Fission and uranium’s macro fundamentals

Uranium One said the effects of the Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown in Japan last March are now priced into the market for uranium oxide.

Japan will find itself without nuclear power for the first time since 1970 as the last of its currently operating nuclear reactors prepares to go offline.

BHP Billiton addressed shareholder concerns about its ambitious investment plans in four mega-projects on Wednesday saying it will match capital expenditures closely with cash flows and stagger the project pipeline.

There is no such thing as an average miner.  There is no such thing as an average salary.  Yet we can get some idea of how well mining people are paid by looking at the average salaries for 2011 on US metal mines recently published CostMine.

There are conventionally 2,080 work hours in a year. Thus somebody earning a wage of $20 an hour gets the equivalent of a salary of about $42,000. Considering the mine manager makes about $100,000 to $150,000 a year, it is interesting to take a look at actual wages paid to miners in the United States in 2011.

Sales volumes were up 33% at Cameco, the world's largest uranium miner in Q1. Revenue increased 22% to $563 million and gross profit showed a gain of 31% to $178 million.

In what is considered a major milestone in the Indian nuclear program, the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) commissioned last week a new uranium mine, which may host one of the most significant reserves of the yellow material in the world.

The Opposition New Democratic Party is alleging the Liberal government of BC overpaid Boss Energy to abandon plans for a uranium mine near the Interior city of Kelowna.

Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives by mining companies operating in emerging markets in South America, Africa and Asia have become a crucial part of doing business as “above-ground risks are quickly gaining equal footing to traditional geological and engineering considerations for mining projects.”