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Old news but with GE speeding up development and its backing of Silex. SLX might be better than any U mining stock


GE, Australia's Silex to Develop New Uranium Enrichment Process

By Rachel Layne

May 22 (Bloomberg) -- General Electric Co., the world's biggest provider of power-plant equipment, will develop a new process to enrich uranium for nuclear reactors under an agreement with Australia's Silex Systems Ltd. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Silex will license its laser-based isotope separation process to GE, which will build a commercial enrichment facility, possibly at its nuclear energy headquarters in Wilmington, North Carolina, GE said today in a statement.

The agreement with Sydney-based Silex allows General Electric to expand in the $5 billion uranium-enrichment market. The Fairfield, Connecticut-based company wants to at least double sales at its nuclear division over the next decade. Utilities are responding to rising oil, gas and coal prices in part by starting the first nuclear plant projects in the U.S. in 30 years.

``GE will be in a strong position to support anticipated demands for enriched uranium,'' Andrew White, chief executive of GE's nuclear unit, said in the statement.

Shares of General Electric rose 5 cents to $34.21 in New York Stock Exchange trading at 11:34 a.m. Shares of Silex rose 7 cents to A$3.84 in Sydney