Gold firms keen to cash in on uranium boom

JOHANNESBURG – AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields and Harmony are courting suitors for some of their uranium, a by-product of gold, to cash in on a bull market for the mineral used to make nuclear fuel.

Uranium prices have nearly quadrupled in the last two years as stockpiles vanish and investors bet on a flurry of new nuclear power plants, especially across Asia. AngloGold, the world’s number three gold producer, is the country’s top source for uranium.It is mulling the sale of its waste, or slimes dams, and its co-owned UK-based nuclear fuel trader Nufcor International Ltd.”We don’t have an answer yet, we could either sell them (slimes dams) outright at a discount to spot or monetise them by building a processing plant or list them separately,” said Thero Setiloane, who heads AngloGold’s uranium business.The group said it had not yet taken a decision on Nufcor.AngloGold is also expanding South Africa’s only uranium processing plant, which it owns, and plans to boost uranium output at its Moab mine by 2009.It produces around 850 tonnes of uranium a year as a by-product of its gold mines.The company was forced into the market to buy 300 000 pounds of uranium at US$75 per pound in October to meet future contracts after corrosion damage shut its plant for two weeks in April.AngloGold’s expanded capacity will coincide with the expiry of most of its long-term fixed contracts.The firm could then cash in on firmer uranium spot prices.”We’ve been unable to enjoy the price boom, but our forward-contracts on uranium end in 2013,” Setiloane said.Gold Fields, the country’s second and world’s number four gold producer, hasn’t decided yet whether it will mine its uranium resources itself or sell them.The firm’s assets include a large underground ore body, Beisa, near its Beatrix mine.”We’re talking with various parties on how best to extract value from Beisa.The options include working with a company or selling it,” Gold Fields’ spokesman Willie Jacobsz said.Nampa-ReutersAngloGold, the world’s number three gold producer, is the country’s top source for uranium.It is mulling the sale of its waste, or slimes dams, and its co-owned UK-based nuclear fuel trader Nufcor International Ltd.”We don’t have an answer yet, we could either sell them (slimes dams) outright at a discount to spot or monetise them by building a processing plant or list them separately,” said Thero Setiloane, who heads AngloGold’s uranium business.The group said it had not yet taken a decision on Nufcor.AngloGold is also expanding South Africa’s only uranium processing plant, which it owns, and plans to boost uranium output at its Moab mine by 2009.It produces around 850 tonnes of uranium a year as a by-product of its gold mines.The company was forced into the market to buy 300 000 pounds of uranium at US$75 per pound in October to meet future contracts after corrosion damage shut its plant for two weeks in April.AngloGold’s expanded capacity will coincide with the expiry of most of its long-term fixed contracts.The firm could then cash in on firmer uranium spot prices.”We’ve been unable to enjoy the price boom, but our forward-contracts on uranium end in 2013,” Setiloane said.Gold Fields, the country’s second and world’s number four gold producer, hasn’t decided yet whether it will mine its uranium resources itself or sell them.The firm’s assets include a large underground ore body, Beisa, near its Beatrix mine.”We’re talking with various parties on how best to extract value from Beisa.The options include working with a company or selling it,” Gold Fields’ spokesman Willie Jacobsz said.Nampa-Reuters