australiafrom canaccord newsletter:
Uranium Spot (U3O8 : US$63.00), Net Change: 0.50, % Change: 0.80%
On your mark...uranium...fire! The New York Times ran an excellent op-ed article by Thomas Homer-Dixon titled, “The End
of Ingenuity” (see the Go Figure section below), where he illustrates the concept of “energy return on investment” (E.R.O.I.)
and how the amount of energy needed to produce energy has been steadily rising. The author could have mentioned uranium,
which emits no greenhouse gases. Nuclear reactors around the world are set to grow over 20% over the next 10 years. Take
Australia, for example, which produces about 28% of world supply. The coal labour unions have been historically dead against
uranium mining in two of the largest states in that country because they see it as a threat to their coal jobs (of course, there is no
reason why a coal worker can’t work at a uranium mine). Second, Australia has no nuclear reactor (it has a very tiny facility for
medical purposes but that doesn’t count) and the country is now seriously debating building something like 10 reactors so as to
become energy self-sufficient and efficient. Just the other week, Australia’s Prime Minister said, “The beginning of this year,
nobody was talking about having a debate on nuclear power in this country, or very few people, and I think we’ve come a long
way. I think the public is interested.” America? They haven’t built a new nuclear reactor in over 30 years. But this, too, will
likely change. Many recall the near catastrophic incident at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island but today’s reactors have come a
long way technologically. By the way, Homer-Dixon has a new book out titled, “The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity,
and the Renewal of Civilization”.