The Dawning of the Age of Uranium

THE CONFERENCE CALLER: Opening the Australian Uranium Conference in Perth this week, Western Australia Minister for Mines and Petroleum, Bill Marmion was fairly optimistic for the state’s uranium sector.

“It might have been a long time coming but the age of uranium is ready to dawn in Western Australia,” Marmion told the Day One audience.

He said the WA uranium could, ironically, end up benefitting greatly from the decision by Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) to pull the pin on the Ranger uranium project in the Northern Territory, saying it could be the, “spark that will help ignite this state’s uranium industry”.

“Rio Tinto’s decision not to support production from Ranger beyond 2021, will not have an immediate impact on the world market, because of the stockpile of uranium ore,” he said.

Even though Ranger may be in its death throes, Marmion was quick to point out that Asia’s nuclear power stations can be expected to move quickly to secure fresh uranium supplies from Australia well ahead of the final shipment from Ranger.

He indicated the Ranger announcement will have certainly steered interested uranium buyers to take a fresh look at Toro Energy’s Wiluna expansion and at other West Australian uranium projects, including the Mulga Rock project of Vimy Resources and Cameco’s Yeelirrie and Kintyre projects.

 

Marmion couldn’t resist a swipe at the recently-elected Labor Government of Queensland, which announced a new ban on uranium mining in the state shortly after taking office.

“The WA state government is working to maximise uranium opportunities, and the industry can rest assured, Queensland’s loss, will be Western Australia’s gain,” he declared.

“Our emerging uranium sector is now ideally placed to capitalise on the Queensland Government’s decision.

“Since we lifted Western Australia’s uranium mining ban in 2008, companies have invested more than $300 million in uranium exploration.

“Our message to investors, is that they can be confident this State Government will do all that it can to back the industry and help promote (uranium) sales to rapidly developing uranium markets, such as India and China.”

Marmion paid a great deal of attention to the emerging uranium markets of China and India, which he considers to be the key to the future of the uranium industry in Western Australia.

It’s probably a fair call with both countries on the first couple of slides of most industry analysts these days under the heading of – major drivers of demand growth for uranium over the next couple of decades.

Both China and India have massive, fast-growing populations with a proportionate exponential growing dependence on access to reliable energy, and both are trying to meet domestic demands to further urbanise and industrialise their economies.

“India and China are investing heavily in energy infrastructure that includes a steady increase in the nuclear component,” Marmion said.

“As the second largest energy consumer behind the United States, and currently generating about eight per cent of its electricity from fossil fuels, China is looking to secure long-term sources of energy to power its economic expansion.

“Nuclear power-share of China’s electricity generation is expected to grow from two per cent in 2012, to ten per cent in 2040, making it the third most important electricity source after coal and hydro-electricity

“In India – nuclear power is tipped to rise to three per cent from 2012 to seven per cent in 2040 with the aim of hitting 25 per cent by 2050.”