more uranium mergers tipped

From The Australian today and we all know of at least one company that has a large reserve of uranium and VERY low market cap.


MORE international mergers and acquisitions to gain access to uranium mines are expected as countries seek to ensure they have fuel to power new nuclear reactors, a Nomura International report predicted yesterday.

"The key feature of worldwide uranium resource distribution is that a couple of countries own most of the world's uranium resources," Nomura International (HK) analyst Ivan Lee said.

"Some countries with a large amount of nuclear power capacity are not endowed with rich uranium resources."

About 200 gigawatts of atomic capacity are planned or under construction around the world and China, India, Russia and South Korea are set to be the main drivers of uranium demand growth, according to the report. Utilities will be forced to compete for supplies from the few countries with substantial reserves, led by Australia, Kazakhstan and Canada, which collectively supply 60 per cent of the world's uranium.

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Kazakhstan, holding 15 per cent of global reserves, has attracted investments from China, Canada, Russia and France, the report says.

Kazatomprom, Kazakhstan's state-run nuclear company, and China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group last year opened a uranium mine at the Irkok deposit in the central Asian nation's south.

China is competing for supplies with the US, France and Japan.