Thursday, March 30, 2006

Australian Uranium Stocks Listing

Not a comprehensive list by any stretch of the imagination, but here are some uranium companies based in Australia:

BHP Billiton ASX:BHP
Bullion Minerals ASX:BLN
Compass Resources ASX:CMR
Curnamona Energy ASX:CUY
Deep Yellow Ltd ASX:DYL
Encounter Resources ASX:ENR
Energy Metals ASX:EME
Energy Resources of Australia ASX:ERA
Globe Uranium ASX:GBE
Maximus Resources ASX:MXR
Paladin Resources TSE:PDN
PepinNini ASX:PNN
Redport ASX:RPT
Strike Resources ASX:SRK
sxr Uranium One TSE:SXR
Toro ASX:TOE
Uranium Exploration ASX:UXA

As you can probably imagine, this list of uranium stocks will be updated with more listings
 

Mar 30 Uranium Stocks Update: Paladin Resources (TSE:PDN)

Well, I sold some shares of my Paladin shares this morning to back up my ranting and raving. Managed to get it done at $4.40 Cdn. There will be opportunites to buy back the stock, but for me at least, it would have to dip below the 4 dollar mark before I give it consideration. Paladin remains one of my favorite uranium stocks, but I cannot justify to myself its current valuation.
 

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Mar 29 Uranium Stocks Update: sxr Uranium One (TSE:SXR)

It looks like sxr Uranium One will indeed give the okay to the Honeymoon mine in June of this year, with production set to start 18 months later. The favorable uranium price coupled with the imminent Australia-China accord give more impetus for this uranium company to produce in Australia. Of course, selling the project is always an option, and I'm sure sxr Uranium will consider it. Either way, their main uranium production in South Africa is still on schedule and will debut in 2007.

Now for another word of warning about uranium juniors.

We are due for a major correction.

I hate to be dramatic, but I cannot emphasize this enough. Uranium seems to have caught every investor's imagination, but people are not buying these stocks rationally AT ALL. It doesn't matter if you're in Australia or Canada. The smallest juniors are being bought up in an investor frenzy reminds me of the days leading up to the dot com crash.

Part of the problem is that the biggest bulls of the uranium industry have done their job too well. They present the supply and demand argument, they present the need for uranium to be the alternative energy argument. What is lost is the fact that there are literally hundreds of small uranium juniors who have absolutely NO CHANCE to produce uranium in the next ten years.

Yes, I heard the argument that some uranium companies will be bought up. How many do you think that will be? Do you think it is rational to buy a company now worth >$100 million just for the remote chance that it will be bought up? Is that good investing?

I, for one, am actually quite dismayed at recent developments in the uranium stock investing sphere. Inevitably, the bubble will burst as new uranium investors finally do a little research and find to their surprise that there are less than ten uranium companies in the world that are producing or will produce in the next five years. Supply and demand fundamentals go out the window when you have nothing to supply. Uranium oxide price has no relevance to your company if your company is just starting to negotiate for rigs to drill holes in their property.

If you have speculated in small uranium juniors and have doubled your money in the past few months, do yourself a favor and sell now. Although I truly believe in the value of my own uranium picks--for they are truly the future of uranium companies--i am nonetheless forced to wait for the inevitable bursting of the uranium bubble. We are simply going up too fast, too soon.
 

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Uranium Stock Market Caps (March 26)

Alberta Star Development (ASX.V)
$133,645,820.40

Aldershot Resources Ltd. (ALZ.V)
$9,725,445.80

Altius Minerals Corp. (ALS.V)
$156,026,423.00

Azimut Exploration Inc. (AZM.V)
$25,388,745.20

Bayswater Ventures (BVE.V)
$18,284,836.68

Benton Resources Corp. (BTC.V)
$7,606,690.80

Brilliant Mining Corp. (BMC.V)
$21,246,999.85

Buck Lake Ventures Ltd. (BUC.V)
$1,408,098.66

CAMECO (CCO.TO)
$14,346,000,404.96

CanAlaska Ventures Limited (CVV.V)
$35,371,244.55

Commander Resources Ltd. (CMD.V)
$11,303,949.59

Consolidated Abaddon Resources Inc. (ABN.V)
$13,148,824.32

Continental Precious Minerals Ltd. (CZQ.V)
$8,193,210.40

Crescent Resources Corp. (CRC.V)
$11,761,805.30

Crosshair Exploration (CXX.V)
$102,084,543.09

Dejour Enterprises (DJE.V)
$64,134,967.32

Denison Mines Inc. (DEN.TO)
$422,362,346.64

East Asia Minerals Corp. (EAS.V)
$33,295,809.60

El Nino Ventures Inc. (ELN.V)
$3,939,106.50

Eloro Resources Ltd. (ELO.V)
$13,369,213.88

Energy Metals Corp (EMC.V)
$183,966,283.20

Equinox Resources Ltd. (EQN.TO)
$532,648,213.46

Erdene Gold Inc. (ERD.TO)
$32,885,605.80

ESO Uranium Corp. (ESO.V)
$33,679,253.86

Firestone Ventures Inc. (FV.V)
$10,053,639.81

Fortress Minerals Corp. (FST.V)
$92,150,426.55

Forum Development Corp. (FDC.V)
$18,310,002.84

Fronteer Development Group Inc. (FRG.TO)
$233,569,508.92

Full Metal Minerals Ltd. (FMM.V)
$50,524,488.00

Golden Valley Mines Ltd. (GZZ.V)
$13,034,735.28

Gravity West Mining Corp. (GRW.V)
$2,121,124.17

Hathor Exploration Ltd. (HAT.V)
$23,736,040.90

High Plains Uranium, Inc. (HPU.TO)
$34,382,667.75

Hornby Bay Exploration Ltd (HBE.V)
$38,584,947.60

IGC Resources Inc. (IGC.V)
$9,042,941.76

International Uranium Coporation (IUC.TO)
$542,893,065.24

JNR Resources Inc. (JNN.V)
$71,307,462.60

Kilgore Minerals Ltd. (KAU.V)
$15,767,581.20

Laramide Resources Ltd. (LAM.V)
$258,461,794.50

Logan Resources Ltd. (LGR.V)
$12,640,717.80

Magnum Uranium Corp. (MM.V)
$18,672,755.00

Mawson Resources Ltd. (MAW.V)
$27,203,591.68

MAX Resource Corp. (MXR.V)
$8,761,052.96

Mega Uranium, Inc. (MGA.V)
$389,601,467.20

Mesa Uranium Inc. (MZU.V)
$12,297,902.68

Mexivada Mining Corp. (MNV.V)
$15,504,996.00

Monster Copper Corporation (MNS.V)
$8,405,553.20

North American Gem Inc. (NAG.V)
$10,992,553.47

Northern Continental Resources Inc. (NCR.V)
$12,925,771.32

Northwestern Mineral Ventures Inc. (NWT.V)
$89,193,599.00

Nova Uranium Corp. (NUC.V)
$66,361,381.15

Paladin Resources Ltd (PDN.TO)
$1,688,285,709.40

Pan African Mining Corp. (PAF.V)
$36,595,864.50

Pathfinder Resources Ltd. (PHR.V)
$11,913,993.59

Pele Mountain Resources Inc. (GEM.V)
$18,864,797.40

Pioneer Metals Corp. (PSM.TO)
$31,234,255.52

Pitchstone Exploration Ltd (PXP.TO)
$52,953,930.00

Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. (PTU.V)
$16,202,500.20

Quattera Resources (QTA.V)
$64,539,840.40

Rampart Ventures Ltd. (RPT.V)
$15,532,193.70

Rare Earth Metals Corp. (REM.V)
$5,456,534.86

Red Dragon Resources Corp. (DRA.V)
$26,791,814.00

Rodinia Minerals Inc. (RM.V)
$15,907,417.32

Santoy Resources Ltd. (SAN.V)
$34,775,266.40

Sea Green Capital Corp. (SGS.V)
$4,220,762.48

Signet Minerals Inc. (SGN.V)
$8,604,206.94

Solex Resources Corp. (SOX.V)
$19,665,230.46

Solitaire Minerals Corp. (SLT.V)
$15,290,774.10

Standard Uranium Inc. (URN.V)
$46,221,069.48

Starfire Minerals Inc. (SFR.V)
$10,840,018.62

Strateco Resources Corp. (RSC.V)
$27,224,347.54

Strategic Metals Ltd. (SMD.V)
$15,653,871.24

Strathmore Minerals Corp. (STM.V)
$167,234,919.13

Strongbow Exploration Inc. (SBW.V)
$39,792,729.76

sxr Uranium One Inc (SXR.TO)
$904,929,593.90

Thelon Ventures Ltd. (THV.V)
$10,832,632.46

Titan Uranium Exploration (TUE.V)
$54,312,563.28

Tournigan Gold Corporation (TVC.V)
$163,573,227.30

Triex Minerals Corporation (TXM.V)
$33,633,800.00

Twenty-Seven Capital Corp. (TSC.V)
$8,563,328.84

UEX Corp. (UEX.TO)
$830,333,836.50

UGL Enterprises Ltd. (UGS.V)
$31,486,048.00

United Carina Resources Corp. (UCA.V)
$10,584,270.90

Universal Uranium Ltd. (UUL.V)
$17,212,841.03

Uranium City Resources Inc (UCR.V)
$8,592,295.77

Uranium Participation Cooperation (U.TO)
$249,700,759.00

Uranium Power Corp. (UPC.V)
$44,257,610.16

Urasia Energy Ltd. (UUU.V)
$1,408,952,646.79

Uravan Minerals Inc. (UVN.V)
$32,121,759.60

Ur-Energy Inc. (URE.TO)
$98,463,201.20

ValGold Resources Ltd. (VAL.V)
$7,615,314.14

Vena Resources Inc. (VEM.V)
$24,745,817.25

Waseco Resources Inc. (WRI.V)
$5,352,818.68

Wescan Goldfields Inc. (WGF.V)
$36,902,607.88

Western Prospector Group Ltd. (WNP.V)
$146,044,735.20
 

Friday, March 24, 2006

Top 10 Canadian Uranium Stock Market Caps

(1) Cameco (CCO.TO, CCJ) 14,351,488,881
(2) Paladin (PDN.TO) 1,688,665,709
(3) Urasia (UUU.V) 1,431,271,502
(4) sxr Uranium One (SXR.TO) 904,929,594
(5) UEX Corp (UEX.TO) 830,333,837
(6) International Uranium Corporation (IUC.TO) 542,893,065
(7) Denison Mines (DEN.TO) 422,362,347
(8) Mega Uranium (MGA.TO) 390,151,467
(9) Laramide (LAM.V) 259,666,631
(10) Fronteer Development (FRG.TO) 234,005,966
 

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Mar 23 Uranium Stocks Update: Paladin Resources (TSE:PDN)

Paladin (PDN.TO) secured its third uranium contract today, 2.5 million pounds strong, again with no ceiling to the sales price. Another favorable announcement, sending its stock up 8% on the ASX so far. Correspondingly, Paladin's stock in Toronto will be set for a quite a nice gain. Other uranium stocks like Urasia might benefit as well; after all, Urasia is actually mining uranium out of the ground as we speak, whereas Paladin is close to, but not quite yet there.

Speaking of which, I had replied a few days ago March 20th to a comment on my post "Uranium Mining Stocks and their Resource Ties" that I was slightly worried about the uranium juniors. Lo and behold, an article came out today March 23 from uranium guru Doug Casey cautioning people on buying uranium exploration companies that have little intention or are too far away from seriously being considered producers. In fact, this paragraph taken from his article in entirety sums up what I've been pointing out to my readers these past few months:

The question is: Which stocks to buy? I'm looking to concentrate the junior uranium portfolio for our Casey Energy Speculator on a modest handful of quality companies, the kind that have a real chance of making a discovery and creating value and aren't just relying on hype to move higher.

The biggest danger as I perceive it today is the newly minted uranium investor who is confounded by the hundreds of juniors uranium companies listed currently. This is a minefield that can only be sidestepped by doing very good due diligence, and unfortunately, can be totally obscured by mass investing psychology.

When uranium junior "mining" companies (and I mean very small ones under 50 million market caps) lay claim on a stake of land and report historical estimates on the amount of uranium that could be in the ground, I hope that people realize there is a very large number of years before that uranium can be mined out, if even that is truly what the company wants. Many are seemingly along just for the ride, on the coat-tails literally of strong, fundamentally sound companies like Paladin who have a plan and are executing it.

So heed my warning, uranium investors beware! Uranium juniors with market caps 50 times less than Paladin and Urasia indeed are potentially more valuable, but the risk is exponentially magnified if you pick the wrong one. This is not to dissuade investors to get in on the grassroots, but make sure you can afford any miscalculations. Oh yeah, and subscribe to my free updates!
 

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Uranium Oxide Price

Good news for uranium companies and their stocks this week. Uranium oxide price is up to $40.50US/lb, $4 dollars more since my first post on this blog two months ago. We are well on our way to that $45 I was talking about and $50 is not out of the question. However, I'd love it if the ascent of uranium stocks was a tad more muted, as I can see heavy (if illogical) corrections in the future with this kind of volatility. If only uranium stocks could follow the same curve as the uranium oxide price!
 

Monday, March 20, 2006

Mar 20 Uranium Stocks Update: Paladin Resources (TSE:PDN)

Uranium junior and my second uranium stock pick Paladin Resources today announced their 2005 4th quarter earnings. No real surprises that I haven't told my readers about. They also put up a presentation on their website as an update for investors.

Some of their slides are a little outdated however. Paladin's market value is actually now neck and neck with Urasia's. Both are the biggest and most mature uranium junior mining companies out there and their market caps are racing ahead past $1.5 billion Cdn.

You may want to check out http://uranium.50webs.com/ for a comprehensive listing with share prices and market caps of almost all listed Canadian companies with uranium interests.

In addition, beware of some of their figures, such as the one showing 2020 production targets. The most blatant mistake on their part was not to include the 18 million/year production that will be coming out of Cameco's Cigar Lake. Moreover, I would challenge ANYONE to really predict uranium production 14 years in the future. Certainly it looks attractive to invest in uranium give nthe 2020 shortages, but I invest in companies who will be producing NOW when uranium prices are soaring and at least in the short-term, one can be assured that new uranium production will be extremely limited.

Still, let's give Paladin some credit. Their Langer Heinrich project is on schedule, the stock has been the best performing one on the ASX for two years running, they have solid management, great uranium experience, a well thought-out and executed plan so far that lets the uranium investing public EXACTLY when things will be done.

So congratulations to Paladin.
 

Uranium Mining Stocks and their Resource Ties

Uranium stocks held up.

Uranium stocks held up!

The stock market, particularly the energy-heavy TSE, retreated from its highs. Crude oil tumbled a few dollars and the energy sector of the TSE fell 2.1%, worst out of the 10 industry groups. Gold was not exempt either, and gold stocks ended the day with more red than green.

However,

Uranium stocks held up!

Yes, not all uranium mining stocks were in the green, but I see on my lists more green than red. International Uranium Corporation and Uranium Participation Corporation were down (think it's because they have such long names?!) but Urasia and SXR Uranium One ended the day higher. The star would be Paladin, which gained nearly 5% after ending the day in the Aussie ASX even higher.

Now, I rarely will ever comment on the day-to-day price movements of uranium companies because I am a long-term investor myself. However, today hopefully is the start of something significant: the disassociation of uranium stocks from their energy-oil, really-cousins.

It would seem illogical for uranium stocks to move with the price of crude oil, but the unfortunate effect of only having a minority "in the know" about uranium fundamentals has uranium being lumped together with oil and gold stocks. Perhaps today was a sign that the investing public in large has finally realized that uranium supply and demand is quite different from any other resource sector.

Or maybe today was just an anomaly. Watch for more interesting dichotomies in the future.
 

Sunday, March 19, 2006

"How to Invest in Uranium"

Friday March 17th brought a segment on RobTV called "How to Invest in Uranium," a six-minute segment with guest Bart Jaworski of Raymond James. In this, Jaworski recommends three uranium mining plays with extensive American assets:

(1) Energy Metals Corporation (EMC.V)
(2) Strathmore Minerals (STM.V)
(3) Ur-Energy (URE.TO)

Now I have been aware of these three uranium juniors for a long time, but I wanted to recommend to my readers five of the biggest, most stable, producing or will be producing uranium juniors first: Urasia (UUU.V), Paladin (PDN.TO), International Uranium Corporation (IUC.TO), sxr Uranium One (SXR.TO), and Uranium Participation Coporation (U.TO)

I will shortly be looking at some of the smaller juniors with market caps <$250 million Cdn, who if you invest in will definitely be riskier, but could appreciate at faster rates than its bigger uranium counterparts.
 

Friday, March 17, 2006

Mar 17 Uranium Stocks Update: sxr Uranium One (TSE:SXR)

Yet another reason to be thinking about buying SXR Uranium One now before more people know about this company.

"Onetime junior gold miner SXR Uranium One is also likely to be included in the Resources 20 index. "
-from Moneyweb (South Africa)

SXR Uranium One, besides being listed in Canada, is also listed in South Africa. If indeed the uranium/gold company obtains a place in the prestigious index, the stock will rise as people rebalance their holdings to reflect SXR's inclusion. Remember, incredibly large amounts of foreign investment money flows into the resource-heavy JSE, and no index performed as well as the Resource 20. Keep your fingers crossed that SXR will earn a place in the select group.
 

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Mar 15 Uranium Stocks Update: sxr Uranium One (TSE:SXR)

The uranium landscape will be significantly altered once the deal between Australia and China is ratified to allow uranium exports. Companies with uranium exposure like BHP Billiton have benefited from the speculation that Australia will give its blessing to ship yellowcake to China. Once again, keep an eye out on sxr Uranium One, as they could only benefit from a successful deal, what with their fully permitted Honeymoon uranium project still under deliberation. Their stock has just broken the $8.00Cdn level again, and a deal ratification could be grounds for successful consolidation above that level. Paladin, another Australian company, could be impacted as well.
 

Monday, March 13, 2006

March 13 (Bloomberg) -- Nuclear energy's revival can best be seen in uranium, which outperformed the metals markets in 2005 and may do so again this year.

Uranium is poised to climb 27 percent to $50 a pound in the next six months because ``there's not a lot of uranium available,'' said Jean-Francois Tardif, who put 8.4 percent of his C$300 million ($259 million) Sprott Opportunities Hedge Fund LP into uranium. The Toronto-based fund jumped 39 percent in 2005, when its peers on average returned 9.3 percent, according to Hedge Fund Research Inc. of Chicago.

Wellington Management Co. of Boston, which oversees $521 billion, in the fourth quarter raised its stake in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Cameco Corp., the largest uranium producer. The fund holds 13.6 percent of Cameco worth C$2 billion, according to Bloomberg data. The Anglican Church in Sydney took uranium off a list of unethical investments last year, and its funds benefited from a 23 percent gain in BHP Billiton, the No. 4 uranium miner.
Uranium last year gained 76 percent, beating all but one of the 19 commodities in the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index. Only sugar jumped more.

Analysis: these are the type of stories I'm seeing more of online day in and day out. Slowly but surely, more and more investors are getting into uranium and this should benefit both established mid-tiers like Paladin and Urasia, plus also high-risk, high-reward junior explorers.

 

Friday, March 10, 2006

Uranium Stocks

Uranium Stocks Listing

Alberta Star Development (ASX.V)
Aldershot Resources Ltd. (ALZ.V)
Altius Minerals Corp. (ALS.V)
Azimut Exploration Inc. (AZM.V)
Benton Resources Corp. (BTC.V)
Brilliant mining Corp. (BMC.V)
Buck Lake Ventures Ltd. (BUC.V)
Buffalo Ventures (BUF.U)
CAMECO (CCO.TO)
CanAlaska Ventures Limited (CVV.V)
Commander Resources Ltd. (CMD.V)
Consolidated Abaddon Resources Inc. (ABN.V)
Continental Precious Minerals Ltd. (CZQ.V)
Crescent Resources Corp. (CRC.V)
Denison Mines Inc. (DEN.TO)
East Asia Minerals Corp. (EAS.V)
El Nino Ventures Inc. (ELN.V)
Eloro Resources Ltd. (ELO.V)
Energy Metals Corp (EMC.V)
Equinox Resources Ltd. (EQN.TO)
Erdene Gold Inc. (ERD.TO)
ESO Uranium Corp. (ESO.V)
Firestone Ventures Inc. (FV.V)
Fortress Minerals Corp. (FST.V)
Forum Development Corp. (FDC.V)
Fronteer Development Group Inc. (FRG.TO)
Full Metal Minerals Ltd. (FMM.V)
Golden Valley Mines Ltd. (GZZ.V)
Gravity West Mining Corp. (GRW.V)
Hathor Exploration Ltd. (HAT.V)
High Plains Uranium, Inc. (HPU.TO)
Hornby Bay Exploration Ltd (HBE.V)
IGC Resources Inc. (IGC.V)
International Uranium Corp. (IUC.TO)
Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (IVN.TO)
JNR Resources Inc. (JNN.V)
Kilgore Minerals Ltd. (KAU.V)
Laramide Resources Ltd. (LAM.V)
Logan Resources Ltd. (LGR.V)
Magnum Uranium Corp. (MM.V)
Mawson Resources Ltd. (MAW.V)
MAX Resource Corp. (MXR.V)
Mega Uranium, Inc. (MGA.V)
Mesa Uranium Inc. (MZU.V)
Mexivada Mining Corp. (MNV.V)
Monster Copper Corporation (MNS.V)
North American Gem Inc. (NAG.V)
Northern Continental Resources Inc. (NCR.V)
Northwestern Mineral Ventures Inc. (NWT.V)
Nova Uranium Corp. (NUC.V)
Paladin Resources Ltd (PDN.TO)
Pan African Mining Corp. (PAF.V)
Pathfinder Resources Ltd. (PHR.V)
Pele Mountain Resources Inc. (GEM.V)
Pioneer Metals Corp. (PSM.TO)
Pitchstone Exploration Ltd (PXP.TO)
Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. (PTU.V)
Rampart Ventures Ltd. (RPT.V)
Rare Earth Metals Corp. (REM.V)
Red Dragon Resources Corp. (DRA.V)
Rodinia Minerals Inc. (RM.V)
Santoy Resources Ltd. (SAN.V)
Sea Green Capital Corp. (SGS.V)
Signet Minerals Inc. (SGN.V)
Solex Resources Corp. (SOX.V)
Solitaire Minerals Corp. (SLT.V)
Standard Uranium Inc. (URN.V)
Starfire Minerals Inc. (SFR.V)
Strateco Resources Corp. (RSC.V)
Strategic Metals Ltd. (SMD.V)
Strathmore Minerals Corp. (STM.V)
Strongbow Exploration Inc. (SBW.V)
SXR Uranium One Inc. (SXR.TO)
Thelon Ventures Ltd. (THV.V)
Titan Uranium Exploration (TUE.V)
Tournigan Gold Corporation (TVC.V)
Triex Minerals Corporation (TXM.V)
Twenty-Seven Capital Corp. (TSC.V)
UEX Corp. (UEX.TO)
UGL Enterprises Ltd. (UGS.V)
United Carina Resources Corp. (UCA.V)
Universal Uranium Ltd. (UUL.V)
Uranium City Resources Inc (UCR.V)
Uranium Participation Cooperation (U.TO)
Uranium Power Corp. (UPC.V)
UrAsia Energy Ltd. (UUU.V)
Uravan Minerals Inc. (UVN.V)
Ur-Energy Inc. (URE.TO)
ValGold Resources Ltd. (VAL.V)
Vena Resources Inc. (VEM.V)
Waseco Resources Inc. (WRI.V)
Wescan Goldfields Inc. (WGF.V)
Western Prospector Group Ltd. (WNP.V)
 

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

5th Uranium Stocks Pick: Uranium Participation Corp (TSE:U)

Correction in the resource sectors the last couple of days have been somewhat painful, I'm sure, for many of us. During these times I'm tempted to look away and forget the vast sea of red that swamps the green. Of course, as a long-term investor in the most promising mid-sized uranium companies, I can afford to do that.

However, what might be a better idea is to hunt for bargains right around this time, when uranium is correcting for the sake of being considered in tandem with other resource metals. Of course, we all know this is not true, but we accept it as it is, with the understanding that bargains can be made--especially in times like these. Even if it is sinking it in a stock like Uranium Participation Corporation (U.TO), which is the closest thing to a set-it-and-forget it uranium ETF as you can get. In fact, U.TO would be my fifth pick, if it weren't for the fact that I would have nothing to write about it except to show you the graph of uranium oxide price again =P
 

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Mar 4 Uranium Stocks Update: Paladin Resources (TSE:PDN)

Australian-listed firm hopeful of starting uranium project in Malawi
March 3
Xinhua

Uranium miner Paladin (Africa) has said that it has reached a critical stage of negotiating with Malawian government for a permit that would turn into reality its 130 million U.S. dollars Kayelekera uranium project in Karonga in northern Malawi.

In a progress report of the project, Paladin said concurrent with a Bankable Feasibility Study (BSF), the company and the government are negotiating a state agreement which is a precondition for tapping project funding from international banks.

The mining license is the final stage that would kick-start the project.

The company said capital investment for the project is estimated at about 130 million dollars and covers mine development, working cash-flow and loan fund costs.

It said that based on a 2003 Principal Export Commodities study, the uranium project is estimated to earn between 60 million dollars and 95 million dollars in export revenue per year.

Exploration studies by Paladin have estimated Kayelekera's mine life at 11 years with an annual uranium (U3 O8) output of 1,000 tons per year.

Analysis: As I've said it before, Paladin has not missed any deadlines yet and judging by this report, is chomping at the bit to speed up any and all development. 130 million dollars is not cheap for a project, but the prospects of 1,000 ton/year production and double the export revenue projected (that study was done in 2003 after all) is well worth the cost.

Paladin's 2006 Global Resources Presentation Points:

(1) Paladin's Namibidan and Malawi projects were all previously investigated up to feasability, meaning that Paladin could bring uranium production up much quicker than others

(2) Malawi project will be up and running in 2008. Larger Heinrich in Namibia will have been running for over a year already.