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By: The Energy Report and David Talbot
Source: Zig Lambo of The Energy Report When it comes to uranium market sentiment, "it's all about Japan," says David Talbot, senior mining analyst at Dundee Capital Markets. With restart applications trickling in and reactor construction underway throughout the world, a turnaround looks less like an "if" and more like a "when." In the meantime, Talbot sees many investors sitting on the sidelines. In this interview with The Energy Report, Talbot discusses the catalysts that could trigger the next uranium boom. The Energy Report: In your last interview with The Energy Report in December, you were expecting that 2013 would be the turnaround year for uranium. What's your assessment of where things stand now? David Talbot: Our long-term outlook remains essentially the same as last year. What we and most of the industry underestimated was the possible impact of cash-strapped sellers on the spot market. Despite recent spot market weakness, uranium producer equities have pushed ahead 10%, developers 12% and explorers 17%, on average. A uranium supply crisis is still brewing and the fundamentals do remain strong. Demand is stable and reasonably predictable. The weak spot price still threatens future mine supply with more closures, cancellations and deferrals of mining projects. The all-important catalyst at the end of this year is the end of the Russia-U.S. HEU "Megatons to Megawatts" program, which in our view will not be renewed. That means 24 million pounds (24 Mlb) of secondary supply comes offline with no replacement. Uranium prices are too low to incentivize new builds right now. We think prices must rise, as will the equities. TER: The big price drop in early July sent uranium down to a seven-year low. What happened there? Was this the bottom or is there more to come? DT: Uranium prices have dropped significantly in the past month or so. A few weeks ago, near-term requirements appeared low and the first applications for Japanese reactor restarts were not yet filed. Restrictions were also removed from the U.S. Department of Energy regarding how much uranium it's allowed to sell in any given year. That added to the already negative sentiment. The following week, a few suppliers failed to sell to a certain utility and were forced to place that material on the market relatively cheaply. That led to the spot price retreating even more. More positive news coming out of Japan on restarts should help the price edge back up. But during the summer lull, negative sentiment could still dominate, and prices could drop further. TER: What catalysts might cause a significant uptrend in prices going to this predicted $70+ per pound ($70+/lb) level? DT: It's all about Japan. Japanese restarts should provide a psychological boost. Fukushima really ended the last uranium bull run and reactor restarts will likely get that going once again. Once Japan moves forward, the rest of the world will start to catch up on the uranium purchases they've been deferring. Investors are likely to return at that point. Utilities will also have to return to term contracting as they do have significant unmet uranium requirements over the next four or five years. There are more reactors planned or proposed now than ever before, and we are seeing contract awards for construction of reactors, like in Turkey for example, and the UK reaffirmed its commitment to nuclear only a few months ago. We continue to forecast a supply/demand deficit by the end of 2014. By 2020, we expect about 240 Mlb of demand to be offset by only ~200 Mlb of total supply, including secondary supplies. TER: The U.S. imports about 90% of its uranium, yet we still have significant recoverable deposits. What do things look like for domestic production? DT: Things are moving forward on the permitting front in the U.S., which remains the largest uranium consumer in the world with the largest reactor fleet. It produced only about 4.1 Mlb last year, which was about a 4% increase from the prior year. We'd expect that number to increase to perhaps 4.5–5 Mlb this year. TER: So what does the future look like for uranium and what should investors be doing to hopefully benefit and make some money here? DT: Once we get through the summer doldrums and get some visibility on the Japanese nuclear power restarts, we expect uranium prices to firm and rise toward the end of this year and into next year. We are still calling for $65/lb uranium in the long term. To get to those levels, investors will need to see higher prices as incentives before any large uranium mines are built. Based on history, there's a chance that once uranium prices do start to rebound, stock prices could jump quickly. It's our expectation that many investors will sit on the sidelines, skip some of these early gains and likely come into the sector once it's clear what direction it's headed in. In the meantime, we suggest that investors look to the producers, especially those companies that are larger and more liquid. They should also look at select exploration companies. All eyes are on those companies right now and their exploration programs are in full swing and expected to deliver significant news flow throughout the summer. TER: Thanks for your thoughts today, David. DT: Thank you for having me. Dundee Capital Markets Senior Mining Analyst David Talbot worked for nine years as a geologist in the gold exploration industry in Northern Ontario. David joined Dundee's research department in May 2003, and in the summer of 2007, he took over the role of analyzing the fast-growing uranium sector. David is a member of the PDAC, the Society of Economic Geologists and graduated with distinction from the University of Western Ontario, with an Honors Bachelor of Science degree in geology.
Streetwise – The Energy Report is Copyright © 2013 by Streetwise Reports LLC. All rights are reserved. Streetwise Reports LLC hereby grants an unrestricted license to use or disseminate this copyrighted material (i) only in whole (and always including this disclaimer), but (ii) never in part. Streetwise Reports LLC does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported. Streetwise Reports LLC receives a fee from companies that are listed on the home page in the In This Issue section. Their sponsor pages may be considered advertising for the purposes of 18 U.S.C. 1734. Participating companies provide the logos used in The Energy Report. These logos are trademarks and are the property of the individual companies. -- Posted Friday, August 2 2013 | Digg This Article | Previous Articles by Guest Authors |
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