31 the company delivered a significant upgrade in the resource estimate at the project with a 619 million tonne JORC‐code compliant resource.

The company has since been ramping up its technical capacity to facilitate the feasibility program at the project.

[SAGI]

Namibian minerals policy clarified
12 May 2011
A Namibian state firm will have exclusive rights to uranium developments under forthcoming legislation, but a government statement now clarifies the change will not affect current exploration and mining licenses.


The Rossing mine has supplied about
100,000 tonnes of uranium since 1976 Mines and energy minister Isak Katali made an official statement this week, following a government announcement last month that its state-owned mineral exploration company, Epangelo Mining Ltd, would have exclusive control over new strategic minerals developments. Namibia has two significant uranium mines capable of providing 10% of world output.

The government decision is meant to align the mining sector's contribution to government revenue, mostly through royalties, with its share of gross domestic product. According to Katali, the country had become "an Eldorado of speculators and other quick-fix would be mineral explorers and mining developers.

Katali's statement emphatically reiterates that the proposed policy does not amount to nationalisation. The proposed changes will effectively only apply to new licence applications. Existing exploration and mining licences will not be affected, although joint development arrangements may be considered in the case of licences for which no development has taken place for a "very long time."

Applications which are already in the pipeline will be considered under the existing procedures on their individual merits, each one "on its strength without prejudice". However, Katali acknowledged that licence conditions might require the licence holder to give a first right of refusal of shareholding to the state entity before approaching other parties. Mining licence applications arising from existing prospecting licences would be treated in a similar way to already-lodged applications.

Future expansions of mining operations by conversion of adjacent existing prospecting licences into mining licences will be categorised in a similar way to existing operations, although in cases where the licence holder cannot demonstrate capacity to develop the expansion, joint development of the resource by the licence holder and the Namibian government could be an option.

In effect, the only likely impacts on existing licensees will concern future expansions of existing prospecting licences, which will be treated as new applications.

The cabinet decision will be implemented through a change in legislation, which is currently being drafted.

Commercial uranium mining has taken place in Namibia since 1976, when the Rössing mine started up. Rössing Uranium is 68.6% owned by Rio Tinto, with most of the remainder owned by South African and Iranian interests and 3% by the Namibian government. Paladin's Langer Heinrich mine started up in 2006, while production at Areva's Trekkopje is ramping up. Meanwhile, Extract Resources is planning to start production at Husab in 2014. Other uranium deposits including Valencia, Etango, Marenica, Omahola and Tubas-Tumas are in various stages of development or feasibility studies, all led by overseas entities.

Details welcomed

Overseas companies involved in developing Namibia's uranium deposits were quick to welcome Katali's statement. Paladin managing director and CEO John Borshoff said the removal of any doubt over sovereign risk was very welcome and would pave the way for significant ongoing investment by the company. Len Jubber, CEO of Bannerman Resources and 80%-owner of the undeveloped Etango project, also welcomed the Namibian government's objective of investing in new mineral project developments. Extract Resources also greeted the confirmation warmly, confirming that the proposed policy changes would not adversely affect Swakop Uranium's existing prospecting licence or its application for a mining licence for the Husab project.

[SAGI]

Roughrider Doubles in Size as Hathor Confirms an Additional 30 M lbs at 11.58 % U3O8 for the East Zone
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Roughr....html?x=0&.v=1

[dosman]

thanks sagi I now own dnn @ 2.02 as of monday or tuesday. do you think that was a good play if I am willing to hold long term?

[SAGI]

thanks sagi I now own dnn @ 2.02 as of monday or tuesday. do you think that was a good play if I am willing to hold long term?

I think so Dosman. You will be trying to hold on to it for a longer period. Consider the high of Dennison. Roughly about 16 dollars. Not to be factored but it is likely that when the price of Uranium begins to move up we should see Dennison at least half way if not further. Predictions are dangerous. So lets play it as the dice fall. If we do see a major overbought position, let us not be greedy but take the profits. Still if one is to hold I would guess at least a five year period. More likely a ten year period if we want the really big profits. Those fundamentals are very intact for the present. Be prudent though place a stop loss just in case. its always sensible.

SAGI

[Not Sure]

Until the, uh, "fallout" from Fukushima is over (months, probably years away), I would not put any money on Uranium.

Thorium is another story...

[SAGI]

Until the, uh, "fallout" from Fukushima is over (months, probably years away), I would not put any money on Uranium.

Thorium is another story...

Thank you "NOT SURE", you are welcome not to. Its your discretion and your money.

SAGI

[SAGI]

Re: News Release - Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Title: U.S. Forest Service Rejects Appeal of Environmental Assessment Permit
Vancouver, Canada, May 17, 2011. - Mosquito Consolidated Gold Mines (TSX.V: MSQ; US OTCQX: MQCMF - "Mosquito" or the "Company") today announced that the U.S. Forest Service, Intermountain Region, has rejected the appeal of the Environmental Assessment for the CuMo Exploration Project. This decision provides authorization for Mosquito to begin its exploratory drilling program in early June 2011 on National Forest land about 14 miles northwest of Idaho City, Idaho.

"We are pleased to be able to move forward with the exploration," said Shaun Dykes, CuMo project manager. "It will provide valuable information about the nature of the mineral deposit and also create at least 50 jobs in the Boise County area throughout the summer. The Forest Service's environmental specialists and their consultants have done a very thorough job on the Environmental Assessment. This analysis has reaffirmed that the proposed activities would have no significant impact on the environment, including water resources in the region."

According to Mr. Dykes, "The exploration will be carried out to comply with all of the Forest Service's protective requirements. If exploration someday leads to mine development, we intend to carry out substantial restoration work on lands that were already heavily mined in past years by other companies."

Last month, Mosquito announced that the Company's preliminary site exploration has determined the potential for six billion tons of rock containing molybdenum, copper, silver and tungsten. This resource estimate, if confirmed by future scientific measurements through exploratory drilling, would be one of the largest concentrations of combined minerals of this type in the world.

CuMo's exploration is expected to begin in June 2011 on approximately 2,900 acres of the Boise National Forest. The exploration will involve construction of up to 10.2 miles of temporary roads and up to 137 drill sites.

Since the summer of 2010, when the Environmental Assessment was released for public comment, the CuMo project team has held onsite information sessions with environmental groups, conducted public hearings and established a website for project updates at www.cumoproject.com. Mosquito pledges to continue to work with community, civic and environmental groups to carry out its exploration project within the spirit and letter of the environmental laws. If the exploration proves the feasibility of a mine, the Company will continue to work with all stakeholders to develop a sustainable and potentially beneficial economic project that will bring prosperity for many years to come to the region.

Mr. Shaun M. Dykes, M.Sc. (Eng), P.Geo., Exploration Manager and Director of Mosquito is the designated qualified person for the CuMo Project, and prepared the technical information contained in this news release.

On Behalf of the Board
MOSQUITO CONSOLIDATED GOLD MINES LTD.


Brian McClay
President

About Mosquito Consolidated Gold Mines

Mosquito Consolidated Gold Mines Limited is a mining exploration and development company with a diverse portfolio of high potential precious and base metals projects, located in low political risk environments in North America. The Company's primary focus is developing its Idaho-based CuMo project, one of the world's largest molybdenum deposits. For more information about the company, please visit www.mosquitogold.com and www.cumoproject.com

[SAGI]

COFFEE WITH CARROT HEAD!

HOUSE MAD, INDIA’S PREDICAMENT, RARE EARTH ILLUSIONS.

Good Morning. I know we have been in a rush in the last three weeks and have not had any time to languish and chat. Things have been hectic at the Sagi household, but we are getting into the rhythm of things and the house hunt continues with vigor as Mrs. Sagi takes the reigns. All the Mrs required was a car and fuel to take off to the northern parts of London. IN the space of two weeks I have gone through some forty properties so far out which we loved one, which unfortunately was under offer and shortly after accepted by the owner. One of those things I suppose. Never mind, the search continues. I am glade the coffee is strong. Relax and hear the birds coming in for the summer….

Last week we talked about how China was determined to get ahead in the race for fuel against the rest of the world. They do not have the capacity to build any more Hydroelectric dams. I also mentioned that the biggest democracy in the world was just that…a democracy that is utterly confused, politically and personally motivated. Like the US they eventually get to it. I have been saying it for months perhaps even longer that India will have to get into the race and discard Australia if they do not want to sell Uranium. Prejudice does not work in money or business. If we let personal feelings or politics interfere in the job it’s a loose loose situation. India must begin rapidly looking for other sources and begin investing quickly into small companies with large deposits and bring them to fruition. Their finance and political pull will allow small explorers with reasonable deposits to begin operating mines quickly. I am glad there are others out there who are thinking on similar lines. http://www.miningweekly.com/article/...one-2011-05-13 India is not a small country. The second largest population in the world. Approximately 12000 trains begin to move every morning. In Mumbai alone there are over 200 stations. Five million people go on trains every morning just from Mumbai, 5 million go home in the evening. Some 2 million commute during the rest of the day. Eight hundred thousand villages get their post delivered. 20000 individuals collect personal food tiffins and deliver them to their destinations just in Mumbai. India and china have the potential for the largest amount of vehicle growth per 100. At the moment its about 12 vehicles per 100. Compared to the US which has 765 per 100. The potential to expand this consumption among others is phenomenal. Over a billion people in one country. All looking to better their lives. The funny thing is that India is competing with China. Chinese consumer goods are invading India. The Indians are not happy about this. India is far behind in terms of development of nuclear power to China but there is not itme like the present for them to get into the power plays. If someone from the Indian government is reading this. Going to Kazakhstan is not the way. India has a very good relationship with Russia so that may be the reason why a Kazak agreement might work out for them. I would suggest that they get their hands quickly on ACB.AX in Botswana by agreeing to take the deposit to full production. I would place an agreement of finance with GGG.AX in Greenland and do the same. I would as a reserve get a letter of intent and agreement in place with Continental precious minerals and I would certainly make sure I would get into Canada considering the Canadian government ahs given a green light.

Uranium deposits have been expanding rapidly in the last one year. I have mentioned two of the potentials above and now Hathor has just increased its deposit by 30 million pounds and this deposit is a high percent concentration. http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/...ail&pid=102055 They have a potential to add a further 30 million pounds or perhaps even more making it another world class deposit. Hathor has potential but the news is already factored into its price. For the size of the deposit in comparison to its other siblings this company is a tad bit on the high side for the time being. Ye sits concentration is high but as they already state its far from going anywhere near production and possibly 10 years away. As opposed to Acap which intends to take its deposit into production in the coming 2 to 5 years, That is a lot quicker. Some stocks do have a good potential and in terms of production a comparison of Hathor against Paladine or Uranium one we can see more value in those stocks than Hathor. For about a dollar fifty one gets a massive producer as compared to a stock that has potential but the price does not reflect the resource. The same goes for Mawson which has some great potential but this in itself is a risk and one must be careful when investing into stocks like Mawson. In such cases go with the majority, but one must always protect their money and stop losses must be in place. Such stocks can easily tank on some rumor or the commodities markets moving strongly downward. Either way one has to be careful.

The thread was never geared to tout any particular stock. The reason we have the same stocks being talked about is that those are the leaders. These are the stocks that we talk about because for the better part of this thread it’s a one way street with me doing the talking and most others listening. I would prefer it the other way which is why the thread was started, so that we may have a discussion instead we have lectures. Hardly the way I thought it out. I would like to ask the questions rather than answering them, I would like to discuss new stocks of interest but these are not forthcoming in this sector. Uranium is not easy by any means. Most mines will take a minimum of 10 years to come to production. Still there is some excitement. When the commodity moves up we see the stocks move up. Nothing new in that! However those that are cleaver enough to understand the fundamentals and foresee uranium as one of the only long term alternatives for the medium term future …why because, whether we like it or not there are not other practical alternatives that will satisfy the universal demand that is over the horizon for now.

While I do believe in Thorium, it has the same similarity as oil and gas. Both produce energy yet one is at near bottom while the other is near top. In the case of Uranium this is not so. Thorium research is out there….somewhere… but the main research is going on in Russia and there are only a couple of companies out there that are seriously looking at Thorium. LPG can be used to convert to energy by some simple modification of the internal combustion engin. In the UK they do it all the time. In India too. Yet the demand ahs not gone flying and oil has not diminished in importance in the wake of this. That goes for Thorium too. Beside simple logic there are other issues that have to be contended with, most of which have nothing to do with the efficiency of the product. http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pu...thorimyb04.pdf I grant that this is an older document and here is another article that is more recent providing arguments for and against arguments on the subject of Thorium. http://www.cs-re.org.cn/en/modules.p...article&sid=16 My own view point on Thorium is that while it has potential its not about the “how” but about the “when” and the above article provides these arguments well. My view point is profit. Hopefully in my life time … The world in the future may perhaps run on thorium as a wonderful way to provide energy without the lethal by products. I even advocate fusion but again the how and when are a long ways from commercial application. My arguments are not merited by emotion but by the knowledge or application of it at hand. Dreaming big is good. Dreaming reality is better. For the current situation regarding Uranium this gives us an update and what we could expect. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/1487...eu-nuclear.htm We all know that prices of uranium stocks have dropped. This coming June should be the bottom. Stocks like ACB have dropped to their 52 week lows now and its time to buy. I bought some with some attack capital allocated for any further sudden drops that often happen in June. The next one that I would like to go for is Green land minerals. Finally I will be adding UUU and PDN as the major producers in my arsenal. They have had healthy drops and especially UUU which has increased production recently. The addition of two mines and its path cleared for expansion in Kazakhstan. Most of the stocks are now either oversold or approaching over sold situations. Fukushima has passed and we have to move on.

Silver is done moving down. We are now possibly going to see both gold and silver begin to move up. Several attempts were made to move down and this did not succeed. Support has been found and we should expect it to move up from July/ August. For the moment they are both range bound.

The Dollar has found resistance against both the Euro and the Pound. From here on it appears to move again within a range. We should expect the pound to attempt to move strongly up later on in the year perhaps.

Now to a subject we have not discussed for a while. Solar stocks have been dipping lately and are strongly moving down to over sold positions. Please keep an eye on the following. TSL, CSIQ, LDK, JASO, YGE, STP among others. While Solar may not be considered mainstream in terms of commercialization production of energy nor as efficient it does play a vital part in providing subsidized production at the private level. In this too its broken into two different sections especially where Tax benefits are applicable. In such cases commercial buildings are encouraged to apply the technology. Government encouragement is the greatest pusher of this providing incentive through tax benefits. On the other side export compensation is provided by countries who are dependent on exports such as China. Here is an article though released in February it gives a fair update. http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/02/...g-their-shine/ Solar stocks gain momentum usually when oil tend s to rise in price just as Uranium does. I do think that once the housing market regains its momentum and the economy begins to improve we may see the solar company profits beginning to improve. With that we may see an improvement in solar stock prices. For the moment I am seeing prices getting onto the oversold area. We may see a good opportunity this summer to get into them. Its still a long term view and it will take a very long time for solar to become serious enough to make an impact but it will also be stealthy. There will not be massive up swings but these company are manufacturers and they are in full control of production not dependent on the earth letting them take a resource. They control all the ins and outs. So there are pros and cons to this. Its not like another company will take over production if this one goes out of business it hardly ever happens. The only company that comes in after a factory has closed is the salvage company. On the other hand a company can control its growth and take its time to get where it wants to. Solar stocks remain trading stocks and are ideal for this. They are not BUY AND HOLD stocks. Do your own due diligence.

When it comes to rare earths I am as confused as the next guy. While Dines is all out for Rare earths, the manipulation leaves me a little confused. Is there or is there not a genuine fundamental demand for Rare earths and if there is which one of them is in demand? Some are cheap some are more expensive. There are different ratios of the rare earths and it can be confusing as to how to value them. What I do know is that there are two companies that look to get into production in the coming five years. One is Moly corp which initiated trade at roughly 15 dollars and now trading in the forties. The other is Lynas corp out of Australia. Both these companies are racing to get into production. Moly says its got enough to take care of the shortfall and with Lynus adding more could we see the shortfall taken care off. With other companies like Quest and Rare element resources are not anywhere near production. So why the speculation on these stocks. The only reason that I can see is the initiation of coverage of the two by Dines. So they are a speculation. Look at Greenland and compare the resources and its just a question of sheep following each other. I cannot see the logic behind Dines choosing certain stocks or continuing to cover them yet they persist in his list and that is perhaps the only reason that some of them have not dropped down to the low twenty cents. One of the stocks has questionable morals. Again Dines persists in covering it. So artificial bubbles are created and if one can detect them in time one can trade on them in much the same way that perhaps Dines does. I do not know why Greenland has not been included in the Dines letter. Perhaps it already is and he is just waiting for the right time to get it up there. Sell it and make mega bucks. Perhaps the recent falls spoiled his plans. I have no idea. It only takes one or two writers to bring interest to the stock before it begins its own bubble. If you are going to speculate on rare earths its safe to throw some pocket change at green land and sit it out. Its pretty low now. It could get a little lower but do not count on it.


Lets wait till the end of May and see where the stocks have got to. Uranium should bottom out by then if it has not already. Stocks may lie low for a while in June but that should be about the time to get some attack capital in. Gold is range bound. Dollar is also range bound for the time being. Its got stronger this week on the back of the Euro problems. I would think it will remain in the range for the better part of this year.

I apologize for the lateness in posting the coffee article once more I am spending a great deal of my time house hunting. Please bear with me. Hopefully this chaotic interlude will end.

Have a good week.


SAGI

[SAGI]

MAY 23, 2011

World nuclear energy production and uranium demand to 2020
Share

1. Bloomberg: the biggest drop in prices of uranium in two years may be ending as China and India plan atomic power developments that will more than double global production even after Japan’s nuclear disaster.

China and India will lead a 46 percent increase in consumption by the world’s five biggest atomic-power developers by 2020.



China’s Nuclear Energy Association said May 12 it will boost atomic capacity as much as eight times by 2020. A day later, India’s Atomic Energy Commission said it will increase production 13-fold by 2030.

Even if Japan develops half of its proposed 19 gigawatts of nuclear power this decade, the country, together with China, India, Russia and South Korea, will add a combined 160 gigawatts by 2020, according to Bloomberg data based on figures from the World Nuclear Association, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan and South Korea’s economy ministry.

South Korea may almost double its nuclear-fired capacity to about 36 gigawatts by 2024, accounting for 48.5 percent of the nation’s power generation up from 31.4 percent today, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. The country may add 10 reactors by 2020 totaling 12.8 gigawatts.

This global nuclear reactor build will require an extra 32,000 metric tons of uranium a year, according to calculations based on data from the World Nuclear Association. Global use will be about 69,000 tons in 2011. So 2020, uranium demand will be about 101,000 tons.

[SAGI]

Uranium to Recover as China’s Nuclear Plans Offset Fukushima (4)
Share Business ExchangeTwitterFacebook| Email | Print | A A A
By Moming Zhou, Dinakar Sethuraman and Lars Paulsson


May 23 (Bloomberg) -- The biggest drop in prices of uranium in two years may be ending as China and India plan atomic power developments that will more than double global production even after Japan’s nuclear disaster.

The radioactive metal has slumped 8.9 percent this year, the most since 2009, after tumbling as much as 27 percent as governments reviewed nuclear plants following the Japanese crisis in March, according to prices from MF Global Holdings Inc. China and India will lead a 46 percent increase in consumption by the world’s five biggest atomic-power developers by 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Soaring energy demand from the world’s fastest-growing economies is buoying uranium and prospects of miners from Cameco Corp. to Paladin Energy Inc. even after radiation leaks from Japan’s 40-year-old Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant sparked the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986. China’s Nuclear Energy Association said May 12 it will boost atomic capacity as much as eight times by 2020. A day later, India’s Atomic Energy Commission said it will increase production 13-fold by 2030.

“The question is whether what happened in Japan with older-generation reactors justifies not building newer, safer reactors, and to me the answer is no,” Spencer Abraham, a former U.S. energy secretary who is now non-executive chairman of Areva SA, the largest nuclear-equipment producer, said in a May 17 telephone interview from Washington. “China recognizes they can’t satisfy the growth in electricity demand in a single dimension and they really need a diverse group of sources.”

Expanding Capacity

A gigawatt, enough to power about 1 million U.S. homes, requires 200 tons of uranium a year at full operating rates, according to the World Nuclear Association. China, India and South Korea expect to use 262 gigawatts by 2030, more than what the U.S., Japan, Germany and France produce together, according to Bloomberg data.

Nuclear energy was being held out by nations from the U.S. to France and the U.K. as a potential solution to challenges posed by rising oil prices, which reached a record $147 a barrel in July 2008. Unlike fossil fuels, atomic power produces virtually no greenhouse gas emissions, as governments around the world try to cut down on pollution.

Those considerations became secondary after the Japanese disaster showed construction flaws at the Fukushima plant. Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the plant, posted a full- year loss of 1.25 trillion yen ($15 billion) on May 20.

Power Needs

None of that reduces the power requirements of the world’s fastest-growing economies. China’s economy will probably expand 9.5 percent this year, according to the median of 11 forecasts compiled by Bloomberg. India’s gross domestic product may grow as much as 8.5 percent in the current fiscal year, Chakravarthy Rangarajan, chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, said on May 3.

“Fukushima has made us pause and rethink some of our projects,” Xu Yuming, vice secretary general of the Nuclear Energy Association, said in a May 12 interview in Beijing. “Of course, the overall plan won’t be changed. China faces power shortages and we need to change our energy mix. To resolve these issues, we must develop nuclear.”

Even if Japan develops half of its proposed 19 gigawatts of nuclear power this decade, the country, together with China, India, Russia and South Korea, will add a combined 160 gigawatts by 2020, according to Bloomberg data based on figures from the World Nuclear Association, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan and South Korea’s economy ministry.

South Korea

South Korea may almost double its nuclear-fired capacity to about 36 gigawatts by 2024, accounting for 48.5 percent of the nation’s power generation up from 31.4 percent today, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. The country may add 10 reactors by 2020 totaling 12.8 gigawatts.

That will require an extra 32,000 metric tons of uranium a year, according to calculations based on data from the World Nuclear Association. Global use will be about 69,000 tons in 2011.

Uranium, which trades outside organized exchanges directly between buyers and sellers, fell as low as $49.99 per pound of U308, the tradable form of the metal, in the three trading days after the March 11 earthquake as Germany and Japan announced reviews of nuclear plants. It traded at $56.25 today, according to prices tracked by MF Global.

‘Still an Option’

The metal may rise as high as $65 a pound this year and advance to $75 in 2012, Fletcher Newton, a vice president at Uranium One Inc., a Vancouver-based mining company, said in a May 13 interview. Morgan Stanley forecast it will climb to $64 in 2011 and $65 in 2012.

“Whether we like it or not, nuclear is still an option that’s reliable, low cost and emission free,” said Amir Adnani, chief executive officer of Corpus Christi, Texas-based Uranium Energy Corp., a mining and processing company that is stockpiling the metal in anticipation of higher prices in the second half of the year. “In the next 20 years, the world’s nuclear capacity is going to double.”

A revival in demand may lead to a recovery in stocks of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Cameco, a co-owner of the world’s largest uranium mine, to Subiaco, Australia-based Paladin, according to analysts.

Cameco, Paladin

Shares of Cameco may rise to C$37.40 in the next 12 months, said Raymond Goldie, an analyst at Salman Partners Inc. in Toronto whose recommendations on the 13 companies he covers returned 33 percent. The shares closed at C$26.36 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on May 20, down 35 percent this year.

Paladin may climb to A$3.50 in the coming year, after dropping 34 percent this year, according to Martin Stulpner, a Perth, Australia-based analyst at Macquarie Group Ltd. It fell 2.5 percent to A$3.15 today on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Uranium prices still aren’t high enough to make it sufficiently profitable to extract, Rio Tinto Uranium Ltd. Managing Director Clark Beyer said at a conference in Beijing on May 13. The metal is at least $10 below the level required to encourage companies to increase production, he said.

Price gains may be held in check as Germany and Japan assess development plans.

German Halt

Germany, which relies on atomic energy for 23 percent of its supplies, may phase out plants as early as 2022, Georg Nuesslein, a lawmaker for Bavaria’s Christian Social Union party, said in a phone interview on May 4. Chancellor Angela Merkel ordered a halt to the country’s seven oldest reactors on March 15, removing more than 25 percent of its 20,700 megawatts of capacity, equivalent to the power needed to supply almost 21 million U.S. households.

Siemens AG, which had planned to become the market leader in atomic power along with Russia’s Rosatom Corp., has decided to abandon its nuclear plans after the Fukushima accident damaged market potential, Handelsblatt reported, citing unidentified people close to the company.

Japan, the third-biggest nuclear-power producer after the U.S. and France, is reconsidering plans to increase the share of atomic energy to 50 percent from 30 percent, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said on May 10. About 13 gigawatts of capacity is currently closed in Japan due to the earthquake, according to Societe Generale SA. No decision has been made on whether to restart the plants.

China Safety Review

“Unless we see a supply shock, it’s difficult to see a situation where we’ll see a dramatic increase in the uranium price, and that’s really the only catalyst that would bring investors back rapidly into the uranium space,” Edward Sterck, a London-based analyst at Bank of Montreal, said in a May 19 telephone interview. The metal will be little changed at $60 a pound this year and in 2012, he said.

Macquarie Group Ltd. said the metal will average $60 a pound this year, 17 percent less than previously forecast. The bank reduced its 2012 estimate by 20 percent to $56, its 2013 forecast by 31 percent to $45 and its 2014 estimate by 7.7 percent to $60, according to a report dated today.

“The Fukushima disaster has resulted in lower uranium demand from Japan and Germany in the short and long term,” the Sydney-based bank said. “Our global uranium supply and demand balance has moved from small surplus to large surplus between now and 2017.”

Electricity Use

Global electricity consumption will rise 75 percent to 35,300 terawatt-hours by 2035 from 2008’s 20,183 terawatt-hours, according to the International Energy Agency.

China’s safety review of its atomic power plants will have little impact on expansion, according to Xu at the Nuclear Energy Association.

India’s capacity will increase to 60 gigawatts by 2030 from 4.8 gigawatts, according to the country’s Planning Commission. South Korea aims to generate 60 percent of its energy from atomic plants by 2030, compared with about 35 percent now, Deputy Minister for Energy and Resource Policy Kim Junggwan said in an interview in Kuwait on April 18.

“Countries seek diversified sources of energy and security of supply at a time when energy demand is growing rapidly and is essential to an improved standard of living,” Cameco, part owner of McArthur River mine in Canada, the world’s largest deposit of high-grade uranium, said in a filing on May 6.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on April 21 renewed the operating licenses for the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Arizona, the country’s biggest atomic plant, for an additional 20 years. The U.S., which produces about 27 percent of the world’s nuclear power, had said it will scrutinize license renewals for utilities following the Japanese crisis.

“The right solution is to go forward and build safer, new- generation reactors,” Abraham said. “It will help diversify the fuel mix and contribute to energy independence. Overtime, cooler heads will prevail.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Moming Zhou in New York at mzhou29@bloomberg.net; Dinakar Sethuraman in Singapore at dinakar@bloomberg.net; Lars Paulsson in London at lpaulsson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 23, 2011 13:46 EDT

[Not Sure]

Thank you "NOT SURE", you are welcome not to. Its your discretion and your money.

SAGI

So, you are guaranteeing we'll get rich if we buy Uranium?

[Silver Buck]

While I do believe in Thorium, it has the same similarity as oil and gas. Both produce energy yet one is at near bottom while the other is near top. In the case of Uranium this is not so. Thorium research is out there….somewhere… but the main research is going on in Russia and there are only a couple of companies out there that are seriously looking at Thorium. LPG can be used to convert to energy by some simple modification of the internal combustion engin. In the UK they do it all the time. In India too. Yet the demand ahs not gone flying and oil has not diminished in importance in the wake of this. That goes for Thorium too. Beside simple logic there are other issues that have to be contended with, most of which have nothing to do with the efficiency of the product. http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pu...thorimyb04.pdf I grant that this is an older document and here is another article that is more recent providing arguments for and against arguments on the subject of Thorium. http://www.cs-re.org.cn/en/modules.p...article&sid=16 My own view point on Thorium is that while it has potential its not about the “how” but about the “when” and the above article provides these arguments well. My view point is profit. Hopefully in my life time … The world in the future may perhaps run on thorium as a wonderful way to provide energy without the lethal by products. I even advocate fusion but again the how and when are a long ways from commercial application. My arguments are not merited by emotion but by the knowledge or application of it at hand. Dreaming big is good. Dreaming reality is better.

This video is from the EnergyFromThorium website.

[SAGI]

So, you are guaranteeing we'll get rich if we buy Uranium?

I am sorry but I made a neutral remark and a polite one. Its your choice to take what is written here or not to. I do not advocate anyone to take what I write, nor do I tout it. My statement remains neutral; " You are welcome to your own decision. Its your discretion and your money."

SAGI

[SAGI]

I am sorry but I made a neutral remark and a polite one. Its your choice to take what is written here or not to. I do not advocate anyone to take what I write, nor do I tout it. My statement remains neutral; " You are welcome to your own decision. Its your discretion and your money."

SAGI

Don't get me wrong, I am not against Thorium. I have written about Thorium since 2006. I have simply changed my attitude from a fundamental based investor to a trend based trader. If Thorium were to begin to garner interest I would invest in it. Uranium reactors are already being constructed. While there are over a hundred Uranium based reactors in planning, there is one Thorium based commercial reactor that is being constructed in India. Politics play a part in this process. Power too. I cannot change that. I do not know if Uranium will be accepted for countries that are risky to provide a uranium reactor and if a Thorium design will be accepted , however one cannot ignore the commercial facts. In reply I would ask; "Can you guarantee that an investment in Thorium will make me rich? Perhaps that is a naive question so please forgive me. Neither of us can provide a guarantee on Uranium or Thorium. If you have some information please free to post. An educated and intelligent argument either "for" or "against" will be be appreciated. Note the thread heading. It includes all alternative energy. Please feel free to post a cohesive argument with references to put your point forward. I am sure all readers will appreciate it. For reference please note the one Silver buck just posted.

SAGI

[SAGI]

COFFEE WITH CARROT HEAD!

FLOGGING DEAD HORSES, A QUEST FOR RARE EARTH & FINDING FOCUS.

I am back in time for some good strong black coffee. Two and a a half sugars and forget the decaffeinated rubbish…Thank you!. Lets take it the way coffee should always be taken. Ahh …that’s more like it. Good morning….

We began talking about rare earths and though I gave my view point, I may be wrong and decided to do some more digging to get to the truth about it. It’s a dirty mining business. Let us begin with the following article. http://www.cnbc.com/id/42883232/Corr..._United_States

While saying that Rare earths are divided into two separate sections. What has come to be known as light rare earths and heavy rare earth elements or HREE. LREE are comparatively cheaper and more abundant than HRRE. Most of the deposits are about the former and very few are made up of the latter. The greater profits are in HREE. On eof the companies that does have a good deal of this metals is Quest Rare minerals. The company is still a junior even though its price has moved up since the bubble began and drastically so. I have had a look at most of the companies and I am not keen on many. In fact just two. One of which most disagree on because Greenland has not given permission for Uranium to be mines and GGG’s deposit is a Uranium combined with one of the largest heavy rare earth deposits in the world. Quest is more expensive as a stock but is also a very good company. Here is a detailed discussion and report of them. http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards...oard_id=20178# There is a lot of material out there. The good thing about rare earths is that they are not a luxury nor are they replaceable. Many of the units and products we use today require rare earths. Mining them is not easy. Rare earths are not uncommon but finding a commercially viable deposit is very difficult. So we have a favorite and one that has all odds set against it. Both have different requirements and different methods. Technically Quest appears range bound. Its worth while to allow something to happen to allow it to move down and buy into it. GGG is getting to a point of oversold and perhaps in 20 days may reach that point or jump back from here on. It would be worthwhile getting into it at that point.

Specifically to Uranium stocks I am concentrating only on our two mid range producers. PDN and UUU; The two have had a descent fall lately. They are good profit making stocks. We cannot ignore that. My valuation is perhaps simplistic without all the nitty gritty of NPV and cash flow analysis. I am looking at them from a technical point and they look like they are range bound for the time being. There is no interest to move into oversold position, and I think we should wait for perhaps a drop again the same as the above. June is where I will add attack capital.

Its coming to the beginning of summer. We often see this period becoming calm and perhaps before the storm in September and October.

Now some interesting news for the dollar. The Australian and Canadian dollar are both getting to near over bought territory. It continues to remain range bound against the Euro and the Pound. The condition shows that perhaps in a month maybe by the end of summer we may see both the Australian and the Canadian dollar moving down for a breather. The economy of Australia and Canada are dependent on their respective resources. A large part of their export contribution and contribution to GDP is directly attributed to these. Their currencies value is directly reflected due to the higher prices of the backing commodities. It is also true that the Australian dollar has a higher return of interest than the US dollar. The US is gearing itself to keep the dollar low. China is not happy because imports into the US are more expensive. It also means that US produced exports are cheaper. At the same time keeping the interest rate low allows house buyers a better chance of getting onto the housing market. One of the worries of the government is that people will not be able to afford housing. More of concern is not the present houses but new houses and the entire industry that is related to it. This makes up a major part of the economy in mainstream America. If current house prices drop new houses have to compete and they cannot if the price drops below cost. If that occurs new house building drops. With it a major part of an industry collapses. The government fears that, it reflects on other connected industry which may lead to yet other collapses a domino effect. So its in their interst to do two things, keep the value of the dollar low so that the industries already there have a better chance to survive and keep interest rates low to allow houses to be bought and reduce the chances of defaults, in turn reduce the number of banks dropping, employment….. the list is endless. It’s a dilemma and better Ben than me in that seat.

The world –our planet- earth is an amazing itinerary of checks and balances. A delicate see-saw ever moving and ever changing, moving minuscule amounts to adjust. Our inability to understand is always forgiven, but from time to time when that inability to understand became unbearable, nature took them out. I agree its not happened often, but it has happened. Nature and this planet I suspect will far outlast our species if we are not careful.

I really appreciate nature. It’s the most amazing thing that our planet has to offer for our vision. Speaking of our vision; Clarity is not constantly required, but a single moment of clarity of thought is all that makes a difference between us making money and loosing some. Our foresight and forethought provide us with insight and vision of the future. Our lack of concentration and passiveness in investments as well as trading is what looses us hard earned cash. Cold hard decisions are paramount. Emotional investments are the way we perhaps may begin, but it is cold hard edges that finally allow us to make the cut to the final few. I have read a few books and articles about good traders, I do not know what they have, I however managed to find a few things that they do not; For example they are not greedy, they never go against their instincts, most appear to be content, they never ever look for the one big massive bonanza.

I lie I did find out one thing. They research their own methods of investing and have a criteria that they follow diligently. A method that is followed like a recipe and does not matter if they make a loss but the system allows them to come and fight another day. Small digs make a hole and then a tunnel. While I do not condemn aspiration, or ambition, there must be a method to the madness. Set up a system. KISS – Keep it simple stupid is to be applied. I apply it and am a keen student of various good traders to do the same. No system is 100% accurate not even 75%. A good system must be followed without second guessing. Profit or loss the system is followed through again and again.

It really does not matter what one invests in. Be it Uranium, gold, silver, coal or rubbish. What matters is that one succeeds in making money. When ones emotions come into play, or ego, one tends to loose focus. Its not about whether another trader makes money or not, he is on his path you are on your own! The two will never meet. I can advice that one should never wait to get right to the top of the price to sell. Be content. Pick a spot if it surpasses than pick another spot, if it does not reach there; Sell! Wait for another entry point. Have a price limit and a time limit and if one or the other is reached unless the price is moving in the right direction then extend your time limit otherwise get out and wait for a better entry point. I must add that I do not always follow the rules but we are here to learn; To better our selves, to improve from our mistakes, perhaps become better individuals not only as investors but also as human beings.

There is a game ( I think I have talked about this before ) called “Deal or no Deal”, its interesting and about the psychology of the player. Players are randomly provided with 22 boxes each of which have rewards between 1 penny and 250,000 pounds. The player in the middle has one of these boxes, which he chose and he begins to open the rest of the boxes each, of which reveals a different reward that is taken out of game. The idea being that your box in the end has a high prize. In the twist there is a banker that bids for your box based on which of the other prizes you have removed and his bid goes up and down based on what prizes are left in the game. While most players are bidding for the £250,000.00 they more often than not will not accept the bid of the banker. I watched one game where the banker offered 140,000 pounds for the players box but she refused and in the end left with 10,000 pounds. The motto is a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. However most players believe the opposite and play the game always believing the banker can be beaten. Our trades are no different if we wait for gold to go to 5000 dollars well it could be a long while and in the meanwhile we loose and gain profits a number of times, the price being the bid from the banker. It’s the same for any investment be it in commodities, stocks or anything else. Every single thing is a bubble. Most people loose because they do not sell a business near its peak but rather when it has turned down. A good deal is when a buyer believes there is still value to move upwards and thus the price is justified. After that it truly is “Flogging dead horses.” Always try to sell before that peak is reached. Do your own thinking and consider the merits of one method with the other. Which is safer and more sensible? Greed often gets us gutted.

It amazing how we pick on one subject and suddenly its in the news. We have recently discussed Thorium. Now suddenly we have news. http://mg.co.za/article/2011-05-27-b...nuclear-power/ As I mentioned I am always open to ideas and suggestions. However I cannot see Thorium, “as the writer mentions”; not a single thorium commercial reactor at the present and factoring in the time it took for uranium reactors to get where they are now, I would prudently think it will take at least half as long for Thorium ones to reach as far in the future. Another good article little dated but detailed. http://www.regjeringen.no/upload/OED...Report2008.pdf

A year or two ago I wrote about focus and how to train ones self to remove all the debris that we tend to find around us and be able to get on with the job at hand. Its difficult to garner this kind focus for longer periods of time. In Archery we call it zoning in. There are days when I spent hours on the range trying to get into this kind of focus. Often enough I will never get into it. It takes practice and practice and practice. When one does achieve this kind of focus it is truly an achievement at a different level. A level where all the noise becomes irrelevant where one has to consciously decide to move to this new level and work at it. When we achieve this consciousness all other levels below loose importance. The level allows us to move away from the daily problems and all things that irritate us and interfere with our concentration. People around you will not understand you and will be frustrated by your silence. However all these things will not affect you. To garner this kind of focus here is one way that will enable you to gain this skill.

Sit in a comfortable position straight back preferably or as we call it the lotus position. The lotus position requires one to cross their legs and sit on the floor. Sit in a quiet room preferably. Close your eyes and begin to concentrate your focus on the blackness. The darker this blackness the more focused you are becoming. If any thoughts come into your mind, ask your mind to clear them. Basically say; “Mind, clear these thoughts.” Focus until you can hear your breathing, focus until you can feel your heart beating. This will not happen the first time. It may take months but you can take one step at a time. Every day preferably either very early in the morning or very late at night focus this way for fifteen minutes. Before beginning this say a little prayer, asking for clarity and allowing you to focus. Slowly you will begin to take control of this method. After a while you will be able to draw this focus willingly. Soon you will be able to switch in and out as you wish. With this focus you will also be able to also think outside the box and be able to look at things from a very different point of view. Be warned many things will become irrelevant. Even relationships will loose their importance at some points. They will merely become points of routine that one has to follow through. Clarity is what one can see while others cannot without doubt in our mind. When there is doubt do not invest. Play it safe.

The week has ended on positive note with gold moving up as well as Uranium stocks beginning to move up. Perhaps it will be time soon perhaps as early as next week to begin getting in. I have finally found a nice little cottage and though there is some work doing it up, I am positive about this one. It’s a little out of London…and perhaps suits my spirit. I do like to have some peace and quiet. Perhaps I am still looking for a piece of Africa. Old habits die hard.. I suppose. I do miss my old friends but new ones will soon appear. I await their banter patiently.

With that I bid you a good weekend.

SAGI.

[SAGI]

The following Alternative energy stocks look over sold this week.
BLDP, CBAK, CSIQ, CSUN, EFL.TO, ESLR, FSLR, HTM, JASO, LDK, SPIR, STP, TSL.

Please keep an eye on these for the coming two weeks.

SAGI

[mike88]

bought STRATHMORE friday, pink sheet in the us exchange.

[SAGI]

bought STRATHMORE friday, pink sheet in the us exchange.

Its a stable price and looks like they are moving well on their Roca Honda deposit.

SAGI

[SAGI]

Looks like the alternative stocks i mentioned are doing OK. Moved up most of them today. a lucky call.

Here is some response on the the news that Germany has decided to close down all their Nuke stations by 2020. Politicians say a lot of things. five years down the road another politician takes their place and says something else.

Have a read on this.
http://www.uranium-stocks.net/dont-f...rns/#more-1629

SAGI

[SAGI]

Spoke too soon and they are down again. Ummm still think they are oversold so keep an eye on them. June coming in tomorrow. We should see bottom in june for Uranium stocks.

SAGI

[fat panther]

Things in perspective:

The Future of Atomkraft
By The Casey Research Energy Team

In a dramatic about-face, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced on Monday that Germany will phase out nuclear power completely by 2022, shutting down its nine operational reactors and never re-starting the seven reactors that were suspended in the wake of the nuclear disaster at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Germany has struggled with a conflicted yet essential relationship with nuclear power from the start. West Germany built its first nuclear power plant in 1960; since then, the country has come to rely on nuclear reactors for more than 20% of its power needs. But the industry's growth has not come without opposition. A 1975 fire at the Ludmin plant on the Baltic Coast almost caused a core meltdown. A few years later the Green Party formed and quickly became a nationwide political force based on their "Atomkraft? Nein, Danke" (Nuclear Power? No Thanks) slogan.

For the next 20 years the country battled with nuclear waste, first transporting it to medium-term storage facilities because of protests against building a national waste processing facility, then shipping it to facilities in France and Britain. In the early 2000s protestors regularly blocked waste transports, creating a tension-filled period that culminated in the death of an anti-nuclear activist.

In this context the coalition government committed to phasing out nuclear power by the mid-2020s. But six years later, in 2006, Chancellor Merkel said it would be a mistake for Germany to turn off its nuclear power plants. Four years later she strengthened that stance with a plan to run the country's nuclear plants for an additional 12 years, until 2033. That law passed in the country's lower house in October 2010.

Five months later, the massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The world held its breath for weeks as TEPCO struggled to contain the radiation, restore electricity to the site, and repair cooling systems to prevent major core meltdowns. Anti-nuclear protestors in Germany seized on the catastrophe to push the Chancellor to reverse her stance. Within days Merkel suspended the decision to extend the lifespans of the country's nuclear plants; she also halted operations at the seven oldest plants, which all started up before 1980, for three months.

Now, after a weekend that saw tens of thousands of Germans demonstrate against nuclear power across the country, Chancellor Merkel has cemented both of those decisions. All of Germany's nuclear reactors will be permanently mothballed by 2022, a stunning policy reversal. The decision makes Germany the first major industrialized power to turn its back on nuclear power since the Fukushima disaster. Germany has 17 reactors, of which nine are currently operational. The seven non-operational plants are the old reactors taken offline in the wake of Fukushima, and one is the Kruemmel plant in northern Germany, which has been mothballed for years due to technical problems. None of the reactors that are currently offline will be reactivated; and the newer, operational plants will be shut down in 2021 and 2022.

Now Germany will have to find new sources to supply 23% of its power needs, which is the load its nuclear reactors carried in 2010. The Merkel-led coalition government says it plans to push the country to cut power usage by 10% by 2020. It will also promote doubling the use of wind and solar power, so that renewables will provide 35% of the country's power by the time nuclear goes offline.

Merkel's change of heart follows from a string of disastrous election results for her Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Free Democrat allies, which have been largely blamed on her unpopular pro-nuclear policy. In March the Greens won control of a CDU stronghold - the populous state of Baden-Wuerttemberg - in a major blow to Merkel's credibility as a coalition leader. Last year her party lost its majority in the Upper House after failing to hold on to another highly populated region, the North Rhine-Westphalia.

Germany's power providers were not pleased with the nuclear decision. "The end (of nuclear power) by 2022 is not the date we had hoped for," said a spokesman from RWE, Germany's largest power provider. The company also said it will keep "all legal options open," in reference to the government's decision to maintain the newly-imposed nuclear fuel tax despite enforcing plant shutdowns. The tax was linked to the extension of reactor lives. RWE and Germany's other main power provider, E.ON, had been threatening to sue the government over the levy even before the nuclear power shutdown plan was announced. And in a separate case RWE has already filed litigation challenging Germany's temporary (now permanent) suspension of the seven old power plants following Fukushima.

The German power industry association, BDI, said the exit of nuclear power would push energy prices up and make it more difficult to reach emissions targets, as "the shortfall of nuclear power will have to be compensated by coal and gas power stations." Merkel, however, says Germany's goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2020 also remains in place.

According to Platts, there are some 13GW of thermal energy capacity, comprising mainly hard coal but some lignite and gas, already under construction in Germany. But four out of nine coal power stations and a lignite unit currently under construction are unlikely to be commissioned as originally scheduled in 2011 and 2012, due to a problem with boiler construction. This fact, along with the planned nuclear shutdowns, is prompting talk that the nuclear plan is untenable because it will leave Germany with insufficient power capacity.

The German decision prompted losses for several major uranium producers on Monday. Cameco (T.CCO), the world's largest pure uranium producer, lost 3.3% while Uranium One (T.UUU) fell 2.7%. However, we do not expect Germany's decision to impact the uranium story in the long run.

Germany's 17 reactors account for just 5% of global demand. By comparison, there are 104 nuclear reactors in the United States and 58 in France. And developed economies are not expected to contribute significantly to uranium demand growth - the developing world will play that role. China has 27 reactors under construction, 50 planned, and another 110 proposed. India has 5 under construction, 18 planned, and 40 proposed. Russia has 10 under construction, 14 planned, and 30 proposed. And so on.

We have said it before and will say it again - the long-term fundamentals for uranium are very strong. Demand growth with outstrip increases in supply in the medium term, as the developing world works frantically to provide its billions of citizens with electricity. The Fukushima disaster, and Germany's reaction to it, will do little to derail this trajectory.

What Germany's decision will do, however, is further promote renewable energies. On Monday solar cell makers Q-Cells SE and Solar World gained 8.5% and 8.8%, while wind turbine maker Nordex advanced 13.3%. Those reactionary gains aren't sustainable, but in turning its back on nuclear power Germany has given a lift to solar and wind that will last.

[SAGI]

COFFEE WITH CARROT HEAD!

JUNE LOWS, MOLY REALITIES & EXPECTATIONS

Good Morning Its time for our coffee. Perhaps this article will be shorter than usual. A sigh of relief I hear….. Yes Sagi you do go on a tad bit! Yes we could do with a wee shorter article just to give our eyes some relief. Your wish! Master…is my command. However I do have my price and that is a good cup of coffee. Lets go for the strong Kaawa. Arabian style this time. Thick and sweet please! Yes yes I know it’s a little unusual. Humor me please…. It really does have a kick.

This week has been rather as expected. At one point I was expecting Uranium stocks to begin moving but rather the opposite has occurred. Uranium stocks after Germany decided to bow out has impacted the stocks with the fear that others may follow. One has to consider the people of Germany. How their politics play a role and how much of an impact it would have on elections. They changed their mind after the elections now they have a reason to change their mind to get re-elected. There are some who think China should be ignored. To be honest so would the Chinese. Nothing would give them greater pleasure than to be ignored. Ignore them and they can get on with their agenda without too much attention. There is an old saying I know not whence it came but “When there is blood on the streets, BUY land” It applies in general. When stocks are at their lowest, when no one wants them when all expect them to drop would be the perfect time to invest into them, with one rule applied …that the fundamentals remain intact. If the fundamentals change for the worse well one needs to consider these and restrain their intention. Germany played a very small part in Nuclear simply because they never intended to increase stations drastically. All they had intended was not cancel their stations as they earlier intended and now have simply moved back to the initial order. I cannot see Fukushima being the sole reason why Germany changed their mind but I can see it as an excuse to change their mind. No one makes a quick decision like that considering the implications that quickly on a national scale. Not without seeing the eventual outcome. Something stinks and its smell says politics.

There are hundreds of pipelines for transporting fuel around the world. Here is a link that provides you with maps of all the pipelines. http://www.theodora.com/pipelines/wo...pipelines.html There are thousands of miles of these. The history of pipelines is long and distinguished. http://www.penspen.com/Downloads/Pap...sPipelines.pdf Vehicles will be here for a little bit longer than we think they will be. Oil is needed not only to run cars but many of the worlds trains are still diesel engines, Many ships run on oil fuel or diesel. The reason for this is that oil is easily transportable does not require any kind of pressurized tanks to hold it and the same goes for its transportation. This is not the case for gas. Gas though is cheaper, the transportation is anything but easy. Petroleum gas is is gaseous form in its natural state. Specialized vessels are required to transport it by road as well as by sea or by pipe line. All these vessels whether to transport oil, or gas by land or by sea require to be secured as petrol is corrosive. It eats into ordinary mild steel over a very short period of time and requires to be replaced often. To counter this as we already know they require to add molybdenum to the chemical composition which enables the metal to become resistant to corrosion. Here is a good article on the uses of Moly. http://www.aaronstraker.com/2011/03/...ent-right-now/ While arronstraker looks at investment in producers and near producers, I am considering a slightly riskier but slightly cheaper option. Considering the current recession and yes it is a recession I think we may languish in it for a number of years. While governments can control the flow of finance they cannot control human emotion and one of the most difficult things to achieve is to turn around an extreme view point. Once bitten twice shy. It would take a miracle for view point to change in year. It would be a real miracle for people to begin aggressively investing in infrastructure and be once more risk takers. As in anything there is a curve on the graph. We are bottoming on this cure I feel. “Feel” is not a good word as it is imprecise. However when it comes to the above that is the best I can do. In view that the recession is not over, that recovery may be a little further into the future, that the masses will take more time to get jobs, to improve their lives to recover from debt that was incurred, to begin to feel more confident about spending and the wheel therefore will take time to move and begin to roll. In view of that we are taking a risk, and in view of this it is better to get into an investment that is not yet a producer but that does have good financial backing, that does have a good potential to become a producer or to be bought out when the economy does recover. While we cannot factor in how long it would take to recover, we do know that economic cycles are simply that and we will see a movement upwards in this decade. That demand for housing cannot be ignored, the demand for office space cannot be ignored, transportation cannot be ignored, and as long as there is a demand for steel, there will be a demand for moly. The stocks that I do like is Mosquito consolidated, because while the world is in recession I can see it has time to increase the size of its deposit with minimal spending and when things begin to improve, finance will be easier to garner, demand will have also increased , the perfect time to go into production. MSQ.V. If one is willing to take even more risk, CZQ.TO is another stock that has a big moly deposit.

I recently attended a gathering of like minded individuals and among the speakers was a young lady. She was talking about hurt and grudges and it left me with a thought. Human cells tend to generate and while the following argument is based around logic and inference. When we are hurt or someone hurts us through word and we remember these thoughts we tend to hold them for a long time. We do not forget or move on. This person said this and that friend said that…. Nothing remains for ever. We are constantly regenerated or destroyed, decayed. Nothing remains stagnant or constant. It continuously moves. In a period of five to ten years every single cell that existed at that point when you were hurt has either regenerated or been destroyed. In essence we are a completely new person, yet the brain retains memory of these hurts. Why should we hold these things in our mind. They are of no consequence as the body they happened to has been completely regenerated. Our body is constantly changing, moving and yet we do not forget. The first thing that happens with these thoughts is that they hold up vital space and occupy space of more positive thoughts. The person that had been hurt is long gone to be replaced with every single new cell in your body, not one cell hold the memory of a beating or a hurt in ten years. So what use is it to hold this thought. Revenge is of no consequence except a non rewarding satisfaction of balancing books. Even after that revenge what then? What did one really gain? The method to moving on is to forget these thoughts as they are an anchor that holds you back. They do not let you move forward and to progress. This sort of thinking will almost never come in youth unless you are an anomaly and if it were to come in youth your progress will be phenomenal. The other problem is understanding and putting it to practice. It is far from easy. We are surrounded by physical wants. Marriage is a typical format. Everyone tends to think the other couple is happier. What makes you think anyone is happier? Everyone thinks that they got the short end of the stick. Here is a thought…Every one has the same length of stick. Most of tend to loose the passion of marriage after a very short time. Often it comes with the expectation that we want out of the relationship. I remember meeting a couple that had recently got married after staying together as boyfriend and girlfriend for ten years. They had their first intense fight 6 days after the honey moon ended. I was perplexed and asked what was difference in the relationship which was not there in the last ten years. The many heatedly replied; “She is my wife and she does not behave like one…” So here was the key..he was expecting something more out of the marriage that was not the issue when she was his girlfriend. I expect this….I expect that …Well why do you expect?

Some people believe that if one leaves this civilization and becomes a hermit one will get that enlightenment. This enlighten sense and becoming a hermit does not require a journey to a cave in the Himalayas, one can get that even in your own home because its in your mind that one requires to be a hermit not outside and like a boxer practice is what is required and that does not happen in the boxing ring. The boxing ring is simply the test. The final outcome. The greatest of frustration is our expectations. When we expect we are already considering rewards that we have not got. When we stop expecting things to happen we do not get frustrated. The most important thing is action without expectation. When we do begin with good action we are practicing and the outcome is inevitable and should not be expected. It is simply that and outcome the most important thing is your action. When we add expectation to this action as we expect a reward it simply negates the action and makes it worthless. Enjoy the action of working for only that and when your action does bear fruit simply enjoy it. Its is simplicity that we must try to garner that enables us to achieve a richness in our lives that may not be achievable by the rich and even the famous.

Perhaps this would be a good time to stop and reflect.

Have a good weekend.

SAGI

[SAGI]

Published: Monday June 6, 2011 MYT 7:57:00 PM

Southeast Asia’s 1st nuclear plant will start in Vietnam in 2020



MOSCOW: South East Asia's first nuclear power plant will be operational in Vietnam in 2020 after six years of construction, as demand for nuclear energy remains strong in the region in the post-Fukushima era, a nuclear conference was told Monday.

It will be commissioned two years after Bangladesh completes its Roopur Nuclear Power Project and becomes the latest country in the region to develop such energy.

Tran Chi Thank, of the Vietnam Institute of Energy, said the first plant would be built by Russia while Japan would undertake the construction of the second one beginning 2015 and ready for commissioning in 2021.

Both will be built in the Ninh Thuan province, he said.

"The study towards nuclear energy in Vietnam began 30 years ago but was put on hold due to the Chernobyl (crisis in Russia) in 1986. But it was approved in 2009, " he told the AtomExpo 2011 organised by Russia's State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) here.

Besides Vietnam, other South East Asian countries that have declared their intention to develop nuclear energy are Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

According to Tran, the biggest challenge facing Vietnam was to develop its nuclear manpower as the number of personnel available now was limited, adding that they were working closely with Russian nuclear institutes to train them.

Shawkat Akhbar from Bangladesh's Nuclear Power and Energy Division said the country was moving into nuclear energy due to limited resources.

"We hope to achieve 20,000 MW of electricity by 2021 from two units. In fact the Roopur site was chosen in 1963," he said, adding that more than 1,600 personnel were involved in the project team.

Both Vietnam and Bangladesh have sent their personnel to undertake intensive training in Russia.

Yury Seleznev, Rector of Russia's training institute CICE& T, said about 1,000 highly trained personnel were required to run a two unit nuclear plant, adding that training must start five years before a plant was commissioned.

"All staff must be already trained two years before the plant starts operation. A training centre that also plays the role of an information centre must be in place five years before the operation," he said. - Bernama

[SAGI]

Bulgaria plans to increase nuclear energy share
Font Size: Larger|Smaller
Monday, June 6, 2011
SOFIA - Agence France-Presse
Bulgaria plans to increase its reliance on nuclear energy by 2020 under a new proposal adopted by the government last week.

"Bulgaria will defend the right to maintain and increase its share of nuclear energy to European institutions," it said.

Currently, Bulgaria relies for 35 percent of its demand on energy from its sole nuclear plant of Kozloduy, while 55 percent comes from coal and gas power plants and 10 percent from renewable energy.

Under the proposal, the country will seek to extend the life of Kozloduy's only two 1,000-megawatt reactors past their 2017 and 2019 operation end dates.

It also calls for the construction of two new reactors, either at the existing site or at a new plant in Belene on the Danube, east of Kozloduy.

The Belene project, initially planned to come on line in 2014, has been stalled over differing cost estimates.

Russia, whose Atomstroyexport agency was commissioned in 2008 to build the two Belene reactors, said it could not build the plant for less than 6.3 billion euros ($9.1 billion), even though the initial amount was put at 3.9 billion euros.

Bulgaria meanwhile refused to pay anything over 5 billion euros.

The new strategy document also foresees improving energy security by diversifying fuel sources and distribution networks.

Bulgaria depends almost entirely on Russian gas deliveries via Ukraine and on oil, which comes mainly from Russia. Its sole oil refinery belongs to Russian giant Lukoil.

Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov insisted on Saturday that Bulgaria's gas distribution network would be linked up to Greece's in 2014, allowing it to receive gas from Azerbaijan as part of the Turkey-Greece-Italy, or TGI, pipeline.

Discussions were also ongoing to link the Bulgarian network to those of Romania, Serbia and Turkey, he said.

Bulgaria is already a shareholder in the European Nabucco gas project and the rival South Stream pipeline, backed by Russian state-controlled energy giant Gazprom and Italy's ENI.

British gas and oil development company Melrose Resources meanwhile started production in October at two offshore natural gas fields in Bulgaria, estimated to contain reserves of some 74 billion cubic feet (2 billion cubic meters) of gas, which should satisfy 15 percent of the country's natural gas needs.

[SAGI]

June 07, 2011 07:00 ET

Hathor's Summer Expansion Drilling Is Underway at Roughrider's Far East Zone

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - June 7, 2011) - Hathor Exploration Limited (TSX:HAT) is pleased to announce that the 2011 summer diamond drill program is underway at the Roughrider Uranium Deposit in the Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan.

Two rigs are now on site and drilling has begun. The program will run for approximately 8 weeks, with some 7,000 metres of drilling planned. The drill program will be extended for as long as the mineralization at Far East remains open to the east.

Figure 1 shows an aerial view of the overall Roughrider uranium deposit. Figure 2 is a plan map of the current extent of mineralization at the East and Far East Zones, and the location of the diamond drill holes planned for the 2011 summer program. Far East is open to the east, from the eastern-most drill holes which contained the strongest replacement mineralization and produced the highest grade-thickness intersections, including 42.8 m at 3.26% U3O8 in drill hole MWNE-11-698, and 51.0 m at 1.69% U3O8 in drill hole MWNE-11-695 (Figure 3 and Figure 4).

The Roughrider Uranium Deposit is currently estimated to contain 58 M lbs U3O8 in the East and West Zones, including 54 M lbs U3O8 contained in approximately 212,000 tonnes of rock at an average grade of 12% U3O8 (West Zone, SEDAR, January 14, 2011: 17.21 M lbs U3O8 Indicated; 10.60 M lbs U3O8 Inferred; East Zone, News Release, May 17, 2011: 30 M lbs U3O8 at 11.58% U3O8 Inferred). The Roughrider System has not been fully tested. As shown in Figure 5, the Far East Zone, with 15 mineralized drill holes already, presents significant upside to the overall resource potential of the Roughrider Uranium Deposit. Further, as shown in Figure 6, the Midwest Trend, as defined by magnetic and resistivity surveys, has proven potential for additional deposits on the property based on results from 5 drill transects completed to date.

Midwest Northeast Property

The Midwest NortheastProperty is located within the main uranium-producing eastern corridor of the Athabasca Basin. The Property comprises 3 mineral leases covering 598 ha. Infrastructure is excellent. The Property is connected to Highway 955 by a 6 km winter road. The property is 8.5 km north of the infrastructure centre of Points North and the Points North commercial airport, the main service hub for northeastern Saskatchewan. The Property is within 25 km of operating uranium mine, mill and tailings facilities established at Rabbit Lake and McClean Lake during the past 35 years of production in the Athabasca Basin.

Terra Ventures Inc. owns a qualified 10% interest in the largest claim on the Property, carried to the completion of a positive feasibility study and announcement of intent for commercial production. Terra and Hathor recently announced (May 9, 2011) a definitive Plan of Arrangement, which remains subject to a number of conditions including, but not limited to, receipt of all regulatory, court and shareholder approvals, that will result in consolidation of 100% ownership of the Roughrider uranium deposit.

Alistair McCready, Ph.D., P.Geo., Hathor's V.P. Exploration with responsibility for all of Hathor's exploration in Saskatchewan, and Michael Gunning, Ph.D., P.Geo., Hathor's Chief Executive Officer, are Qualified Persons as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and have reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release.

Dr. Michael H. Gunning, President & CEO

[SAGI]

Protest against uranium mines in India could unravel a $500bn nuclear plan
Just as India ramps up its existing nuclear reactor fleet, opposition from several quarters to uranium mines is set to undo the country's big atomic energy plans.
Author: Shivom Seth
Posted: Friday , 03 Jun 2011
RELATED STORIES
Reward and radiation for Canada's Port Hope
Cameco, Uranium One shares fall on Germany's nuclear decision
Nuclear energy renaissance - has it stalled or must it go on?
Uranium price set to recover as big Chinese and Indian nuclear plans still on track
As uranium resources double, how does Hathor fare against the giants?
India keen to slake uranium thirst, before China finishes the bottle
Toro chief says future nuclear demand will not be swayed by Fukushima event


MUMBAI -
The state of Andhra Pradesh in India was poised to become a major uranium hub, contributing almost 25% of the nuclear fuel for India's future nuclear energy needs. However, Uranium Corporation of India's proposal to expand the production of uranium mining in Thumalapalle in Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh has come under fire.
Members of the National Alliance for People's Movement have opposed the project and the permission granted to the company's expansion plans. Officials have said the uranium mining would be hazardous to the people living in the region.
It is not just this project. Across India, protests have been growing against old and new nuclear power plants. Nuclear power plants are proposed at Haripur in West Bengal, Mithi Virdi in Gujarat, Madban in Maharashtra, Chutka in Madhya Pradesh and Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh.
The country aims to produce 20,000 mw of nuclear power by the year 2020. Analysts have estimated its atomic energy market at $150-200 billion, predicted to rise to $500 billion if plans are implemented as targeted. The latest developments could however, put a paid to the plan.
Speaking about Andhra Pradesh, analysts said that Tummalapalle and adjoining areas in Super Basin in Kadapa are set to emerge as one of the major uranium provinces in the world, with almost a dozen new places with vast uranium resources being identified there.
It is estimated that as much as five hundred thousand tonnes of uranium resources can be extracted in the Super Basin in Kadapa. Moreover, uranium mineralisation in Vempalle extends over a 160 km belt from Maddimadugu to Chelumpalli, with the area turning into a potential zone for uranium exploitation. As many as 10 new blocks have been identified within a radius of 30 km around Tummalapalle, analysts have said.
However, protesters have noted that the local villagers in the region have been facing an acute shortage of ground water, with the district officials forbidding the digging of new borewells. Earlier, a section of the villagers of Peddamula village had stopped the ongoing reconnaissance survey of uranium deposits near Chitriyal village in Chandampet, in Andhra Pradesh.
Anti-uranium activists had also launched a protest walk earlier to mobilise public support against the Uranium Corporation of India's proposal to set up uranium mining and processing units at Peddagattu and Seripally..
A Human Rights Forum state official had flayed the government's insistence on going ahead with the project when local tribes expressed their opposition against it. ``Development should not be at the cost of people. Sustained development with people's involvement is the need the hour,'' he said.

In jeopardy

With India's annual domestic uranium production expected to double to about 800 tonnes by 2014 from mines in the eastern state of Jharkhand and the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, the opposition to the project has come as a severe setback.
India has been developing a new mine in Tummalapalle in Andhra Pradesh with reserves of 49,000 tonnes. According to a report tabled by the government, an additional 22,500 tonnes of additional uranium resources has been established in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Meghalaya taking the country's uranium resources to about 1,62,000 tonnes.
India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also reaffirmed the country's commitment to harness nuclear energy for sustainable economic growth.
According to the World Nuclear Association, India has 20 reactors in operation, and four under construction. The country expects to have 20,000 MW of nuclear capacity by 2020 and 63,000 MW by 2032.
But opposition to many projects could well derail this. Take the case of the Jaitapur plant.
The 9,900 mw Jaitapur nuclear power plant, consisting of six nuclear reactors in Madban village, Ratnagiri district, in Maharashtra, was to be the world's largest nuclear power plant. French state owned nuclear engineering firm Areva and India's Nuclear Power Corporation of India had signed a $22-billion agreement in December 2010, to build six nuclear reactors in the presence of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President.
However, in the wake of the nuclear tragedy at Fukushima in Japan, there has been severe opposition to the setting up of the French European Pressurised Reactors at the proposed Jaitapur nuclear facility, on the grounds that the reactors are of recent origin and therefore, unproven.
French Ambassador to India Jerome Bonnafont has been quoted by newswire agencies as saying that a conference has been scheduled for June 7, to discuss the matter among members of governments in charge of nuclear energy, to improve the safety systems and standards of atomic power plants.
This will be followed in August by the findings of the People's Tribunal on the Safety, Viability and Cost Efficiency of Nuclear Energy on the Jaitapur nuclear power project.

Shoring up

Over the next two decades, India has said it is aiming to increase its atomic energy generation capacity 13-fold. The country is in talks with Kazakhstan, Niger and Namibia to acquire uranium mines, even as talks are on with Canada for importing the reactor fuel.
Besides Tummalapalee, there are six mines in Jharkhand which produce 400 tonnes of uranium a year, along with the project at Lambapur in Andhra Pradesh and in Hubli, Karnataka. According to an official of the Uranium Corporation of India, huge uranium reserves have been identified at Lambapur-Peddagattu region in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh.
Analysts tracking the sector have said that Indian companies have announced about $7 billion of overseas energy acquisitions since January 2010, as compared with $37 billion of bids by Chinese companies.
Opposition to several uranium projects within India could well ensure that India emerges as a buyer of uranium companies around the world, increasing competition for a limited number of assets.

[SAGI]

Malaysia Rare Earths in Largest Would-Be Refinery Incite Protest
Share Business ExchangeTwitterFacebook| Email | Print | A A A
By Yoolim Lee


June 1 (Bloomberg) -- On a sweltering Sunday in April, more than 300 people pack a room above GC Curry House, a popular eatery on a tree-lined avenue in Kuantan on Malaysia’s east coast. They’re here to discuss the potential hazards of a rare- earth refinery Sydney-based Lynas Corp. is building about 25 kilometers away that will process radioactive ore into the exotic metals that go into tech gadgets, hybrid cars and weapon systems.

Member of Parliament Fuziah Salleh tells the residents that the Australian company got a 12-year tax break from Malaysia even as other countries would shun the plant -- set to be the world’s largest rare-earth refinery -- because of the health risks it poses. That information draws boos from the crowd.

An audience member, Chow Kok Chew, says he used to live near a rare-earth plant in western Malaysia run by a joint venture that included Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp. and shut down in 1992. Carelessness by plant operators led to the radiation poisoning of local people’s livestock, he says.

Now a Kuantan resident, Chow, 61, sobs as he says, “I don’t want it to happen here.”

Protesters have called on Prime Minister Najib Razak to block the refinery’s opening, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its July issue.

Safety Review

In response, the government on April 22 announced that an independent panel of experts would conduct a one-month safety review and hold up the plant’s pre-operating license until it was complete. Still, Lynas says it expects to begin producing rare earths at the site on schedule in the third quarter.

The protests threaten to interfere with Najib’s efforts to show he’s committed to an economic plan that seeks $444 billion in private investment over nine years. He has to avoid angering voters who have environmental concerns. During the period when the plant got approvals for planning and construction, Najib was either deputy prime minister or, starting in April 2009, Malaysia’s premier. And yet he must attract companies and industries that can help him meet his target for the next five years of 6 percent annual growth in gross domestic product.

Najib has promised voters he will more than double per- capita income to $15,000 in 2020 from $6,700 in 2009. The next elections must be called by early 2013.

Luring Investment

In a March 29 interview with Bloomberg News, Najib said he would make sure the refinery is run safely. He also said Malaysia wants to attract foreign firms to boost growth.

The refinery will create 350 highly skilled jobs and at least $1.7 billion in annual exports, according to Lynas. That’s equivalent to about 1 percent of Malaysia’s GDP.

Malaysia certainly needs increased private investment, says Manu Bhaskaran, Singapore-based head of economic research at Centennial Group, a consulting firm. Excessive government interference in the economy in the immediate aftermath of the Asian financial crisis drove businesses away, and while things are beginning to improve, there is ground to make up, he says.

“Malaysia has lost its competitiveness because it has not adapted to the changes in the global arena,” he says. “There has been a hemorrhage of talent out of the country.”

The World Bank said in an April report that the number of skilled Malaysians living abroad has tripled in two decades, with more than half of them living in Singapore.

Slowing Growth

Growth fell to an average of 4.6 percent a year in the decade that ended in 2010, down from a 7.2 percent annual average in the 1990s. While a rebound from the global recession helped the economy expand a healthy 7.2 percent last year, neighboring Singapore grew twice as fast.

Prior to the financial turmoil in Asia in 1997 and 1998, economists dubbed Malaysia one of the next East Asian tigers, along with Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

The country attracted manufacturers such as Intel Corp. and Seagate Technology Plc. The capital boomed and could boast the tallest buildings in the world when the twin, 88-story Petronas Towers opened in 1999.

In the early 1990s, the country garnered more than 11 percent of the foreign direct investment that was flowing to East Asia, according to United Nations data. That put it ahead of Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea -- nations now beating Malaysia in luring foreign capital.

East Asian Tigers

The East Asian tiger title originally referred to the economies of Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan, which experienced decades of high growth that allowed them to join the ranks of high-income nations. Now, Malaysia trails the other so- called tiger cubs that hoped to follow the same path.

Last year, foreign investment in Malaysia rebounded to $7 billion from a dismal $1.4 billion in 2009, when it was hurt by the credit crunch and economic slowdown.

Companies with government ties have crowded out private investors in Malaysia’s economy, says Scott Lim, who manages the equivalent of $470 million of assets as chief executive officer of Kuala Lumpur-based MIDF Amanah Asset Management Bhd. With little foreign capital, the country has fallen behind in the years since the Asian financial crisis, Lim says. “We lost the last decade,” he says.

The government has tried to protect Malaysians from inflation with subsidies for gasoline, sugar, rice, flour and other staples, says Gerald Ambrose, managing director at Aberdeen Asset Management Bhd. in Kuala Lumpur. He says it has also interfered in the labor market and favored government- connected businesses.

‘Too Comfortable’

“The Malaysian private sector perhaps didn’t have to strive so hard to survive as they did in neighboring countries,” Ambrose says. “It became too comfortable.”

Najib is trying to change that. He announced his economic strategy in September; as of April he had identified 72 large infrastructure projects in a dozen key industries such as petroleum, transportation and palm oil. These would generate 106 billion ringgit ($35.5 billion) of investment and almost 300,000 jobs, the government says.

“Let me put on record that under the economic transformation plan, 92 percent of investment will come from the private sector,” Najib, 57, said in the interview at his office in the government center of Putrajaya, south of Kuala Lumpur.

Geoffrey Ng, who manages $1 billion as chief executive officer of HLG Asset Management in Kuala Lumpur, says Najib is moving the right direction. “Prime Minister Najib’s transformation plans for Malaysia are refreshing and indeed ambitious,” Ng says. “As is usually the case, execution is the key.”

Idris Jala

Ambrose says Najib’s decision to put Idris Jala, an experienced businessman with no political affiliations, in charge of the economic plan boosted confidence. Jala turned around money-losing Malaysian Airline System Bhd. while he was CEO of the state carrier from 2005 to 2009.

To foster development of private industry, Najib, who is also finance minister, has pledged to sell shares in state-owned companies to help double the size of the country’s capital markets by the end of the decade. Malaysia can already claim success in having made Kuala Lumpur a center of Islamic finance.

Lynas was founded by Nicholas Curtis, a former executive director at Macquarie Group Ltd., Australia’s largest investment bank. The company says it had approvals to build its refinery in Australia and rejected that option because it couldn’t find a site that met its requirements.

China’s Dominance

China was also in the running to host the plant until the Chinese government decided to impose import and export duties on rare earths processed there. China today has a chokehold on production of rare earths, controlling more than 95 percent of the market.

Curtis, who is CEO, says his plant fits into Najib’s economic strategy. The government has shown its support by giving his project “pioneer” status, which includes a 12-year tax exemption. By making Malaysia the most important source of rare-earth materials outside of China, the country can attract green industries such as wind turbines and hybrid cars, he says.

Curtis says he has met Najib and discussed his plant, in particular when Lynas settled on the site near Kuantan, the capital of Pahang, the state the premier hails from. “I think he understands the opportunities and possibilities the project might bring.”

Money managers such as MIDF Amanah’s Lim agree that Malaysia needs to draw overseas investors. “In order to have a thriving economy, you need to have foreign participation from the private sector,” he says.

‘Dangerous Projects’

Lim is nonetheless sympathetic to the protests over rare- earth processing. “I wish we were more careful and would not let dangerous projects start operation in Malaysia,” he says.

Opponents of the Kuantan project are growing more vocal. Their concerns about radiation were galvanized by the releases of contaminated steam and water from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant in Japan that was ravaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

The International Atomic Energy Agency in late May appointed the independent panel that Najib’s government promised to convene. The nine health and safety experts are carrying out their review of the Lynas project in Malaysia through June 3, and the group will submit its report to the government by the end of the month.

Lynas’s Curtis says his Malaysia plant will be safe.

The potential hazard comes from the desired metals such as neodymium and yttrium being found in ore that contains radioactive thorium.

‘No Risk to Health’

The ore that will be processed in Malaysia comes from a mine in Australia and has very low levels of thorium, Curtis says. “There is absolutely no risk to public health,” he says.

T. Jayabalan, a doctor who says he has been monitoring and treating patients affected by the Mitsubishi Chemical plant that shut two decades ago, is wary of Lynas’s assurances. The argument that low levels of thorium in the ore make it safer doesn’t make sense, he says, because radiation exposure is cumulative.

Najib says the plant will be watched carefully: “If it does not meet best international practices, then we will review.”

Chow, at the meeting in Kuantan, says some of his neighbors used bags of fertilizer that contained radioactive waste. They spread it on a plot where animals grazed. “The cows that ate the grass all died,” Chow says.

Asian Rare Earth

Osamu Shimizu is a director of Asian Rare Earth, the joint venture partly owned by Mitsubishi Chemical that ran the plant in western Malaysia. He says the company might have sold a few bags of calcium phosphate fertilizer on a trial basis as it sought to market byproducts. Unlike the thorium from rare-earth processing, calcium phosphate is not radioactive or dangerous, he says.

These days in Balok Makmur, a neighborhood just 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the Lynas site, residents say they live in fear. The entrance of the village has a banner written in the Malay language: “Stop Lynas, Save Malaysia.”

Seated at a table at the Warung Kak Ani outdoor restaurant, Zakaria Mohamad, 54, says the promise of economic benefits to Malaysia seems remote, while the threat posed by the plant is immediate. “We don’t want Lynas,” he says. “Life here is simple, content and peaceful, and we don’t want that to change.”

For Najib, life is less simple and peaceful as protesters reject a plant that is supposed to boost Malaysia’s development. Instead of having a showcase of how the country can appeal to foreign investors and shake off a decade of subpar growth, he faces angry voters who want the project to go away.

To contact the reporter on this story: Yoolim Lee in Singapore at yoolim@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Laura Colby at lcolby@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 31, 2011 17:00 EDT

[SAGI]

Uranium One Becomes Operator at Mkuju River Project in Tanzania
TORONTO, ON and JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, June 7, 2011 /CNW/ - Uranium One Inc. ("Uranium One") announced that its 51% shareholder, JSC Atomredmetzoloto, has today completed the acquisition of Mantra Resources Ltd. ("Mantra"). Uranium One also announced that it has now become operator of Mantra's Mkuju River Project in Tanzania pursuant to agreements entered into with ARMZ in connection with today's closing.

Operating Agreement

Uranium One will manage the development of the Mkuju River Project and other Mantra exploration activities pursuant to an operating agreement entered into on June 6, 2011 between Uranium One, ARMZ and Mantra.

Development of the Mkuju River Project is to be completed in accordance with a revised feasibility study scheduled for completion in Q1 2012 and work programs approved by Uranium One and ARMZ.

Loan Agreement

In accordance with a loan agreement between Uranium One and Mantra dated June 6, 2011, Uranium One has also agreed to provide a credit facility to fund the development of the Mkuju River Project and other Mantra exploration activities. The credit facility will be guaranteed by ARMZ.

Prior to completion of the revised feasibility study, work at Mkuju River will be funded from Mantra's existing cash balance and from cash flow from Uranium One's Kazakhstan operations.

Mkuju River Project

The Mkuju River Project is a large scale, uranium development project located in southern Tanzania.

As previously announced, Uranium One has a call option to acquire Mantra from ARMZ for consideration equal to ARMZ's cost plus certain additional expenditures, exercisable for a period of 12 months from today's closing. ARMZ also has a put option to sell Mantra to Uranium One for the same consideration at the end of such 12 month period. The call option and the put option may be extended to 24 months if Uranium One partially exercises that option and acquires approximately 15% of Mantra for US $150 million before January 31, 2012. The option to acquire the remaining 85% interest in Mantra (or 100% if the option is not partially exercised) is subject to Uranium One minority shareholder approval.

About Uranium One

Uranium One is one of the world's largest publicly traded uranium producers with a globally diversified portfolio of assets located in Kazakhstan, the United States and Australia.

[SAGI]

JNR Intersects New Area of Uranium Mineralization on Way Lake Uranium Project

tweet
Email
Print
Companies:JNR Resources Inc.
Related Quotes
Symbol Price Change
JNN.V 0.14 0.00

Press Release Source: JNR Resources Inc. On Wednesday May 4, 2011, 8:30 am EDT
TSXV:JNN
SASKATOON, May 4 /CNW/ - JNR Resources Inc. (TSXV:JNN.V) ('JNR' or the 'Company') is pleased to report the 2011 winter diamond drilling program has been completed on the Company's 100% owned Way Lake uranium project, located 55 kilometres east of the Key Lake uranium mine in the Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan. Anomalous radioactivity with low-grade, basement-hosted uranium mineralization and key geological features were intersected by drilling within a new area, Fraser Lakes North, northeast of Fraser Lakes Zone B.

The drilling program comprised 2,590 metres in 10 holes and focused on several ancillary structural targets related to the Fraser Lakes Zone B. Anomalous radioactivity accompanied by significantly disrupted and locally clay-altered Wollaston Group graphitic pelitic gneisses and granitic pegmatites was intersected in 6 of the 10 holes. These ancillary mineralized zones are located within previously untested portions of a folded, 65-km long electromagnetic (EM) conductor system, hosted by Wollaston Group graphitic pelitic gneisses and uraniferous granitic pegmatites. The mineralized zones were discovered by ground prospecting of airborne geophysical targets during the summer of 2008.

The core recovered from the two holes on Fraser Lakes North shows evidence of major structural reactivation, significant clay alteration, uranium remobilization, and basinal brine fluid circulation. These features are all prominent characteristics of the most significant basement-hosted uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin, such as the Eagle Point, Millennium, P-Patch, and the Roughrider Zone.

Four new drill holes from the east-northeast end of Fraser Lakes Zone B have extended the mineralized area to approximately 1,200 metres long at a minimum depth of 175 metres. This zone of moderately dipping, multiple stacked uranium and thorium mineralized horizons remains open to the southwest and east-northeast. One of the holes has provided additional evidence for the presence of major east-west and north-south structural corridors that intersect the main northeast-trending EM conductors. These intersecting features are postulated to be controlling structural geochemical traps for the formation of high-grade mineralized zones at Fraser Lakes.

In addition, preliminary analysis of the results from PIMA infrared spectroscopy of the four new drill holes in the T-Bone Lake area (WYL-10-53 and 55: News Release: June 17, 2010) has indicated a preponderance of the important pathfinder mineral, illite, within a major clay-filled fault system that was intersected in 2010.

Ken Wasyliuk, Chief Geochemist for JNR comments: "The preliminary clay alteration patterns that we are seeing from the PIMA analysis are analogous to those observed at other significant basement-hosted uranium deposits such as Eagle Point, Millennium, P-Patch, and the Roughrider Zone. In conjunction with the positive geological attributes and anomalous radioactivity, the potential for the discovery of significant high-grade uranium mineralization in the Fraser Lakes district is considered excellent."

The significant uranium and metal endowment in the Fraser Lakes district, combined with the lack of sandstone cover and shallow depth to mineralization, allows for efficient and timely exploration of these targets.

All of the samples have been delivered to the Saskatchewan Research Council Geoanalytical Laboratories in Saskatoon, SK, a Standards Council of Canada (CCRMP) certified analytical laboratory. Final geochemical results should be received for evaluation by early June, and will be integrated with on-going studies to plan the next phase of drilling.

JNR's Director of Exploration, Dr. Irvine R. Annesley, PGeo, is the qualified person responsible for the technical data presented in this release. All technical information for the Company's exploration projects is obtained and reported under a formal quality assurance and quality control program, details of which are presented on the Company's website at: www.jnrresources.com/i/pdf/JNR-QAQC.pdf. A glossary of the technical terms included in this release can be found on the Company's website at: www.jnrresources.com/s/Glossary.asp.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Rick Kusmirski
President & CEO