dyl redy to move??, page-16

**record close/uranium bull** New Uranium Bull
By: Scott Wright, Zeal Intelligence LLC

"...Most first-world, and even some second-world countries are ramping up their nuclear programs to harness this power. Both governments as well as private entities are starting to understand not only the environmental advantages of going nuclear, but the economic advantages.

Today there are 439 operational nuclear power reactors around the world and there are another 140+ either under construction, planned or proposed. In order to ramp up their future super-economies, India and China have highly escalated their nuclear programs and between the two of them are planning to build over 60 reactors over the next 15 years.

Did you know that in the United States there are 103 operational nuclear power reactors and it is estimated that they provide over 20% of this country’s electricity? There are 20 other first-world countries that also use nuclear power to generate at least one-fifth of their respective country’s electricity. France, Belgium, Sweden and several former Soviet Union countries use nuclear power for over 50% of their respective country’s electricity.

It’s estimated that 16% of the world’s electricity is currently generated from nuclear power. These numbers are going to grow, and many other countries will join and move up the list of those producing and utilizing nuclear power.

Just like most other commodities today, as the demand for uranium exceeds its supply, the price of uranium will drastically rise....

As recent as early 2000, the spot price for uranium was hovering around $7 per pound. As of the most recent monthly spot quote, uranium is now trading at $29 per pound. Even with this spectacular gain in just five short years, experts in the uranium field expect prices to continue to soar based on simple economic fundamentals....

As the production of nuclear energy ramps up, we can comfortably speculate that demand for nuclear fuel is going to significantly increase over time. Let’s look at it from a commoditized perspective. As implied, uranium is the mineral that is harnessed and used to make nuclear fuel. In 2004, total global uranium consumption was estimated at 180 million pounds. Of that 180 million pounds only 104 million pounds, or 58%, was supplied directly from mining.

Since mining couldn’t keep up with demand, commercial, private and government stockpiles, along with recyclables from dismantled nuclear weapons were tapped and accounted for the difference. These stockpiles are swiftly dwindling. Utilities do not have sufficient long-term storage to continue production at their current pace. When these stockpiles run dry, the underlying issue will be exposed that there is a major shortage of uranium being pulled from the earth....

There are very few companies out there that mine uranium as their core product. Those companies that do will greatly benefit from this bull market. Of the 104 million pounds produced globally last year, approximately 80% of that was produced by only eight companies.

The lion’s share of today’s uranium production is isolated to just a few regions around the world. Australia and Canada accounted for over 50% of the mined uranium last year. We will see even more from Australia as it by far houses the world’s largest uranium deposits with over one million tons of resources. Other global resource leaders are Canada, Kazakhstan and several countries in southern Africa...."

Full article at:
http://news.goldseek.com/Zealllc/1120237565.php