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Uranium and Nuclear Power Industry

Niger revokes French nuclear group’s licence at major uranium mine (Al Jazeera – June 21, 2024)

https://www.aljazeera.com/

Removal of Orano licence highlights tensions with France, with Russia said to be eyeing the major site.

Niger’s military government has revoked the operating licence of French nuclear fuel producer Orano at one of the world’s biggest uranium mines, as it continues to cut ties with former colonial power France.

State-owned Orano said on Thursday that it had been ordered out of the Imouraren mine in northern Niger which sits on an estimated 200,000 tonnes of the metal, used for nuclear power and weapons.

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Tensions with First Nations threaten to delay nuclear waste facility – by Matthew McClearn (Globe and Mail – June 17, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The eight-reactor Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, on the eastern shore of Lake Huron, ranks among the world’s largest nuclear power plants. With four more in the early planning stages, it might become larger still. But for the Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON), behind its engineering grandeur lies a painful history – which it has described as one “of exclusion.”

Its people were not consulted before the plant’s construction during the 1970s and 80s, which resulted in quantities of radioactive waste stored within what they regard as their traditional territory. Nor did they see many of the economic benefits that flowed to neighbours.

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Orano at Risk of Losing Niger Uranium Mine Sought by Russia – by Katarina Höije (Bloomberg News – June 15, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Orano SA could lose the right to mine uranium at one of the largest deposits in the world by June 19 after Niger rejected the French nuclear company’s plan for developing the asset.

The move comes as Russia’s seeks to take over mining assets in the West African country controlled by the French company, Bloomberg reported on June 3. Niger’s Paris-allied president was overthrown in a coup last July, the latest in a string of military takeovers in the region that has seen strongmen spurn ex-colonial power France and forge closer ties with Moscow.

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Deadly and Wildly Profitable, Uranium Fever Breaks Out – by Geoffrey Morgan and Jacob Lorinc (Bloomberg News – June 12, 2024)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

The radioactive metal’s price is up 233%, revealing the speed at which the world is embracing nuclear power once again.

Along the western edge of Canada’s Saskatchewan province, by a bend in a lake ringed by endless stands of black spruce, a small outpost has been carved out of the forest to mark what just might be the hottest new mining project on Earth today. It is a desolate, unforgiving spot.

Even in April, the snow is still caked hard to the ice that coats the lake. Bone-chilling winds howl day and night. And there are no towns or villages or, for that matter, signs of life at all — beyond the occasional black bear or wolf — within a 50-mile radius.

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Investors should heed growing supply after uranium’s recent runup – by James Cooper (Northern Miner – June 10, 2024)

Global mining news

Uranium prices surged from just over US$50 per lb. in April 2023 to more than US$100 per lb. by January 2024. Since then, there has been a moderate pull-back; uranium is now consolidating just above US$90 per pound.

So is it too late for investors to join the uranium bandwagon? Well, that depends. Last year’s terrific run was driven by strong demand outlooks. Uranium, the fuel for nuclear reactors, has benefitted from renewed interest in building global nuclear capacity. That’s partly due to the push to go green.

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Two small communities are competing to receive Canada’s inventory of nuclear waste. They can’t be sure what they’ll get – by Matthew McClearn (Globe and Mail – June 10, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Two Ontario municipalities are vying to become hosts for an underground disposal facility for Canada’s nuclear waste. Both must formally announce in the coming months whether they’ll accept the facility – but they cannot know exactly what wastes they’d be agreeing to receive.

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) designed its $26-billion facility, known as a deep geological repository, to receive spent fuel from Candu reactors located in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. This year, it plans to choose between the last two sites still in the running: the Municipality of South Bruce, Ont., located more than 120 kilometres north of London; or near Ignace, Ont., a town of 1,200 more than 200 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay.

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Russia Said to Seek Takeover of France’s Uranium Assets in Niger (Bloomberg News – June 3, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Russia is seeking to take over uranium assets in Niger held by a state-controlled French company, according to people informed about the matter, in a further challenge to Western interests in Africa.

Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear company, has had contacts with Niger’s military-led authorities about acquiring assets held by France’s Orano SA, according to a person in Moscow familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. A western diplomat based in the region said talks were likely centered around mining permits. Niger accounted for about 4% of global uranium mine production in 2022, according to the World Nuclear Association.

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NexGen CEO optimistic about future of Rook I uranium project as ‘unprecedented’ era dawns – by Michael Joel-Hansen (Saskatoon Star-Phoenix – May 29, 2024)

https://thestarphoenix.com/

Northern Saskatchewan uranium mine is currently the largest development stage project in Canada

The chief executive of a company looking to build a large uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan says it’s getting closer to final approval for the project.

Leigh Curyer, who founded NexGen Energy Ltd. in 2011, said the company has been given provincial approval for its Rook I project and has also reached agreements with local governments around the site. He said environmental approval from the federal government is still pending, though that process is starting to wrap up.

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Uranium is booming, and Canada must seize the bull by the horns – by David Morrison (Globe and Mail – May 29, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

David Morrison is the chief executive of Eight Capital, one of the largest independent investment banks in Canada.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate passed legislation to ban Russian uranium imports, and President Joe Biden signed off on it. The ban involves a phase-in period, until the end of 2027, to allow domestic production and supplies from allies to ramp up. Given that Russia supplied the U.S. with roughly a quarter of its uranium needs in 2022, this is no small task.

According to U.S. officials, Washington is counting on Canada to step up and fill the gap. We have just three years to prepare – less if the Russians retaliate by pre-emptively restricting their exports. Our usual glacial pace will not cut it.

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The Promise of Nuclear Energy Brings the West to Mongolia – by Charlie Campbell (Time Magazine – May 14, 2024)

https://time.com/

The Gobi Desert, once revered by Mongolian poet Dulduityn Danzanravjaa as hiding a cosmic portal to the heavenly kingdom of Shambala, was transformed in the 20th century from spiritual energy center to fossil-fuel hub. Wild rabbits and donkeys share the windswept dunes with rusting oil pumps, while an endless caravan of soot-stained trucks haul coal south to the border with China. Now, the Gobi is on the cusp of another reincarnation, one that its supporters believe could help future-proof the global energy landscape.

In October, the French state-owned nuclear firm Orano signed a $1.7 billion deal to extract and process uranium from the Zuuvch-Ovoo mine, not two hours by car from the landmarked site of Danzanravjaa’s cosmic portal. Mongolia’s first uranium mine is expected to produce about 2,750 tons annually for three decades, some 4% of global production; it’s currently one of the top 10 unexploited deposits worldwide.

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Cameco CEO meets with U.S. lawmakers as world events impact uranium industry – by Michael Joel-Hansen (Saskatoon Star Phoenix – May 15, 2024)

https://thestarphoenix.com/

Tim Gitzel in Washington ahead of a ban on Russian uranium coming into force

Tim Gitzel has been spending a lot of time in the United States lately. The chief executive of Saskatoon-based Cameco was recently in Washington, D.C., where he met with lawmakers to talk about a number of issues.

Among the topics of discussion for Gitzel and his delegation was a recently passed piece of legislation banning Russian uranium imports. The bill has passed both houses of Congress and is waiting to be signed into law by President Joe Biden.

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Former Canadian uranium mine site returned to province (World Nuclear News – May 3, 2024)

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/

The project, which is some 75 km south of Lake Athabasca and 15 km east of the border with the Province of Alberta, operated from 1979 to 2002, producing more than 62 million pounds U3O8 (23,848 tU) from two underground mines and four open pit mines.

The operation also included a tailings management facility, a mill and other support facilities. The Cluff Lake Project is located on Treaty 8 territory, the Homeland of the Métis, and is within the traditional territories of the Dene, Cree, and Métis people. Cluff Lake was fully decommissioned in 2013.

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[Saskatchewan Uranium Mining] A restart 15 years in the making – by Trish Saywell (CIM Magazine – May 02, 2024)

https://magazine.cim.org/en/

Mining at the McClean Lake uranium mine in Saskatchewan, which has been suspended since 2009, will restart in 2025 using technology developed to extract high-grade ore from small ore bodies

After spending 15 years and more than $100 million on research and development, partners Orano Canada Inc. and Denison Mines have built mining equipment that is deployed from surface to extract high-grade uranium ore. They plan to use it to restart mining operations at their McClean Lake property in northern Saskatchewan; Orano owns a 77.5 per cent stake and is the operator of the McClean Lake Joint Venture (MLJV), while Denison owns 22.5 per cent.

Restarting uranium production at McClean Lake is a major milestone. Mining operations at the site began in 1995 and the MLJV extracted ore from five open pits, producing approximately 50 million pounds on a 100 per cent basis, before operations were suspended in 2009 due to low uranium prices.

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Can floating nuclear power plants help solve Northern Canada’s energy woes? – by Matthew McClearn (Globe and Mail – May 3, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Diesel is the only way to keep the lights on in many remote Arctic towns. A new project wants to offer a greener option – but first it has to assuage safety and cost concerns and compete with other renewables

The nuclear industry is seeking to establish a beachhead in Canada’s North – literally – with a proposed floating nuclear power plant to serve remote Indigenous communities.

Westinghouse, a U.S.-based reactor vendor, has partnered with Prodigy Clean Energy, a Montreal-based company, to develop a transportable nuclear power plant. Essentially a barge housing one or more of Westinghouse’s eVinci microreactors, it would be built in a shipyard and moved thousands of kilometres by a heavy-lift carrier to its destination in the Far North. There it could be moored within a protected harbour, or installed on land near the shore.

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Tim Gitzel, CEO of uranium miner Cameco, is our Mining Person of the Year for 2023 – by Alisha Hiyate (Northern Miner – April 19, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Tim Gitzel, an executive at Cameco (TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ) for 17 years and president and CEO for 13, has led the company through more bad times than good. Among the bad times: repeated flooding at the Cigar Lake mine; the post-2007 uranium price crash; and the more devastating doldrums after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.

Among the good times: right now. The company’s shares have doubled in the past year, following the exploding uranium price. But Gitzel’s careful preparation has positioned Cameco for such a moment, when supply challenges, geopolitics, and renewed fervour for nuclear power have swung uranium back into favour.

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