Western Australia Attracts Cash for Uranium Projects as Outlook Improves

Uranium (Nuclear Minerals) / Exploration, Mining, Marketing, & Acquisitions

Date posted: 01/01/15

Barry FitzGerald reports that Western Australia has been a hotspot for uranium exploration in recent weeks, with more than 20 million dollars pulled in by ASX-listed juniors to step up work in 2015 in the expectation of higher prices for the nuclear fuel. Toro Energy has pulled in 17.5 million dollars from private equity ­resources fund Sentient for its Wiluna project, and Cauldron Energy has received another 2.53 million dollars under its staged funding agreement with Chinese investor, Starry World Investment, taking the total received since July last year to advance its Bennet Well project to 3.53 million dollars. The equity injections follow the improvement in spot uranium prices from a low of 28 US Dollars per pound U3O8 in May last year to a high of 44 US Dollars a pound in November, and a year-end close of 35.25 dollars a pound. Term or long-term contract prices are higher at about 49 US Dollars a pound. Either way, the price is below the 60-70 dollars a pound inducement threshold considered necessary to encourage new uranium mine developments. Credit Suisse says the uranium price recovery is due to the outlook for restarts in Japan improving. In early November, the governor of the Kagoshima prefecture and regional Councillors voted in favor of restarting the first two reactors since the Fukushima accident.