IGO to record impairment against nickel assets in strategy shift
IGO has been undertaking a strategic review in an attempt to revaluate its resources.
The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has been in the news after the earthquake in Japan cut off the plant’s cooling system. Robin Bromby, writing for The Australian, says that all the sensational news could deal the nascent uranium sector a hard blow:
Forget that all the existing nuclear plants around the world will still continue to consume uranium, that China and others (including the Brits) will press on with their plans for new reactors and that those new reactors have quite different technology to the relatively old ones in Japan (it is like comparing the Boeing 707 with the 777).
None of these and other logical points matter when Mr. Market gets a touch of the vapours.
If there is a move to sell uranium stocks today and in coming weeks, it will be a cruel blow for that sector.
Investor confidence was surging back into the companies with the more advanced or promising projects, exploration was starting to perk up, the political tide was turning uranium’s way, and some politicians even suggested we discuss nuclear generation here.
All that is now toast, even though it seems likely that the supply-demand picture for the short-term future should be little affected. The longer term, though, could be different.
Michael Allan McCrae wrote this story. You can contact him at [email protected] or @michaelmccrae.
