Australia’s ERA warns rains to hit uranium output again SYDNEY, Jan 12 (Reuters) – Energy Resources of Australia warned on Thursday that recent flooding caused by monsoon rains in northern Australia will continue to restrict its production of uranium in 2012.
Production at the company’s Ranger mine — which in previous years supplied as much as 10 percent of the world’s uranium — was halted by heavy rains in early in 2011 and did not resume until mid-June.
A second deluge in December that dumped record rains across parts of the tropical Northern Territory meant ERA would be unable to readily mine richer ores at the bottom of the lode, it said.
“As a result, access to the high grade ore located at the bottom of the pit will be delayed and is highly dependent on rainfall
experienced for the remainder of the 2011/2012 wet season,” said ERA, 68 percent owned by Rio Tinto but separately listed on the Australian bourse….. Analyst are expecting the company to show a loss on earnings before interest and tax of around A$61 million against a profit of A$68.4 million in 2010.
The stock has plummeted more than 80 percent in the last 12 months, in part due to negative sentiment toward uranium companies following the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan last March…..
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