I don't think this uranium article was posted here:
theglobeandmail.com
'Global nuclear revival' sends hedge funds piling into hot uranium
GAVIN EVANS AND CHRISTOPHER DONVILLE
Bloomberg News
WELLINGTON, N.Z., VANCOUVER -- Uranium is the energy investment of choice for a growing number of hedge funds, which say a sixfold gain since 2001 is just the beginning of a rally that will last years.
"We're in an historic uranium shortage," said James Passin, who manages $580-million (U.S.) at New York-based Firebird Management LLC and began buying shares of uranium producers five years ago. "We're in a global nuclear revival."
Uranium, up 7 per cent last week to a record $60 a pound, may rise to $70 by January after a flood at Cameco Corp.'s Cigar Lake mine, says Jean-François Tardif, who has $180-million in uranium at Sprott Asset Management Inc. Bob Mitchell at Adit Capital Management LP says $80 to $100 a pound is possible.
Even with new mines, growth in the supply of uranium is straining to keep up with demand from utilities. Production from five of the six largest mines in Canada, Australia and Namibia fell in the first half from a year earlier, according to Nukem Corp., a Danbury, Conn.-based uranium trader.
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Power producers are paying record prices for uranium to run plants that produce 16 per cent of the world's electricity. Russia plans to make nuclear power the source of 25 per cent of its needs by 2030, from 16 per cent now, creating a state-run company to compete with Paris-based Areva SA.
Demand for nuclear energy is bolstered by government efforts under the Kyoto Accord to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and curb imports of fossil fuels. Australia, home to 40 per cent of the world's known uranium deposits, says it may build a nuclear industry that can compete with oil and coal within 15 years.
"It is a very tight, producer's market," said Robert Godsell, 54, chief executive officer of Johannesburg-based AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. "We're very optimistic about the long-term price of uranium because it's the only alternative to coal and oil-based energy on scale."
The spot price of uranium has advanced 45 per cent on average in each of the past five years, based on data from Roswell, Ga.-based Ux Consulting Co., a pricing benchmark in the nuclear industry. That beats the average annual gain of 23 per cent for copper and nickel on the London Metal Exchange. Uranium is up 66 per cent this year.
Mr. Passin's Firebird Global Fund has earned average annual returns of 46 per cent over the past five years. He is the largest shareholder in Summit Resources Ltd. of Perth, Australia, and has been a "long-time holder" of Vancouver uranium explorer UEX Corp.
By comparison, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has returned 8.8 per cent a year over the same period. Mr. Buffett's energy investments have been in oil, natural gas, coal and renewable power.
Tudor Investment Corp., the $14.7-billion fund founded by Paul Tudor Jones, in the second quarter bought a stake in Cameco, the world's biggest uranium supplier, worth $32.2-million (Canadian), according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Demand is also rising for shares in Toronto-based Uranium Participation Corp., a publicly traded investment fund managed by uranium miner Denison Mines Ltd., and Britain's Nufcor Uranium Ltd., a fund started by Nufcor International Ltd., the world's biggest uranium trader.
Jim Rogers, the author of Hot Commodities, advises against chasing uranium, however.
"It's not a surprise that prices are at all-time highs given that nobody has been opening new mines," he said. "However, I don't want to be investing in things that are touching all-time highs."
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