Australian uranium miners and explorers lined up today to receive medals – and quite possibly to provide energy for the Beijing Olympics – following today's parliamentary committee approval on safeguards allowing the country to export uranium to China under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
This translated into a bumper day for uranium equities, especially for OmegaCorp, with the China deal an added sweetener to a $170 million cash takeover bid by Canada's Denison Mines, which has taken a particular likening to the former company's Kariba project in Zambia.
When you consider in mid-2005 OmegaCorp initiated a one-for-four share split when its shares were trading around 90c, shareholders in the company must be over the moon.
Notably, the stock has jumped nearly 60% in the past fortnight to a new all-time high today, gaining 16c (16.2%) to close at $1.15 and take out the gold medal.
Taking the silver medal was fellow African uranium hunter Uranex, which gained 11c (12%) to close at a six-month high of $1.03. The company fell shy of its all-time high of $1.33, achieved in April when the company revealed an alliance with China National Nuclear Corp.
Other high movers in the uranium sector was Berkeley Resources, which started trading on London's AIM, up 14c (12.8% ) at $1.23, Curnamona Energy, up 7.5c (14.9%) at 58c and Western Metals, up 0.7c (8.2%) at 9.2c.
It's yet another win for the commodity, which has beaten the critics and come out on top after three favourable reports from the Uranium Industry Framework Steering Group, Australia's Federal Government's uranium taskforce and the House of Representatives.
Also fuelling investor sentiment in the uranium sector was the victory of Kevin Rudd as the new federal leader of the Labor Party earlier this week, with Rudd's stance on uranium mining being far softer than that of his predecessor Kim Beazley.
The price of uranium doesn't hurt either, currently at a record $US63 per pound.
Despite the continued uranium hype, a little company called Rio Tinto announced Tom Albanese would be its new chief executive from May next year, taking over from incumbent Aussie Leigh Clifford.
The market gave its stamp of approval, pushing Rio shares up $1.51 (2%) to $77.80 for a market capitalisation of $21.6 billion.
The new appointment will see the big two, BHP Billiton and Rio, both run by US citizens.
Additionally, the market welcomed newly listed gold and nickel explorer Eagle Eye Metals, which debuted at a 10% premium to its 20c issue price and climbed higher to end its first day at 22.5c.
On the other side of the spectrum, investors were none too impressed with Golden Tiger Mining's latest drilling results at its Weilong project in China, with the stock shedding 2c (10.5%) to close at 17c.
Joining Golden Tiger was View Resources, down 2c (8.5%) at 21.5c and Range River Gold, down 1c (7.7%) at 12c.
MNS Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Not Held
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