Indonesia curbing nickel supply to support locals, Eramet says
The French miner was this year given a sales quota by the Asian nation that was 29% less than it expected.
The head of the Atomic Energy Commission said a four-year study has indicated that the Tumalapalli mine near the Indian state capital Hyderbad, which is scheduled to begin operating later this year, could produce up to 150,000 tons of uranium. The Daily Telegraph reports:
“It’s confirmed that the mine has 49,000 tons and there are indications that the total quantity could be three times that amount,” Mr Banerjee said on a visit to a nuclear plant in the western state of Rajasthan on Monday.
If that is the case, it will become the largest uranium mine in the world, he added.
The low-grade uranium deposit would feed into atomic plants sought by India to maintain its breakneck pace of economic growth. The country currently gets only 3% of its power from nuclear.
It hopes to substantially increase this output to around 30 per cent by 2050 by erecting 30 atomic reactors and the domestic uranium find would not only boost its plans but also help reduce costs.
While uranium stocks are still in the cellar after the Japanese earthquake and subsequent nuclear plant meltdown, exploration is continuing for the mineral needed to complete the atomic reaction. MINING.com reported on July 15 that Aura Energy Limited has confirmed an inferred resource of 50.2 million pounds uranium at 330 ppm U308. The Reguibat Project is the first JORC-compliant uranium resource found in Mauritania.
The same day MINING.com reported on Crosshair Exploration & Mining Corp.’s announcement that it has started drilling on two uranium/ vanadium projects in central Labrador, Canada. The two projects are estimated to contain indicated uranium resources of 5.19 million pounds (graded 0.032% U308) and 2.33 million pounds (graded 0.053% U308) respectively.
