sambora, page-15

re: still more left! PDN has had an amazing run so traders will always look for the next one in the hot sector. DYL (among others) is an obvious target.
For anyone interested it's worth reading the Government research into uranium after Kyoto (which starts today) http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/RN/2004-05/05rn32.htm
The Federal Government has also indicated it supports further development of uranium mining .

Below is an interesting story just out from http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12269351-29277,00.html

Keen to mine in Kakadu
by Karen Michelmore
February 16, 2005
From: AAP
A FRENCH nuclear power company will soon begin lobbying for permission to mine uranium in world heritage-listed Kakadu National Park.

Cogema – owned by giant Areva – said today it would revive efforts to mine its multi-million-dollar Koongarra deposit once a moratorium ends in April.
Traditional owners, through the Northern Land Council (NLC), imposed the five year moratorium on mining the deposit, 250km east of Darwin.

"When the moratorium finishes in late April we will go into the process, as we normally would, and discuss the matter (with traditional owners)," Cogema Australia general manager Stephen Mann said.

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"We will apply for the access again."

Cogema has attempted to gain access to the deposit numerous times but has been blocked by traditional owners.

The future of uranium mining in Kakadu is uncertain, with mining at the Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) Ranger deposit, near Jabiru, expected to wind up sometime after 2008.

Earlier this month, ERA left open the door to possible future mining its controversial Jabiluka deposit, on which traditional owners have the right of veto.

Mr Mann said Cogema's Koongarra deposit, discovered in 1971, contained around 14,000 tonnes of uranium oxide worth millions of dollars.

"I can't be either optimistic or hopeful until we have started discussions," Mr Mann said.

The NLC said it was willing to listen to the company, with a decision unlikely until later this year.

"Obviously we will be looking at what the company has to talk about as it comes out of moratorium and we will be taking that back ... for consultations with all the traditional owners," NLC chief executive Norman Fry said.

"Whether it gets vetoed, whether it goes ahead or whatever, we can't say at this particular point in time because I cannot pre-empt what traditional owners will say."

But environmentalists have slammed the move, saying the deposit was in an environmentally sensitive area of Kakadu, near the much-visited Nourlangie Rock.

"We will certainly do whatever we can to prevent the mine going ahead, but we will just have to see how it plays out," Northern Territory Environment Centre spokesman Peter Robertson said.

Neither the NT Government nor the Federal Government would be drawn on the issue, each saying it was an issue for the other jurisdiction and there were many hurdles for the company to pass before the mining could be considered.

"It's not only the uranium issue. I mean, who in their right mind would want to open a big mine next to Nourlangie?" NT Mining Minister Kon Vatskalis said.

"What is it going to do for tourism in Kakadu? There are too many things to discuss and many things to actually take care of before you even start digging the first shovel out of the ground."

The Federal Government has indicated it supports further development of uranium mining in Australia.

However, a spokeswoman for federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane said development must meet all the necessary environmental, indigenous, safety and non-proliferation safeguards before it was approved.

It was a long process, which included NT Government approvals, with any decision possibly years away, she added.