Archive for the ‘ERA’ Category

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Uranium prices and shares ever downward

September 9, 2011

Uranium prices plunge causing issues for Australian producers, Herald Sun, Greg Roberts ,September 07, 2011 URANIUM prices have fallen back to levels last seen after Japan’s nuclear accident in March, causing further grief to struggling Australian producers.

The uranium spot price is $US48.85 ($A46.04) a pound, having plummeted from $US67.75 to $US49 immediately after the earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

The spot price had recovered to about $US56.50 after the Fukushima accident. Analyst group Resource Capital Research says the dynamics driving the sector have changed in the aftermath of the meltdown, with Germany planning to close all 17 of its nuclear power reactors by 2022.

The “fund implied price” – an indicator of market price expectations – is signalling a further fall in the spot price to $US45.95. The Merrill Lynch Uranium Equity Index, which measures the performance of uranium equities, has fallen 19 per cent over the past month.

It is down 27 per cent over the past three months and 23 per cent over the past year, according to the latest quarterly report by Resource Capital Research. Shares in Australia’s largest uranium producer, the Rio Tinto-backed Energy Resources of Australia, have fallen 13 per cent in the past month and 73 per cent in the past year.

A year ago, ERA shares were $13.49, compared with $3.65 now, with the company posting a $122 million half-year net loss.  http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/uranium-prices-plunge-causing-issues-for-australian-producers/story-fn7j19iv-1226130940686

Posted in economics, ERA, Rio Tinto | Leave a Comment »

Australia’s uranium mining industry propaganda – not very confident

September 9, 2011

“…an extended period of uncertainty…..A mistake by one operator or explorer or project developer in our industry affects all of us.”

Fukushima puts Australia’s uranium industry on the defensive Independent Australia, 2 Sept 11, The Australian nuclear industry feels the heat after the Fukushima calamity, but spins on gamely. Noel Wauchope reports.

With plummeting uranium prices, and increasinglybad news about Fukushima radiation, Australia’s uranium industry is well and truly on the back foot. But the industry battles on with religious fervour in its belief in the future uranium boom. (more…)

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Protect Australia’s precious Kakadu from uranium mining destruction

July 30, 2011

 little wonder that Ranger has been hammered by the market and described as Rio Tinto’s ”major shame in this country”…. the cold hard fact remains that no modern uranium mine has ever undertaken large-scale acid heap leaching let alone in the monsoonal tropics surrounded by a renowned World-Heritage site…

The time has come for the Northern Territory regulator the Department of Resources and the Commonwealth adviser, the Office of the Supervising Scientist, to ensure that ERA and the Ranger site addresses the systemic failures in tailings and water management and ends the habit of unnecessary risk taking. .

Need for greater mining rules to protect Kakadu, Canberra Times, BY GAVIN MUDD, 15 Jul, 2011 Plans to expand the Ranger uranium operations pose big dangers. Inside Australia’s largest national park lies one of the country’s most controversial mines. Earlier this year it came close to a serious failure that would have contaminated Kakadu, effectively forever. Now, instead of heeding the warning signs, it wants to expand. (more…)

Posted in environment, ERA, in-situ leach | Leave a Comment »

ERA not likely to go ahead with leach uranium project at Ranger uranium mine

July 30, 2011

Like the rest of the uranium producers and explorers, ERA’s sharemarket rating has been hit by the fallout for uranium demand expectations from the Fukushima nuclear-power meltdown in March……..Analysts believe that ERA is unlikely to commit to the heap-leach project while Ranger continues to struggle with water-handling issues. The mine is surrounded by Kakadu National Park.

Rio Tinto on fire despite drenched Ranger, Sydney Morning Herald, Barry Fitzgerald, July 14, 2011“…….Water-handling issues at ERA’s Ranger mine in the Northern Territory have savaged the operation’s production levels. In the June half, production collapsed by 65 per cent to 601 tonnes of the radioactive material….

ERA is still a fraction of the company it was in October last year when it shares were selling at $14.78. The value hit stands at more than $2 billion, most of which is worn by Rio as ERA’s 68 per cent shareholder. Like the rest of the uranium producers and explorers, ERA’s sharemarket rating has been hit by the fallout for uranium demand expectations from the Fukushima nuclear-power meltdown in March. (more…)

Posted in economics, ERA, in-situ leach | Leave a Comment »

ERA’s Ranger uranium mine – inadequate radioactive waste water plan

July 9, 2011

the company is not planning to start processing its radioactive waste water for two more wet seasons.

Mr Mudd says a higher dam wall will mean the company will have even more radioactive water to process.

“In that sense it is still the temporary, sort of step-by-step measures,”

Ranger uranium waste water treatment plan attacked, ABC News, By Jane Bardon, 5 July 11   An environmental engineer says Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) should not have reopened its uranium mine within Kakadu National Park last month without committing to a waste water treatment plan. (more…)

Posted in ERA, Ranger, wastes | Leave a Comment »

Çrash in share price of Australian uranium companies

July 9, 2011

Uranium Companies, Bloomberg, by Shani Raja, 2 July 2011,Mining companies sank as an index of metals traded in London dropped 3 percent through June 30, driven by reports showing that manufacturing growth in China, the U.S. and Europe slowed in May. Speculation that rising inflation may prompt Chinese authorities to raise interest rates cut the shares.

Uranium miners Paladin Energy Ltd. (PDN) and Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. (ERA)tumbled more than 30 percent as the crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant continued to roil the global nuclear-energy market. Paladin’s valuation, at 1.6 times its assets, has fallen so much it may become a takeover target, Citigroup Inc. said in a June 21 report…… http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-01/australia-stocks-post-first-quarterly-loss-in-year-as-oil-prices-retreat.

Posted in economics, ERA, Paladin | Leave a Comment »

Ranger uranium mine resulting in collapse of ERA’s share price

July 9, 2011

the collapse in the group’s share price from a 52-week high of $15 to yesterday’s closing price of $4.68 suggests, there is something very wrong with ERA….Most analysts now believe the development of a heap leach operation at Ranger will not proceed…

Ranger a ride of shame for ERA and Rio Tinto, The Age,  Barry FitzGerald.June 8, 2011“……….Bad news is selectively released to brokers and analysts, keeping the dissemination of ugliness to assessments of what it means in share price terms.

That is the strategy Rio has employed with its major shame in this country – Energy Resources of Australia, the Ranger uranium miner, of which Rio owns 68 per cent. (more…)

Posted in economics, ERA, Ranger, Rio Tinto | Leave a Comment »

Kakadu National Park will be under continued threat from radioactive spills from Ranger uranium mine

July 9, 2011

The Ausralian newspaper covered the very drastic threat now posed to Kakadu National Park by by flooding and sea level rises.

These climate changes mean that Kakadu is further threatened by radioactive waste leaks from theRanger uranium mine.

ERA’s uranium mine is surely no longer viable, and it is high time that RioTinto closed it down permanently and stopped this charade of  Northern Territory uranium mining having an economic future - Christina Macpherson

Kakadu treasures ‘at mercy’ of climate-change floods * Sid Maher : The Australian * June 03, 2011 KAKADU faces more flooding and a loss of freshwater flora and fauna as a result of sea-level rises caused by climate change.

A report released yesterday by the Climate Change Department predicts that over the next 20 to 60 years, there will be more large floods on the South Alligator River, which is in Kakadu National Park.

The predictions are based on models predicting 143mm of sea-level rise by 2030 and 700mm of sea-level rise by 2070…… Kakadu treasures ‘at mercy’ of climate-change floods | The Australian

Posted in ERA, global warming, Ranger | Leave a Comment »

Time to end self regulation of Australian uranium miner ERA

May 30, 2011

The situation at Ranger added weight to his calls for an end to self-regulation of the Northern Territory’s resources sector.

“Mining companies have consistently shown they can’t be trusted to monitor themselves and the government needs to step in and end this ridiculous situation immediately.”

Uranium mine shutdown sparks environmental fears, Sydney Morning Herald, Lindsay Murdoch DarwinApril 19, 2011 THE largest Aboriginal organisation in northern Australia has warned the Rio Tinto-controlled company Energy Resources of Australia against cutting corners on environmental protection during an emergency shutdown of its Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu National Park. (more…)

Posted in ERA, Ranger, safety | Leave a Comment »

Rain might end any future for ERA’s Ranger uranium mine

May 30, 2011

This is highly dependent on future rainfall,” the company [ERA - subsidiary of Rio Tinto] said.

Leading Australian uranium mine remains suspended,Mineweb.com -The heavy rains that have kept much of N. Australia waterlogged for months have also resulted in the suspension of one of theworld’s largest uranium mines – Ranger  Ross Louthean , 14 Apr 2011 PERTH - 

The deluge of rain that has kept a large part of northern Australia waterlogged for months has resulted in the suspension of operations at one of the world’s largest uranium mines – Ranger in the Alligator Rivers region of the Northern Territory. (more…)

Posted in ERA, Ranger | Leave a Comment »

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