Russia: more reactors, more demand as country speeds up investment in nuclear energy

Just a few days ago World Nuclear News reported that Russia is speeding up its investment in the nuclear industry.

The country already has 33 reactors online with another 34 under construction or planned and a further 20 proposed. This equates to approximately 17% of Russia’s energy needs being met by nuclear energy – a figure that the government wants to see rise to as much as 80% by 2050….

Annual investment in nuclear research and development by the state nuclear corporation, Rosatom is already at $737 million USD. The head of Rosatom sees this increasing to $1.3 billion USD by 2020 - ten times its value in 2007 when the country started to consolidate its nuclear activities within Rosatom.

How will this aggressive approach affect the global uranium market? Well naturally it is going to mean an even greater increase in demand. However, in my opinion it’s also confirmation of what many in the uranium industry have been predicting: the non-renewal of the HEU agreement, aka – a dramatic drop in uranium supply, specifically to the US which is currently the largest user of nuclear fuel.

To my thinking it’s also yet more affirmation of something else I’ve been talking about for a while – the race to secure long-term energy supplies in a world that has to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. That’s why, with the exception of Germany – a minor player where nuclear energy is concerned -  we will continue to see numerous governments pushing for more investment in nuclear energy and ensuring nuclear has a prominent place in the energy mix going forward.

Dev Randhawa

Fission CEO talks about impact of latest uranium discovery

PLS Drilling Wrap-up Report: Success, success and more success

We’ve had a busy last few weeks at Fission! Hopefully you noticed the three news announcements we put out but if not, I can tell you that our PLS property has taken a huge leap forward.

Now as you know, we discovered a high grade boulder field on the property last year and, following an aerial survey and successful ground prospecting, increased the size of the boulder field boundaries by close to 50%. The goal, of course, has been to find the source of that boulder field and with the results of our latest core drill program we believe that we have done just that.

I strongly recommend that you check out the November press releases for the detailed overview but if you’re pushed for time then here’s a snapshot:

• All of the last four holes of the current drilling program at PLS intersected wide (up to 23m)      mineralization
• Each interval had  bands of off-scale (>9999 cps) radioactivity
• The mineralization for each hole occurred at shallow depth

As our chief geo and president, Ross McElroy, said, “These results provide plenty of impetus to plan an aggressive follow up program this winter." The results – a discovery in their own right – don’t just provide impetus, they give us some serious data with which to direct the new program and I for one am extremely excited not just about progress to date but for our future prospects.

Please get in contact with any questions and be sure to follow us on Twitter (@FissionEnergy) and LinkedIn .

Dev Randhawa

PLS Discovery Growing Rapidly

If you haven’t seen today’s press release our drilling program continues to see great results – most recently a 13.0m wide interval of high grade mineralization, including intermittent intervals, totaling 2.14m, of off-scale (>9999 cps) radioactivity. These results, from discovery hole PLS12-024 at PLS, come just one week after discovery hole PLS12-022 intersected a 6.0m interval of high grade mineralization (see our news release of Nov 5, 2012).

Here’s what Ross McElroy, President, COO, and Chief Geologist for Fission, has to say, "Robust mineralization, multiple holes, shallow ground... these are exceptional results and we believe the area has the potential to host a significant and shallow high grade deposit.”

I strongly recommend you check out the press release which includes key technical details. For my part, I can say that the entire Fission team is extremely excited about the progress of PLS and we’ll naturally be announcing further results as soon as they become available. Please get in contact with any questions and be sure to follow us on Twitter (@FissionEnergy) and LinkedIn .

Dev Randhawa

Fission – Head Geo Driving Success

You no doubt caught this week’s big news from Fission – a high grade discovery made while drilling at our PLS property in the Athabasca Basin. It’s no coincidence that our drilling program has had this level of results. Last year at PLS we discovered a high grade boulder field and just last month announced we had expanded the size of that boulder field by nearly 50%.  Arial surveys, successful ground prospecting and carefully planned drilling has enabled us to steadily home in on this week's big discovery.

If you’ve not met him at one of the mining investment shows that we regularly attend and have not yet checked out the management page on our, I would like you introduce you to Ross McElroy – Fission’s president and chief geologist. Not only does he head up the technical team but he has been instrumental in five of the last nine major uranium discoveries in the Athabasca Basin – home to the world’s highest grades of uranium.

For the last four years Mr McElroy has successfully directed the highly skilled geologist and drill teams that enabled us to first make Fission’s first major discovery at our Waterbury Lake project and subsequently to make such tremendous progress at PLS.

A great Geo team lies at the heart of successful exploration and it’s worth you checking out Mr McElroy’s profile on our management page and listening to the audio clip he recently recorded regarding the latest PLS results.

Dev Randhawa

Ross McElroy, President and Head Geo, talks about Fission’s big discovery at PLS

Click here to listen as Fission President and Head Geo, Ross McElroy, comments on Fission's new high grade discovery at PLS this week.

High Grade Discovery at PLS

If you haven’t seen our latest press release, our core drilling program has hit a 6.0m wide interval of high grade mineralization with massive visible pitchblende in veins (up to 21cm wide), blebs and flecks. This is a very significant find to say the least and comes on the back of a large expansion to the high grade boulder field we discovered at PLS and promising drill results during the past twelve months. To say the team is excited

This high grade mineralization occurs at shallow depth in basement rocks in drill hole PLS12-022 which is still in progress. The strongly radioactive interval occurs within a broader 21.0m interval of moderate radioactivity witch breaches the unconformity and extends downward into the Archean basement.

I strongly encourage you to check out the release and in the meantime, here’s what our chief geologist and company president had to say “We believe that PLS is entering a very exciting stage in an underexplored region on the margin of the Athabasca Basin. The latest results to date provide confirmation of the project's potential to host a significant high-grade uranium deposit. We are particularly excited by the size and scope of this discovery."

As ever, please get in contact with us with any questions.  You can also follow us on Twitter for live updates of activity. If you haven’t used Twitter before it’s easy to sign up and will give you instant access to all updates as we make them.

Dev Randhawa