Concerns Linger For Namibia's Uranium Future

Published on Friday April 29 2011

MINES and Energy Minister Isak Katali yesterday confirmed that he has received the Namibia Chamber of Mines’ written concerns about state-owned Epangelo Mining Company getting exclusive exploration and mining rights of uranium, copper, gold, zinc and coal.

The minister is expected to give feedback at a press conference as soon as possible.

“I just got their concerns and will see during the day if we will be able to attend to them and prepare for the press conference,” Katali told The Namibian.

Chamber of Mines general manager Veston Malongo on Wednesday said Cabinet’s approval of a proposal to grant exclusive rights to Epangelo is worrisome.

“We are certainly concerned,” Malango said on Wednesday at the launch of the upcoming Mining Expo.

“We have had a meeting with the minister this morning [Wednesday] seeking clarification, and he asked us to put our concerns in writing,” he said. In a broad-based state of the nation speech delivered to Parliament on Wednesday, President Hifikepunye Pohamba said the law was meant “to ensure that strategic minerals are exploited with the participation of the public sector”.

“It is for this reason that Epangelo Mining company was established as a vehicle for public ownership in the mining sector. I appeal to ... Parliament to speedily pass the envisaged legislation, once it is tabled later this year,” Pohamba said.

Epangelo chief executive Eliphas Hawala told Reuters the state company planned to enter into joint ventures with parties interested in exploration and mining.

“All mining rights in Namibia are vested in the state, including those currently being mined by private companies,” Hawala said.

“The issue is how these rights are controlled through licences. The timeline involved is the prerogative of the state, also depending on consultations with all relevant stakeholders,” he added. – Additional reporting by Nampa-Reuters.

China’s Nuclear Plans Could Resume By Summer

Published on Friday April 22 2011

China’s plan to build more Nuclear Power Stations to meet the nation’s growing energy needs could soon 

be back on track after a safety review is set to 

completed this summer, according to a 

mainland news report Friday.

The central government will assess the report and decide if safety improvements are needed, though Chinese experts believe Beijing will resume its nuclear-power ambitions, perhaps with some minor changes, the China Daily reported.

The report cited former industry regulator and Nuclear Power Technology Corp’s senior official Lin Chengge as saying the pace and scale of China’s building will be adjusted, but dramatic changes are unlikely.

Lin is a former director of the National Nuclear Safety Administration. The China Daily report did not specify when it had conducted its interview with Lin.

China halted approvals for new atomic power stations on March 16 pending a review. The review was initiated amid heightened concerns over the safety of atomic power brought following the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear plant, after Japan’s March 11 earthquake and tsunami brought about the world’s worst Nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.

China has laid out plans to add nuclear capacity equivalent to 70 to 80 gigawatts by 2020, up from 10.8 gigawatts currently. Those plans were sketched out before the crisis Japan unfolded last month.

The review group inspected China’ first commercial nuclear power station, the Daya Bay nuclear power plant in Guangdong province, last week, the report said.

Australia's Rash Governmental Uranium Blackout

Published on Wednesday April 20 2011

Andrew Robb

Published 9:38 AM, 20 Apr 2011

Through the simple stroke of a pen, Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard could probably achieve more to reduce Global Carbon Emissions than she ever will through the imposition of her 

job-destroying carbon tax.

It is a little known fact that Australian uranium exports help drive clean energy generation abroad, which avoids the production of about 400 million tonnes of greenhouse gases annually.

This is an extraordinary contribution when you consider Australia's annual emissions total around 600 million tonnes.

It also undermines the impression Labor likes to give, that as a nation we are not pulling our weight when it comes to reducing global emissions.

Labor likes to repeat ad nauseam how we are the highest emitters in the world per capita, but rarely mentions how our contribution represents little more than one per cent of the global total.

Currently we are exporting around 10,000 tonnes of uranium per year and as it stands this is the single biggest thing we do to assist global greenhouse gas avoidance efforts.

As it stands, global demand for uranium exceeds production and with ambitious nuclear energy expansion plans in countries like India, China and several others, there is huge potential to further support carbon abatement with our uranium.

This reality exposes the utter stupidity and weakness of Julia Gillard’s refusal to sell uranium to India.

The Prime Minister has bowed to the demands of the Greens to introduce a job destroying, environmentally useless carbon tax.

In the same vein Julia Gillard, despite Cabinet support, won’t stand up to the ‘loony left’ of the Labor Party and insist on supporting uranium sales, which could see an additional one billion tonnes of carbon emissions avoided worldwide – that is, nearly twice Australia’s annual emissions.

Of the world’s 443 nuclear reactors, India currently operates 19, which suggests they represent about 4.5 per cent of world demand, or about 3,000 tonnes per year.

It is estimated that this share will double by 2030 and could even double again by 2050, considering their growth plans.

This means that if Labor overturned its mindless ban, it is estimated that we could reasonably aim to supply India with 40 per cent of its uranium.

Based on current demand that would be about 1,200 additional tonnes per year, rising to 3,000 tonnes in the 2030s.

If Labor signed a new agreement to sell uranium to India tomorrow, as per the agreement signed by the Howard government, which it reneged on, we could quickly help avoid the production of 450 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, the equivalent of 75 per cent of Australia's total emissions.

In fact, Deloitte modelling done for the Australian Uranium Association shows that if our industry was allowed to grow to its full potential, which will never happen under Labor, annual exports could reach up to 37,000 tonnes by 2030. That would be some serious carbon emission avoidance – 1.4 billion tonnes a year.

This would also add up to $17 billion net present value of export dollars to our economy between now and 2030.

The moral of the story is that Australia can play a major role in reducing global emissions, through things like increasing our uranium exports and other direct action measures, without a unilateral carbon tax that will undermine our great comparative advantage.

Andrew Robb is the Coalition, Shadow Minister for Finance and Debt Reduction and Federal Member for Goldstein. 

NAMIBIA Remains The World's Fourth Biggest Uranium Producer

Published on Monday April 18 2011

NAMIBIA remained the world's fourth biggest uranium producer in the world last year, while Rio Tinto's Rössing Uranium is still the third largest Uranium mine globally.

A Total of 4 496 tonnes of Uranium in 2010, steadily increasing from 4 626 tonnes in 2009 and 4 366 the Year before.

Kazakhstan was the world’s top producer last year with 17 803 tonnes of contained uranium, followed by Canada and Australia.

China and India, two large fast-developing emerging economies with ambitious nuclear programmes, produced only 827 tonnes and 400 tonnes respectively, Old Mutual Namibia group economist Robin Sherbourne said.

Cameco overtook Areva, the owner of Trekkopje mine currently under construction, as the world’s number one uranium producing company followed by Kazatomprom, Rio Tinto and ARMZ, while Paladin, the owner of Langer Heinrich, stayed in ninth position.

Rössing mine was still ranked the world’s third largest uranium producing mine after McArthur River in Canada and Ranger in Australia.