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Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

10 years after the last uranium speculator left Cañon City, an Australian company is on the hunt – by Sue McMillin (Colorado Sun – January 2024)

Homepage 2024

About two dozen property owners in remote northwestern Fremont County neighborhoods are fighting an Australian company that wants to explore known uranium deposits beneath their land.

The residents fear contamination of their water wells, a concern bolstered by the Fremont Conservation District’s recommendation to deny a county conditional use permit because of the potential contamination of Tallahassee Creek, which flows into the Arkansas River about 8 miles northwest of Cañon City. The 10-year permit was approved by Fremont County commissioners in October.

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World’s biggest uranium miner warns of shortfall just as nuclear demand takes off – by Mark Burton (Financial Post/Bloomberg – January 12, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

The setback adds to a list of supply challenges that have helped to catapult spot uranium prices to 15-year highs

Kazatomprom, the world’s biggest uranium miner, warned that it’s likely to fall short of its production targets over the next two years, adding another risk to supply as demand for the nuclear fuel rebounds.

The London-listed company, which is controlled by Kazakhstan’s government via its sovereign wealth fund, said on Friday that shortages of sulfuric acid and construction delays at newly developed deposits are creating production challenges that could persist into 2025. It will outline the likely impact on output in a trading update by Feb. 1, it said.

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Uranium jumps to 15-year high as top miner flags shortfall – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – January 12, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Uranium prices jumped on Friday to an almost 15-year high after the world’s largest producer, Kazakhstan’s Kazatomprom (LON: KAP), warned it’s likely to fall short of its output targets over the next two years.

The miner cited shortages of sulfuric acid and construction delays at newly developed deposits as the main factors behind ongoing production challenges, which it said could persist into 2025. A detailed assessment of the potential impacts on output will be released in a trading update by Feb. 1, it added.

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Uranium price hits new post-Fukushima high – by Colin McClelland (Mining.com – January 3, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

The spot price of uranium continues to rise, boosted by pledges to triple nuclear power by mid-century, supply hiccups from producers such as Cameco (TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ) and the looming threat of a ban on Russian exports to the West.

Uranium hit $91 per lb. this week, another record since triple-digit prices in 2007 and the fallout after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan that saw several countries curb nuclear energy plans. The price has increased from about $50 per lb. at mid-year.

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2024 belongs to an offbeat pairing — uranium and gold – by Alisha Hiyate (Mining.com – January 2, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

As demand for EV and base metals is expected to slow along with global growth in 2024, two very different metals are likely to stand out from the commodity pack: gold and uranium.

Gold, prized throughout human history, is virtually indestructible. That means most of the over 6.7 billion oz. of the metal the World Gold Council estimates has ever been mined is kicking around somewhere, whether as a wedding ring or in a 400-troy-oz. gold bar stored behind blast-proof gates at the ultra-secure Fort Knox gold vault in Kentucky.

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Site for Canada’s underground nuclear waste repository to be selected next year – by Allison Jones (Canadian Press/Toronto Star – December 27, 2023)

https://www.thestar.com/

Key milestone upcoming for Canada’s nuclear waste

A critical milestone is on the horizon for Canada’s 175-year-long plan to bury its nuclear waste underground, with two pairs of Ontario communities set to decide if they would be willing hosts.

Late next year, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization plans to select the site for Canada’s deep geological repository, where millions of bundles of used nuclear fuel will be placed in a network of rooms connected by cavernous tunnels, as deep below the Earth’s surface as the CN Tower is tall — if the process goes according to plan.

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US and Russia in race to ban uranium trade – by Henry Lazenby (Northern Miner – December 20, 2023)

https://www.northernminer.com/

The United States Congress is preparing for critical votes on legislation impacting the country’s uranium industry, focusing on the Nuclear Fuel Security Act (NFSA) and a potential ban on Russian uranium imports. The proposed NFSA promises to direct about US$2 billion towards revitalizing the domestic uranium and nuclear fuel sectors, upon approval, as a matter of national security.

The funding may come from standard government appropriations or special emergency allocations by the White House. This governmental engagement has already been a catalyst, driving uranium prices up 71% year-on-year to a current high of US$82.30 per lb. of uranium oxide from below US$20.

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China uranium grab poses threat to western energy supply, warns Yellow Cake – by Harry Dempsey (Financial Times – December 9, 2023)

https://www.ft.com/

Prices of nuclear commodity at 15-year high as governments scramble to secure sources of fuel for power stations

China is making an aggressive push to tie up global uranium supply amid a worldwide rush to secure nuclear fuel, warned the boss of Yellow Cake, a London-listed investment vehicle for the radioactive commodity.

André Liebenberg, chief executive of the Aim-traded company, said the west was lagging behind in securing uranium after prices hit a 15-year high and as Chinese firms purchase supplies on the open market, sign long-term contracts and buy up mines.

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Navajo Nation faces possible new threats after decades of uranium mining – by Kate Holland and Tenzin Shakya (ABC News – December 7, 2023)

https://abcnews.go.com/

A Canadian company is working to move forward with uranium extraction.

Just miles from the site of the 1979 Church Rock Mill spill, the largest nuclear disaster in American history, uranium extraction operations could resume near the Navajo Nation. Now, Navajo leaders say the health and prosperity of their community could be in even further jeopardy.

A Canadian company is working to move forward with uranium extraction, an industry that has a lengthy history around the Navajo Nation. “The pursuit of happiness for us is to be able to live in our communities without fear from the impact of radiation and uranium,” said Teracita Keyanna, who grew up near an abandoned uranium mine in New Mexico. “It’s been really scary, just being a mom in this area.”

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OPINION: Canada moves to the forefront in the new age of nuclear power – by Konrad Yakabuski (Globe and Mail – December 6, 2023)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

From one global climate conference to the next, nuclear power has been politely shunned as the world’s environmental elite remain divided about including it in the mix of energy solutions needed to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by mid-century. That is, until now.

The current COP28 conference under way in Dubai marks a sea change. The atom’s rehabilitation as a necessary ingredient in the quest for a net-zero world got a major boost on Saturday when 22 countries, including Canada, called for a tripling of global nuclear power capacity by 2050.

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Sask. government approval brings new biggest uranium project in Canada closer to reality – by Pratyush Dayal (CBC News Saskatoon – November 28, 2023)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/

Mine will produce more than 23 per cent world’s uranium production once running, says NexGen Energy

Saskatchewan is moving closer to being the location of the new biggest uranium mining project in Canada. On Nov. 8, Canadian company NexGen Energy Ltd. received ministerial approval under the Environmental Assessment Act of Saskatchewan to proceed with the development of the Rook I Project, slated to be located 130 kilometres north of La Loche, Sask. It still requires federal approval.

NexGen is the first company in more than 20 years to receive full provincial environmental assessment approval for a greenfield uranium project in Saskatchewan.

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BHP looks to take potash plant nuclear – by Matthew Cranston (Australian Financial Review – November 26, 2023)

https://www.afr.com/

Washington | BHP is considering nuclear energy to power what will be the world’s biggest potash mine in Saskatchewan, Canada, in a move that would help the Australian mining giant achieve its net-zero emissions target by 2050.

A decision to pursue nuclear generation in a country where it has long been part of the energy mix raises further questions about Australia’s own interest in the clean but controversial energy alternative.

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Uranium sector ‘scrambling’ to fill supply gap – by Colin McClelland (Northern Miner – November 21, 2023)

https://www.northernminer.com/

The price of uranium will hit triple-digits for the first time since 2007 as nations weaning off oil and seeking energy security deplete nuclear fuel supplies, the world’s largest investment fund in the physical metal says.

The spot price for uranium should rise from US$80 per lb. this week to US$100 or more per lb. within a year to 18 months, John Ciampaglia, CEO of Sprott Asset Management, which runs the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust (TSX: U.U for $US; U.UN for $CAD), said by phone on Monday. The trust holds 62 million lb. of yellowcake uranium valued at US$4.9 billion.

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Opinion: Nuclear power and LNG are key to a low-carbon future – by Duncan T. Munn (Financial Post – November 24, 2023)

https://financialpost.com/

Nuclear provides reliable base power while LNG could help manage the world’s transition away from coal

The national conversation about net-zero has tended to focus on renewable forms of energy, such as wind and solar, both of which have important roles to play in future.

But nuclear energy and liquefied natural gas (LNG) have also emerged as pragmatic drivers on the road toward a low-carbon future. Each has its own unique advantages.

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Uranium Exceeds $80 for First Time in More Than 15 Years – by Eddie Spence (Bloomberg News – November 21, 2023)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Uranium prices topped $80 a pound for the first time in more than fifteen years on renewed demand for nuclear power and disrupted supplies.

Nymex futures tracking physical-market contracts for a raw form of uranium known as yellowcake hit $80.25 a pound on Monday. Prices have rallied sharply this year, hitting levels not seen since Japan’s Fukushima accident caused governments across the world to cut back on nuclear power.

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