Uranium Mining Companies
Uranium mining companies can be classified in six categories. The first category is called the big uranium mining companies like Anglo American PLC, with office in London and South Africa and Anglogold Ashanti Ltd with offices in South Africa. Those two companies are related in terms of ownership 51% of Anglogold's stock is owned by Anglo American. Another big uranium company is Areva NC located in France. It is basically owned by the atomic energy commission of France. The Russian company Atomredmetzoloto OJSC located in Russia is another major player in uranium mining and it is primarily owned by JSC Priargunsky Production Mining and Chemical Association.
Cameco Canada, the Uranium Mine Ownership Asia, China National Nuclear Corporation, Cogema, Cominak, Romania's Compania Nationala a Uraniului-CNU, Converse County Mining Venture, Cotter Corp, Denison Mines Corp, Diamo, Energy Resources of Australia, Geam, General Atomics, Geomex Minerals, Heathgate Resources Pty Ltd and Industrias Nucleares do Brasil, are all major uranium mining companies that are owned by different nations or are publically owned. KazAtomProm, Langer Heinrich Uranium, Mesteria Uranium L.L.C., Navoi Mining and Milling Complex, Overseas Uranium Resource Development Company Ltd., Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, Power Resources Inc Rio Tinto, Rossing Uranium Ltd., Somair, Stepnoye Mining Company and Urangesellschaft of Germany, are also involved in supplying the world with most of the uranium used for nuclear fuel, as well as for other purposes.
The second category of uranium mining companies either own, lease or prospect for sites to mine uranium. That list is a large one. The third category consists of companies who are trying to acquire rights to mine uranium and the fourth category includes companies who own uranium deposits. The fifth category consists of companies planning to develop uranium mines and the sixth category includes companies who are planning to mine uranium. The list of mining companies that are state or privately owned is almost as long as the public owned mining companies.
Most of the mining companies in the United States mine deposits in sandstone which usually produce lower grade uranium, so the price of U.S. uranium ore has a tendency to fluctuate. The companies in Canada and Australia mine high quality uranium and the Russian and Kazakhstan mining companies produce good quality uranium as well. The Ukraine and Uzbekistan companies also tend to mine uranium rich in the mineral pitchblende, which enhances the quality of uranium ore. Africa especially Namibia and Niger produce over 10 million pounds of uranium a year. South Africa mining companies mine deposits of quartz-pebble, which produces a decent quality uranium ore. Jordon is the only Middle East country with uranium deposits and the country has 140,000 tons of uranium in reserves. The French company Areva signed an agreement with Jordon to explore more uranium deposits. China and India uranium mining companies produce over 850 tons of uranium a year, which is less than 10% of the annual uranium yield.
There are several different types of uranium mining techniques. When the open pit method is used, deposits are removed by drilling and blasting which exposes the ore and then it is excavated and loaded on trucks. In many areas uranium is well below the surface, so tunnels and shafts are built and used to remove the ore. There is less waste involved in this process, but workers are exposed to high levels of radon gas. Heap leaching uses a liquid like sulfuric acid to percolate down into the rock formations and is then the ore is pumped to a processing plant. In-situ leaching or solution mining is the only type of mining done in the United States. Solution mining pumps an acid or a weak alkaline into or next to uranium deposits and the ore is extracted by leaching. Uranium mining companies play an important role in moving the world from a fossil fuel economy to a 21st century nuclear energy based fuel system.
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