Uranium hopefuls must act to maximise prices : thewest.com.au

Uranium hopefuls must act to maximise prices : thewest.com.au: "“Overwhelmingly the conclusion is that the economics are real and companies should be pushing ahead full steam to develop their projects,” Mr Grigor said.

“The biggest winners on our table and in the stockmarket are those lowgrade companies that we had been dismissive of two years ago. Since then the uranium price has quadrupled, catapulting these companies into enviable positions.”

He estimates that if all 19 Australian potential uranium producers were to reach production it would increase uranium supply by 17,000 tonnes a year, or up to 30 per cent over the next five years. If combined with increasing global supply, this could drag the uranium price back below $US100/lb.

“This means that the highly leveraged, low-grade companies will need to be up and running as early as possible to maximise the peak of the uranium price cycle, sometime between today and three years time,” he said.

One of the hurdles will be the high capital costs of up to $300 million to develop many of the low-grade projects.

The report suggests that this could be a significant issue for Acclaim, Bannerman, Deep Yellow, Toro and Uranex, while better-placed companies include Contact, Energy Metals, Monaro and Uranium King.

Mr Grigor warned many of the floats now hitting the m"