Recent article on the uranium industry

In case you didn’t spot this one –a recent article in Business in Vancouver magazine is one that I consider to have some particularly accurate and useful viewpoints on the future of the uranium industry.

The journalist includes the views from a number of uranium players (including Fission) and focused on the underlying fundamentals of the uranium market – specifically the growth of world energy demands, the expanding number of reactors (spear-headed by China) and the predicted upcoming shortfall in uranium supply which Cameco – the industry leader - has been particularly vocal about.

Dev Randhawa

New $multi-million round of drilling at our flagship property

In case you haven’t seen the press release that went out today, we have begun a the Summer 2012 Exploration Program – a $3.2 million, 21 drill hole program totalling 7350m with two drills.

The Winter drill program at Waterbury Lake  produced promising results and our aim over the Summer is to continue delineating and expanding known areas of mineralization, both laterally and on strike.

Be sure to check out the updated maps highlighting the summer drilling and geophysical programs and as ever, please contact us with any questions.

Dev Randhawa

Japan: First two reactors given restart orders

Just a few days ago – Saturday June 16 – Japan’s Prime Minister gave the official government approval for restarting two of the Ohi reactors in Japan. The decision, which followed a lengthy period of stress tests and other safety checks, is a welcome one for anyone that cares about Japan’s economy and reducing the use of fossil fuels.

As Business Insider put it, “the sudden shutdown of nuclear plants has hit Japan's economy hard. To offset the shortfall, utilities have ramped up oil- and gas-based generation, and that contributed to the country's biggest annual trade deficit ever last fiscal year….”

I’ve blogged previously about the crippling financial burden that Japan has faced as a direct result of shutting down all of its 50 reactors. While the stress tests and checks have been vital, it is just as important that the rest of the reactor fleet be restarted once the government is satisfied with their safety and, just as I was certain the restarts would begin, so I am sure that they will continue.

Why the certainty? It was no surprise that Japan embraced nuclear power in the first place because it has the unbeatable combination of low cost, low emission and high base load advantages that fossil fuels simply can’t compete with. Those fundamental strengths haven’t changed and, with energy demands on the increase now and over the long term, nuclear energy remains critical for Japan’s ongoing energy strategy.

Dev Randhawa

Recent uranium long-term price rise is just the beginning

In case you missed it, the long-term price of uranium recently rose 2.5% - the first uptick for long-term pricing since Fukushima. Reported in the Financial Times  the rise closely corresponds with the news coming out of Japan that reactor restarts are just around the corner.

There have been a couple of upticks for the Uranium spot price but the long-term price is the important one because the majority of uranium is bought and sold through long-term contracts.

What the price increase heralds in my opinion is recognition of the fact that nuclear power, far from suffering a downturn, continues to grow and will do so over the long term yet supply is expected to suffer a shortfall thus precipitating an increase in the value of uranium.

Japan – the restarts are about to start

Widely covered by the Media is the fact that Japan’s Prime Minister - Yoshihiko Noda – recently announced in a live broadcast that the government wants to restart two of Japan’s nuclear reactors prior to the Summer energy crunch.
Noda stated that the move was needed to “protect the economy and people's livelihoods”. Let me point out here that this is not a political sound bite and he most certainly not exaggerating. I’ve blogged previously about the extreme economic costs that Japan has been living with since shutting down all of it reactors and realistically it was only a matter of time before restarts were announced.

It’s expected that the first two restarts may occur as early as this week and, in my opinion, more will follow once the Japanese authorities have finished the combination of safety inspections, stress tests and public consultation.

The economic effect of the restarts on Japan, at a national and local level, will be instant. Fossil fuel imports – which have risen dramatically in the absence of nuclear energy generation – can finally be reduced and businesses can operate at full capacity. What of the effect on the rest of the world, however?

Well I personally believe that we will start to see an end to the fiction created by many areas of the Media that Fukushima heralded the beginning of the end for nuclear power because in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. As the statements and actions of numerous governments in the past few months alone have proved, energy demand continues to rise worldwide and nuclear power is the only clean, low-cost, high baseload energy capable of meeting the increase.

Fission granted Tier 1 status by TSX Venture Exchange

If you haven’t yet seen today’s release, I’m pleased to announce that Fission has been Tier 1 classification  status by the TSX Venture Exchange. As I mention in the release Tier 1 is the Exchange’s premier tier and is reserved for the Exchange’s most advanced Issuers with the most significant financial resources and the Company takes great pride in meeting these high standards.

Be sure to check out my earlier blog posts on progress at our flagship property Waterbury Lake and another of our key properties, PLS.

More Chinese reactors around the corner?

China is the world’s largest energy user. If you already knew that, what you may not know is that the average Chinese uses just 3% of the energy that the average American uses. If the average Chinese increases their energy consumption to the level of the average South Koreans (about 17% of the US) then China would use up every single drop of oil being produced in the world.

What’s the point of those stats? Simple. China’s energy strategy is the one to watch and that strategy is one that’s moving away from fossil fuels such as coal, towards green energy of which nuclear is the largest component.

China is already in the process of constructing 28 new reactors, with another 51 planned and a further 120 proposed (world nuclear association). According to the FT and CNN, having approved its 2020 nuclear strategy plan, inspected the country’s current fleet of reactors and finalized new safety standards, China has indicated that it will lift its year-long moratorium on new nuclear projects
According to Guo Shou, energy analyst at Barclays, the 2020 strategy plan approval was the “main hurdle” and that "Approvals for new nuclear reactors are around the corner, they are going to come very, very soon."

You can read CNN’s coverage here.

Successful Winter drill results - Fission expands J-Zone strike width and length on flagship property.

If you’ve not seen our latest press release, we’ve just announced the results of our Winter 2012 J Zone drilling at Waterbury Lake in the Athabasca Basin.

We are very pleased with the results. Why? Well reading the press release will give you the full technical detail but essentially, of the 49 drill holes completed in the J Zone, 40 or 81.6% intersected mineralization with radioactivity ranging from anomalous to “off-scale”.

What this means is the J-zone east-west strike length now extends 667m from the eastern Rio Tinto property boundary, where modeling has determined that the J East Zone mineralization is connected with the main J Zone, west to Hole WAT12-281 (Line 525). Mineralization continues to trend to the west and remains open along strike and laterally to the north and south.

Assays are pending for all 86 holes and we will make this data available as soon as we have it. In the meantime, take a look at the release and please get in touch with any questions.