chart repeating, page-5

re: uranium stocks LOL :)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000081&sid=agNg2CUurQvE&refer=australia#

Anglican Church's Glebe, BT Remove Ban on Uranium Investments

Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- The Anglican Church's investment fund in Australia has decided nuclear power is a good thing, or at least the lesser of two evils.

Glebe Asset Management Ltd., the second-biggest so-called ethical investment fund in Australia, removed its ban on buying uranium mining shares after a three-month review, Director David Andrews said. The company decided to scrap the restriction after BHP Billiton in June bought WMC Resources Ltd., owner of the world's largest deposit of the nuclear fuel.

Australians last year had more than A$21.5 billion ($16.2 billion) in managed investments that avoid industries such as tobacco and gaming. Glebe and BT Funds Management are among those accepting uranium partly on concern increasing use of oil and coal is contributing to pollution and global warming.

``We added it all together and thought that we really should not have uranium mining as a strict'' prohibition, said Andrews, who would otherwise have had to sell BHP shares that account for about A$10 million of the fund's A$500 million ($383 million).

Australia, the world's second-biggest uranium exporter, after Canada, has 41 percent of global reserves of the metal, though meets only 21 percent of demand, amid mining bans by some state governments.

Wholesale uranium prices have more than doubled since January 2004 on expectations reactors built in China, India and Russia will drain inventories. Some global uranium-related stocks such as Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Cameco Corp., the world's biggest supplier, have almost doubled in the past 12 months.

Share Gains

Shares of Rio Tinto Group unit Energy Resources of Australia Ltd., the country's biggest uranium exporter, have more than doubled this year. Paladin Resources Ltd., a uranium explorer that plans to develop a mine in Namibia, is the best performer this year in Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index. The stock has trebled in value, outpacing an 11 percent gain in the benchmark.

Uranium has traded at $29.50 a pound since July 15, more than double the price in January 2004.

Uranium producers will benefit as prices of the metal are expected to keep rising, said Gavin Wendt, a resources analyst at Intersuisse Ltd. in Sydney. Uranium prices may average $32.50 a pound in 2006, up from an earlier forecast of $29.60, JPMorgan Chase & Co. said June 2.

``It looks very positive for uranium miners given the outlook for prices and the gulf between supply and actual demand,'' Wendt said. ``Countries like China are looking at building a lot more nuclear power plants.'' Of the few new uranium mining projects being approved, some don't have very rich ore bodies, he said.

Kyoto Protocol

BT Funds Management began a review of its restrictions on uranium stocks in October after Russia said it would ratify the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty aimed at reducing emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, said Sydney-based Erik Mather, head of BT's governance advisory service. Its six funds have about A$220 million under management, including BHP Billiton shares.

Of the total A$21.5 billion invested in socially responsible investment assets in Australia as of June, 2004, about A$7.2 billion came from religious organizations, according to a survey by the Ethical Investment Association.

``It was all to do with the contribution that uranium can play in a world that is globally warming,'' Mather said. Uranium miners still have to meet standards in waste disposal and mine rehabilitation to be considered for investment, he said.

`No Revision'

Not all ethical funds have changed their policy on uranium investments. Hunter Hall Investment Management Ltd., Australia's largest specialized ethical investment fund, with more than A$1.3 billion under management, isn't considering revising its ban on investments related to the metal, said Christina Frahm, marketing manager.

The Uniting Church in Australia's UCA Funds Management, which manages about A$550 million, kept its ban on uranium stocks and sold its BHP shares after the WMC takeover, said Peter Thompson, marketing consultant. Australian Ethical Investment Ltd., which manages about A$360 million, and Perpetual Investments, with about A$90 million, also don't invest in uranium stocks, officials said.

Glebe found in its review of its uranium investment strategy that many clients, particularly in church organizations, didn't have a ``strong view'' on uranium compared with other industries such as gambling, tobacco or pornography, Andrews said in an Aug. 16 interview.

The increasing energy needs of emerging economies that are trying to curb pollution from fossil fuels and raise standards of living contributed to Glebe's change, Andrews said.

Weapons

A world shortfall of uranium oxide from mined ore may also encourage a trade in recycled weapons-grade uranium that can be diluted for use in civil plants, potentially contributing to the proliferation of nuclear arms, he said.

China, the world's largest energy consumer after the U.S., plans to build 27 plants to boost nuclear energy output fourfold by 2020, according to the World Nuclear Association. India aims to build up to 24 reactors, the association said on its Web site.

In the U.S., where no new nuclear plant has been proposed since the 1970s, an energy bill signed by President George W. Bush on Aug. 8 offers incentives for utilities to build nuclear plants.

Melbourne-based BHP Billiton, the world's biggest miner, bought WMC for A$9.2 billion. WMC's Olympic Dam mine in South Australia state holds more than a third of the world's known uranium reserves.