tough month ahead for bmn holders, page-6

Guys,

The article below is taken form the Market oracle, a uk outfit and is an outlook from the beginning of last year. I was wondering if anyone can confirm the statistics used in relation to the supply, demand and stockpile levels of uranium.I was also wondering if anyone knew of a site that had the figures for 2006 & 2007.

I am also interested if anyone has a site or knows the figures for reactors planned or currently under construction. cheers

The Barry


Uranium — The White-Hot Metal: Demand is Outstripping Supply
In 2005 (the most recent complete statistics), uranium mines supplied 102.5 million pounds of uranium, but demand was 171 million pounds. The gap of 68.5 million pounds was filled by rapidly dwindling stockpiles. Uranium demand probably hit 180 million pounds in 2006, and is going higher yet. Supply just can't keep up. Then, in October, uranium kingpin Cameco reported that its Cigar Lake Mine, which was scheduled to go into production in 2008, suffered a disastrous flood. Water is still pouring into the mine so fast that some miners joke that Cameco should convert Cigar Lake into a hydroelectric plant.

Cigar Lake was supposed to ramp up production to 18 million pounds of uranium a year; 18 million pounds — that's more than a tenth of last year's total global demand. One expert said: “It's like the oil industry losing Saudi Arabia.” Cameco is trying to stem the flooding at Cigar Lake, but this project is probably delayed for years. The biggest challenge of all: Right this very moment, there are over 100 nuclear reactors under construction or in the planning stages, a huge 25% increase over the number of existing reactors. Japan has 11 in the works. China, 30. India, 20. A typical 1 gigawatt nuclear reactor requires around 200 tonnes of natural uranium per year.

Bottom line: Demand is going to soar, and supply can't keep up.