Northwestern Mineral Ventures, Inc. (fka NWTMF)

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Jun 30 - US$46.00 Uranium Spot Price*
http://www.uranium.info/

Uranium prices continue to climb
Murray Lyons, The StarPhoenix
Published: Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Prices for uranium in the spot market continue to rise rapidly on concerns that western nations have become overly reliant on recycled Russian atomic weapons to fuel power reactors.

According to this week's Scotiabank Commodity Price report for May, the price of uranium climbed to $43 US per pound in late May from $41.50 US in April.

The price moved up again in June, reaching $45 US this month, says the report. That means the previous spot market peak price of $43.40 US reached in 1978 has been surpassed. In real constant dollar terms, however, uranium prices are nowhere near the previous high.

What is more important to the nuclear industry than the spot market is the long-term market, which prices uranium at $46.50 US, according to reports of sales to utilities.

Scotiabank economist Patricia Mohr reports the market expects uranium prices to "almost certainly" reach $50 US by year's end.

According to the analysis, prices are being pushed up by comments out of Russia in which the Rosatom agency says Russia will not renew the HEU (highly enriched uranium) agreement. The agreement puts material from former nuclear weapons, blended into "low enriched uranium," into American power reactors. Experts estimate half of the supply at American reactors has come from the former Russian weapon stockpile.

Saskatoon-based Cameco Corp. and French state-owned Areva Group have been part of the western consortium that has helped deliver that material to the market in an orderly fashion. So far, the equivalent of 10,000 warheads have been converted to peaceful purposes.

The Russians say they will need that HEU material for their own domestic nuclear power generation and to supply fuel for nuclear reactors they plan to sell to other countries, such as China.

One emerging concern is the United States Enrichment Corp. does not have enough capacity to enrich new primary supply at its plant in Kentucky. Enrichment is the second stage of the process of upgrading uranium yellowcake (U3O8) from mines to fissionable fuel.

The first stage is called conversion and is a chemical refining process.

Premier Lorne Calvert will hold a telephone news conference from Paris today to report on talks the provincial government has held this week with the head of the giant Areva nuclear consortium to encourage the French company to build a uranium conversion facility in Saskatchewan.

© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2006
Online Source:
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/business/story.html?id=74834092-fb8a-4e4a-871a-86a94....

Uranium Boom Just Getting Started
ROB-TV
Wednesday June 28th 2006
3:15 PM ET
The Trading Desk with Pat Bolland
D.R. Barton, editor, EarlyWarning Stock Predictor
Duration: 6 m 33 s
http://www.robtv.com/shows/past_archive.tv?day=wed