Uranium is widespread in many rocks, and
even in seawater. However, like other
metals, it is seldom sufficiently
concentrated to be economically
recoverable. Where it is, we speak of an
ore body. In defining what is ore,
assumptions are made about the cost of
mining and the market price of the
metal. Uranium reserves are therefore
calculated as tonnes recoverable up to a
certain cost.
Australia's reasonably assured resources
of uranium are 732,000 tonnes U
recoverable at up to US$80/kg U (well
under the market spot' price), Canada's
are 345,000 tonnes U. Australia's
resources in this category are about 27%
of the world's total, Canada's 13%.
Although it has
more than any other country, Australia
is not the only one with major deposits.
Others in order are: Kazakhstan (17% of
world total), Canada, USA, South Africa,
Namibia, Brazil, Niger and Russia. Many
more countries have smaller deposits
which could be mined if needed.
Despite being so
well-endowed with uranium reserves,
political factors mean that Canada is
well in front of Australia as the main
supplier of uranium to world markets.
Uranium is sold
only to countries which are signatories
of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,
and which allow international inspection
to verify that it is used only for
peaceful purposes. Customer countries
for Australia's uranium must also have a
bilateral safeguards agreement with
Australia. Canada has similar
arrangements.
Australian exports
in 2005 amounted to over 12,000 tonnes
of U3O8 valued at nearly A$600 million.
This was about 24% of world mine
production of uranium. Canada produced
almost 14,000 tonnes of U3O8 in 2005,
about one third of world production and
mostly for export. |
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](http://www.kitconet.com/images/sp_en_8.gif)