in the box seat

A snippet from today's AGE...just for interest...

"Analysts from Macquarie, RBC Capital Markets and Goldman Sachs JBWere all predict uranium prices could hit $US100 a pound this year.

But BHP, which owns the world's largest uranium resource at Olympic Dam in South Australia, is not expected to benefit from higher uranium prices until legacy contracts paying less than $US20 a pound run out in 2010. Even worse, BHP has been forced to buy high-priced third-party uranium to meet the terms of some of its contracts.

The pricing terms of Rio Tinto subsidiary ERA's contracts are confidential, but Goldman Sachs JBWere said it assumed ERA sold its product through a mixture of spot sales and long-term contracts, with the majority weighted towards long-term contracts. Based on an average uranium price of $US90 a pound this year, the investment bank expects ERA to receive only $US23 a pound, rising to $US45 a pound by 2010."