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NewswireToday - /newswire/ -
Sarasota, FL, United States, 10/03/2006 - Strathmore Minerals President David Miller, presenting at the recent Platts Nuclear Fuel Strategies Conference, foresees a resurgence of conventional uranium mining in the United States..
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Strathmore Minerals (TSX: STM) President David Miller, presenting at the recent Platts Nuclear Fuel Strategies Conference in Washington (DC) to utilities, hedge funds and uranium industry insiders, predicted a resurgence in conventional uranium mining in the United States to keep pace with the demand from U.S. utilities to power the nation’s 103 nuclear reactors. According to TradeTech, spot uranium reached a historic high this past week of US$55.75/pound. Gene Clark of TradeTech told StockInterview, “We expect prices in the fourth quarter to continue to significantly exceed all previous expectations.”
As the uranium price rises toward $60/pound, previously sub-economic underground and open pit uranium mining is likely to become more economic. Miller told StockInterview the operating costs for a uranium mining and milling operation in the United States would cost between $80 and $120 per ton of uranium-mineralized ore. The higher the average grades of this ore, the more economic the operation. Miller cited an example of 0.02 percent as an economic grade in a U.S. mining operation, and pointed to Strathmore Minerals’ Roca Honda project in New Mexico and the proposed acquisition by SXR Uranium One (TSX: SXR) of the Green Mountain uranium property in Wyoming, as having sufficient grades to meet his criteria.
Miller explained during his presentation at the Platts conference that conventional uranium mining in the United States could exceed 16 million pounds of U3O8 by the year 2020. He anticipated conventional mining could surpass the current preferred method of uranium extraction in the United States , the in situ recovery method which many compare to an environmentally friendly water treatment plant. In arguing for the development of a domestic uranium industry to help U.S. utilities diversify their nuclear fuel supply, Miller announced, “The U.S. can still become a medium size producer.”
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Stockinterview.com is an online news service, which provides investigative reporting, editorial, analysis and commentary of the nuclear fuel cycle, uranium mining, nuclear power, the environment and the natural resource industry. Over the past three years, the Internet news website has covered the nuclear energy renaissance, the worldwide uranium mining boom and the potential influence of alternative fuel sources on China’s dramatic economic growth.
For the feature article entitled “Rising Mining Costs Should Sustain Uranium Price at Record Levels,” please visit our website.
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