Uranium (Nuclear Energy)

[millionairemind]

I didn't know one can extract uranium from ash leftovers from burning coal.

Novel sources of uranium
Rising from the ashes
Coal ash, fertiliser and even seawater may provide nuclear fuel
Apr 8th 2010 | From The Economist print edition

ONE of the factoids trotted out from time to time by proponents of nuclear power is that conventional coal-burning power stations release more radioactivity into the environment than nuclear stations do. The reason is that the ash left over when coal is burned contains radioactive elements, notably uranium and thorium.

Turn that logic on its head and it suggests that such ash is worth investigating as a source of nuclear fuel. And that is exactly what Sparton Resources, a firm based in Toronto, is doing. It has signed a deal with the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), the authority that runs the country’s nuclear-power stations, to recover uranium from coal ash at a site in Lincang, in Yunnan province.

Uranium is usually extracted from ore that contains 1,000 or more parts per million (ppm) of the element. The Lincang coal ash holds much less, about 300ppm. That said, it does not need to be mined—which brings costs down. Sparton says it can extract a kilogram of uranium for $77 or less. Uranium’s spot price is now near $90 a kilo. That is not a huge margin, but it is a profit nonetheless.

To extract the uranium, Sparton adds sulphuric and hydrochloric acids to the ash, along with water, to make a slurry. With some sorts of ash, nitric acid is also used. The acids dissolve the uranium, and various other things, leaching them from the ash. The trick is to get the dissolved uranium out of the resulting solution.

Sparton’s process uses a charcoal filter made from burned coconut husks to trap floating particles and eliminate organic compounds. The filtered solution is then passed through small beads of an ion-exchange resin. These selectively remove uranium ions while leaving the others behind—extracting about two-thirds of the uranium in the ash, according to the company. The uranium is then dissolved from the beads using a solution of ammonium carbonate and precipitated as “yellow cake”, a mixture of uranium oxides.

China is developing ash-mining for reasons of energy security more than economics, according to Wang Hongfang, a marketing manager at CNNC. The country wants to get uranium from “every possible channel”, Mr Wang says. These include stripping it out of the tailings from gold and copper mines, and also from phosphoric acid produced during the manufacture of fertiliser. Nor is CNNC alone in this aspiration. NUKEM, a German-American company that enriches and sells nuclear fuel, hopes soon to begin “mining” fertiliser in Florida.

Some people are even turning to seawater as a source of uranium, in an eerie recapitulation of Fritz Haber’s attempt to pay off Germany’s first-world-war debts by extracting gold from the ocean. Though seawater contains only three parts per billion of uranium, mostly in the form of uranyl tricarbonate, the element can be sucked out of it by ion exchange.

Several organisations, including Japan’s Atomic Energy Agency and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in India, are attempting to do so. Their methods include the use of strips of ion-exchanging plastic, braided with polystyrene to toughen them up. These are placed in wire cages and anchored in a current of seawater. After a month or two, the plastic is removed and soaked in acid to dissolve the uranyl tricarbonate. The solution is then treated to precipitate uranium oxide.

At the moment, this process costs more than ten times as much as conventional mining, but some countries might regard that as a small price to pay for security of supply. Perish the thought that the supply is for anything other than providing fuel for civilian nuclear-power stations.

[winston]

Not vested. I used to invest in Cameco many years ago ...

The Next Great Chinese Commodity Hoarding Story By Matt Badiali

Over the past three months, I've written frequently about China's incredible appetite for fuels like natural gas, oil, and coal. If you're an investor or a trader, this is one of the "must follow" trends for the next decade.

Today, I encourage you to throw another fuel source onto the watch list... uranium. China is making big ripples in this commodity market as well. Here's why...

To meet its growing electricity demand, China plans to build 60 new nuclear reactors within the next 10 years. China's high-growth cousin, India, needs 40 new reactors in the next 20 years. That would increase the number of nuclear power plants in the world by 23%.

This new Asian nuclear boom is expected to be the largest period of nuclear power growth since OPEC's oil embargo. At its peak, back in the 1980s, the nuclear industry started up a new reactor every 15 days. By 2015, we could see a new reactor coming online every five days.

Both China and India understand the implications of that growth. According to Bloomberg, both countries are stockpiling the fuel. China could purchase more than twice as much uranium as it will use this year. The proposed reactors in China alone could consume more than 30% of the uranium mined today. That's why the country signed a 10-year, 10,000-ton deal with giant uranium miner Cameco.

Looking at the past 10 years in uranium, it's easy to see why China is stockpiling.

Uranium enjoyed a huge rise from 2002 to 2007. This rise attracted a tremendous amount of speculation, which ended badly when it fell from $140 per pound to around $40 per pound. This is a "blown-out" commodity that should get contrarians interested.

Here's another reason to be interested: While we have an impending explosion of demand from Asia, the industry's best mine hasn't opened due to calamitous problems, which I told you about in November 2006.

According to RBC Capital Markets, we will see the price of uranium rise 32% next year. That's the largest growth since 2006, when uranium soared. One RBC Analyst put a target of $56.25 per pound for 2010 and $60 per pound by 2015.

And, of course, the last bull market in uranium saw a 277% gain in just 18 months. I'm not suggesting we'll see those types of gains soon. Blown-out markets tend to move sideways for a long time. But hoarding from India and China should keep a price floor of around $40 per pound under uranium.

I suggest watching this trend and waiting for a bit of price strength to assert itself. I want to see the train pick up some momentum before getting on board. The 200-day moving average of uranium prices is a good benchmark here. That's currently around $42.50 per pound.

If uranium can cross over that line, it will be time to consider buying a big miner like Cameco (CCJ), a uranium-holding company like Uranium Participation Corp (U.TO), or some small uranium exploration companies.

Like most commodities, this trend depends on when Chinese buying starts moving prices higher. Keep it on your watch list and you'll be ready to buy when the trend begins.

http://www.growthstockwire.com/

[winston]

A HUGE BEAR MARKET IS ENDING

This week brings good price action for uranium bulls like our colleagues Marin Katusa, Chris Mayer, and Matt Badiali…

The bull case for uranium – the chief fuel for nuclear reactors – is that "emerging" Asian nations are embarking on a building spree of nuclear plants to meet a portion of their growing electric needs. Meanwhile, new supply is unlikely to rise in lockstep with all this new demand.

These factors produced a more than 10-fold rise in uranium from 2003 to 2007… The end of that rally was fueled by speculators, who helped produce a subsequent crash. This crash hammered uranium prices and the companies associated with the stuff. But as you can see from today's chart of Uranium Participation Corp, uranium investment is getting a little "less bad" these days.

Uranium Participation Corp is no mining or exploration company. It's simply an investment vehicle that hoards uranium and acts like an exchange-traded fund for the stuff. The stock has been locked in a major downtrend over the past few years.

But over the past few weeks, it has broken out of this downtrend. It's no sure indicator the bear market in uranium is over, but it's a step in the right direction…

www.dailywealth.com

[winston]

The Chinese are now trying to build nuclear plants in Africa.

[winston]

Doug Casey: Glowing Prospects for Uranium

The Western world's skittishness, skepticism and staunch opposition when in comes to nuclear energy, won't stand in the way of its production elsewhere in the world.

It will be full steam ahead in China, India and other developing nations, says Casey Research Chairman Doug Casey, and the Western world is tiny in comparison.

In fact, "I'd say uranium is a great place to be for at least the next generation," he tells us in this Energy Report exclusive.

With ever-advancing technology enabling economic recovery in places where it previously wasn't possible, he's also optimistic about natural gas and oil.

http://www.caseyresearch.com/editorial. ... 419ED0911A

[winston]

$100+/Pound Uranium Needed to Satisfy Stealth Demand

What's the easiest way to track the ups and downs of energy markets?

Watch what governments are doing rather than what they are saying, says S&A Resource Report Editor Matt Badiali.

He has been watching behind-the-scenes nuclear energy importing in Germany and Japan and has concluded that the uranium market has hit bottom and is coming back up.

What companies could benefit from these gyrations? He has an answer to that one in this Energy Report interview, plus some words of wisdom on U.S. oil and gas bottlenecks.

http://www.theenergyreport.com/pub/na/14947

[winston]

Putin’s Power Play – How It Will Change the Uranium Sector

There’s a new Cold War brewing – and this time it’s not about military power…

The last time Vladimir Putin was president, he laid the foundation to pull Mother Russia from the wreck of economic chaos to a world power once again. This time, he's ready to extend that influence to counter the West.

His tools: Russia's abundant resources of energy, including uranium.


http://www.caseyresearch.com/articles/p ... ium-sector

[winston]

Xi Jinping stresses construction of nuclear power projects
2014-06-16

Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted the sixth meeting of Central Financial Work Leading Group, saying that on the basis of the highest international safety standards, China will strive to launch the construction of nuclear power projects at the eastern coastal areas.

While studying on the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan for energy strategy, the cooperation in gas and oil area with Central Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and Africa will be strengthened.

Source: AAStocks Financial

[winston]

Nuclear power:

President Xi Jinping stresses on the construction of nuclear power projects at eastern coastal areas.

He recently hosted the sixth meeting of Central Financial Work Leading Group, saying China will strive to launch the construction of nuclear power projects with the highest international safety standard at the eastern coastal areas.

Recall that Premier Li mentioned in several occasions earlier this year that China will start a batch of nuclear power projects.

President Xi’s reiteration this time sends a stronger signal and bodes well for the upcoming wave of nuclear power construction. However, it is still too early to quantify the earnings impact on power equipment makers without the order size from the nuclear power projects.

Source: UOBKH

[winston]

Heads up... This big commodity "shutdown" is just around the corner

A brief news item yesterday may be one of the most important happenings in commodities for years.

The coming shutdown of one of the largest uranium mines on the planet.

I noted a few weeks back that workers at Cameco’s McArthur River uranium mine in northern Canada were contemplating labour action. And yesterday that threat came to fruition − with the major uranium company announcing that mineworkers’ unions have authorized a full strike.

It appears this action is going to bring McArthur River to a complete standstill. With Cameco saying it is now initiating shutdown activities at the mine, and the associated Key Lake uranium processing facility.

The strike is officially slated to begin on August 30. So it looks like production here will now taper off, leading up a full stop by that date.

As I mentioned previously, it’s hard to understate the effect this stoppage could have on uranium supply. Given that McArthur River is one of the world’s largest and richest uranium producers, currently putting out nearly 15% of global supply itself.

Interestingly, uranium prices have been rising the last few weeks. Up over 10% since the beginning of August, when news of the potential strike action at McArthur began to surface − currently selling for $31 per pound.

This is the most notable increase in prices the uranium market has seen for years (albeit from a very low base, with prices having recently fallen to a near-decade low of $28). Suggesting that buyers are paying close attention to the events at McArthur, and the potential effects on global uranium supply.

Cameco noted that it is continuing discussions with mineworkers over the next 72 hours leading into the strike. So a last-minute solution is still a possibility.

But absent such a five-to-midnight deal, supply and demand is about to get much tighter in this space.

Source: Pierce Points

http://thecrux.com/heads-up-this-big-co ... he-corner/