BHP Billiton Buys Uranium to Fulfill Contracts as Prices Rise
By Emma O'Brien and Tan Hwee Ann
Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's largest mining company, is buying uranium to meet higher demand from customers of its Olympic Dam mine in Australia.
Some customers are exercising options in their contracts to ask for more uranium, spokeswoman Samantha Evans said today in an e-mail. The Sydney Morning Herald reported BHP's uranium purchases this morning.
Melbourne-based BHP declined to give details on the customers, how much it is paying to buy the uranium or where it's getting the nuclear fuel from.
BHP Billiton inherited the contracts after it bought rival WMC Resources Ltd. in 2005 to get access to the Olympic Dam mine in South Australia, which has the world's largest-known uranium deposit. Prices of the fuel have more than doubled in the past year, spurred by rising demand from new reactors and delays developing new mines.
The company is carrying out initial studies into expanding Olympic Dam, which may more than triple production to 15,000 metric tons a year by 2014.
Spot uranium prices rose $10 to $85 a pound this week, according to Ux Consulting Co., which publishes weekly prices for the fuel on its Web site.
To contact the reporters on this story: Emma O'Brien in Wellington [email protected] ; Tan Hwee Ann in Melbourne at [email protected]
Last Updated: February 21, 2007 20:42 EST
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