Australia’s biggest underground mine halts production

A record number of skilled New Zealanders involved in trade are leaving their country to take up higher paying jobs in Australia.

Uranium exploration and production is on a fast track in Latin American, as investors begin to realize that a few small-cap companies are controlling deposits that could be worth billions of dollars.

BHP Billiton, the world's number one miner, has put its $30 billion Olympic Dam copper-uranium expansion back in the spotlight by asking South Australia state for a 46-month extension for the project.

China's Meijin Energy Group has launched a USD$457 million bid for Australia's Western Desert Resources (ASX:WDR).

South Sudan, the world's newest nation, has announced plans to enact a mining law by the end of October, pushing ahead exploration and expansion in the likely mineral rich, but unexplored country, helping it to diversify its economy away from oil.

China's ICBC has announced a reduction in its lending to Australia's resource sector due to concerns that the mining boom is nearing an end.

Brad Wall, premier of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, says the negotiation of a nuclear agreement between Canada and China could lead to huge exports of uranium from the prairie province to the PRC. Wall made the comments during an interview with Canada's CBCin Hong Kong during a group visit to China with other Canadian premiers for the purpose of boosting business ties. According to Wall the Canadian prime minister's negotiation of the Nuclear Cooperation Agreement with China could enable Saskatchewan to export $3 billion into what he refers to as the "most robust nuclear power program in the world." Wall extolled the benefits of trade with China for Saskatchewan, saying China's food and energy needs will serve as an immense boon for the province's potash and uranium exports.

For Saskatchewan there's a great importance here. We've seen our exports to China from Saskatchewan triple from 2006. We've moved past Ontario and Quebec in terms of the exports to China specifically. In the first half of this year we're up 103% over the first half of last year and typically our best exporting months come at the back end of the year.

Image courtesy of the Saskatchewan Premier's channel via Youtube

InformedTrades looks at the economic hole Japan has dug itself, especially since it gave up nuclear energy and started importing energy.

With record low natural gas prices and utilities switching to coal to take advantage, MINING.com asked Uranium Energy’s (NYSEAMEX:UEC) CEO Amir Adnani last month whether uranium is also struggling under the fracking revolution.