Investing in the Great Uranium Bull Market

Investing in the Great Uranium Bull Market From the Editors of StockInterview.com A Practical Investor’s Guide to Uranium Stocks Table of Contents Chapter One Uranium: The Misunderstood Commodity 1 Where Did the Uranium Come From? 3 Etymology of Uranium 4 What is Uranium? 5 Background: From Discovery to Use 6 Photography and Nuclear Physics 6 Harnessing the Possibilities 7 Splitting the Atom 8 The First Uranium Supply Crunch 9 Peace Time Nuclear Energy 12 Chapter Two Why The World Needs Uranium Now 15 Converting Uranium Into Nuclear Fuel 17 The World Needs More Electricity 20 Nuclear Reduces CO2 Emissions 22 The Human Cost to Produce Electricity 24 Conclusion 26 Chapter Three The Changing Face of Uranium Mining in the United States 29 Carnotite: The Gem of the Colorado Plateau 30 Post-War Uranium Demand Soars 32 In Situ Leaching Mining 35 Description of ISL Mining by the Wyoming Mining Association 35 The History behind ISL Mining 38 Utah Construction Becomes the First Commercial ISL Miner 39 Important Geological Points in an ISL Property: 43 How to Minimize Your Risk The “Roll Front” is a Uranium Deposit 44 Permeability is the Key 47 Chapter Three (continued) The Changing Face of Uranium Mining in the United States Pump Testing for Permeability 48 Other Key Factors 49 How Does ISL Mining Reverse Mother Nature? 51 “Mining” the Uranium 53 ISL Extraction and Processing 55 Stripping the Uranium 56 Getting the Uranium into the Drum 57 Cleaning up the Project 60 Conclusion 61 Chapter Four The Hottest Mining Spots in the United States 65 Assessing Wyoming’s Potential 68 Does Everyone in Wyoming Love Uranium? 70 Wyoming’s Political Pulse on Uranium 71 Could Wyoming Rival Canada’s Athabasca 73 Basin or Australia’s Northern Territories? Wyoming’s Roll Front Uranium Deposits 75 Source of the Roll Front Deposits 76 Assessing New Mexico’s Potential 79 Hypocrisy of the Environmentalists 81 Navajo Double Standards on Uranium? 83 New Mexico Conclusion 85 Assessing Texas’ Potential 85 Conclusion 87 Chapter Five World Uranium Assets 89 Canada 91 Unconformity-Type Uranium Deposits of the Athabasca Basin 93 Australia 96 Countries to Watch 97 Namibia 98 Niger 101 Kazakhstan 103 Conclusion 106 Chapter Six The Great Uranium Shortage of 2012-2015 109 Atoms for Peace 111 A Shift in the Center of Gravity 113 China’s Economic Growth Will Prolong The Uranium Bull Market 114 Russia’s New Nuclear Alliance 119 The HEU Program Will End in 2013 121 How Fast Will the Middle East Convert to Nuclear Energy? 123 Will Iran be the First? 123 Saudi Arabia’s Gas & Water Problems Could Lead Them to Nuclear 125 Other Middle Eastern Countries 129 Middle East Summary 130 Sleeping Giants: Africa, South America, Asia 131 Asia: The Prime Mover 132 Africa’s Great Potential 133 South America: An Undiscovered Giant 134 Conclusion 136 Chapter Seven Tomorrow’s Reactors to Strengthen Bull Market 141 The Great Transition 145 Generation III Reactors 147 The Next Frontier: Generation IV Reactors 152 Understanding Once-Through 153 Reviewing the Next Generation 154 Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor 156 Lead-Cooled Fast Reactor 157 Molten Salt Reactor 158 Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor 159 Supercritical-Water-Cooled Reactor 160 Very-High-Temperature Reactor 161 Pebble Bed Modular Reactor 162 Conclusion 165 Chapter Eight How to Choose a Uranium Stock 167 Ten Golden Rules for Yellowcake Investors 168 A Conversation with Kevin Bambrough and Jean-Francoise Tardif 173 Uranium: A Misunderstood Commodity CHAPTER 1 Uranium: A Misunderstood Commodity Uranium is around us everywhere, but economic deposits of uranium are found in ore, such as the above sample. Uranium has been around since the first century, when Romans used natural uranium oxide to add a yellow color to ceramic glazes. But ask anyone today about uranium? In response, you might either get a blank stare or suffer a lecture about the dangers of radioactivity. Many people still fear if they get sufficiently close to uranium, they will get toxic radiation, develop cancer or instantly die. Uranium is a misunderstood commodity. Increasing the average person’s comfort level toward uranium has been further compli- - 1 - Investing in the Great Uranium Bull Market U.S. map of surface uranium concentrations cated by six decades of military abuses, and by two highly publicized nuclear reactor accidents: Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. Neither the media nor well-funded environmentalists bothered to later clarify that both accidents were relative non-events. Both unfortunate incidents forced the world’s utilities to more greatly depend upon coal for electricity generation. As a result, we now suffer record levels of air pollution, global warming, and an atmosphere, overburdened because of carbon dioxide emissions. This clean-up may take one or two centuries, if we are able to ever accomplish this task. Was the hysteria worth it? Absolutely not. The unfortunate events only delayed the inevi- table. Nuclear power is the single solution in helping to slow down global warming and out-of-control air pollution for the next two, three or more decades. In this chapter, we endeavor to clarify some of the basic misconceptions about uranium. Perhaps we can simplify what many believe to be a complex subject. For instance, uranium is a ubiquitous atomic element. In other words, it is nearly everywhere. Uranium can be found in most rocks, soils, plants, animals, seawater and the air. Fearing uranium is a meaningless exercise. It’s just here and there and all around you. Uranium is even inside your body. Fact: You already have about 90 micrograms of uranium in your body. Approximately two-thirds of that can be found in your skeleton, about one-quarter in your liver and kidneys and the rest in other tissues. - 2 - Uranium: A Misunderstood Commodity Three types of radiation to know about: Alpha particles do not travel far and are easily blocked by a hand or a sheet of paper. Beta particles take a little more to stop them. Gamma rays require a lot of mass to stop them. Where Did the Uranium Come From? Scientists believe uranium was formed in super novas more than 4 billion years ago. Evidence of uranium on an instrument cover of the now-defunct Russian space station Mir suggested the space around earth may still be getting uranium from an old supernova. Cosmic radiation, which is in our atmosphere and throughout space, is said to be from supernova explosions. What do most people fear about uranium? Unbeknownst to most people, it is the “radioactive decay” they fear. As uranium decays, it emits radiation. What is radiation? It is the energy radiated or transmitted as rays, waves, in the form of particles. Radiation is also what provides the main source of heat inside the earth. Without uranium, and other radioactive minerals in the earth, which heat up our planet, earth would be a cold, dead planet. We humans could not survive here. It is uranium and radiation that is responsible for an earth that is alive and active to this day. Plate tectonics is a wonderful, natural, recycling process, which is driven by the heat of decaying uranium and other radioactive minerals. Instead of fearing radiation and what harm it may do, try understanding how uranium is an essential element in your life. Uranium helps maintain our quality of life. - 3 - Investing in the Great Uranium Bull Market Fact: The human body requires potassium. It is essential for good health. Natural potassium is radioactive because it is a mixture of potassium-39 and potassium-41 (both non-radioactive potassium) and radioactive potassium-40. In other words, your body accumulates radioactivity to survive. Etymology of Uranium Blame the scientist who “almost” discovered uranium as to why this atomic element is named after the seventh planet from the sun. Imagine if the sequence below had taken place in any other way. What would we now be calling the yellowcake that powers nuclear reactors across the world? You would be surprised. Below is the story behind uranium’s name. The word “uranium” has a confusing past, but through no fault of its own. Since the beginning of the sixteenth century, in a silver mining town in an area which is now part of the Czech Republic, miners discovered a black mineral they called “pechblende.” Pitch- blende, or uraninite as it is now better known, is a uranium-rich mineral which is also comprised of lead, thorium, radium and rare earths. In the late 19th century, it was from this same northwest Bohemian town where Marie Curie got her pitchblende and isolated radium and polonium from the ore. European scientists Roentgen, Becquerel, Villard, and others were aggressively ex- perimenting with pitchblende and discovered ionizing radiation, X-rays, beta radiation and gamma rays. Pierre and Marie Curie named the gamma ray phenomenon, attributed to the radium in pitchblende, “radioactivity.” MIT professor of biology Samuel Prescott, who was closely following Madam Curie’s research, began testing those gamma rays on food. He discovered the gamma rays destroyed bacteria in food. From Prescott’s work, food manufacturers discovered they could extend the shelf life of canned goods. Since then, radiation and radioactivity have become an integral part of both the medical pro- fession and the food industry. In everything from chest x-rays to irradiating strawberries, radioactivity plays an integral role. Let’s go back about one century. In 1789, Martin Heinrich Klaproth presented his discovery of a “strange kind of half metal” to Berlin’s Royal Academy of Sciences. The Ger- man chemist had, on the face of it, isolated uranium oxide from pitchblende.

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