The Chinese Coal Panic And Uranium Corner  

I'm not quite sure to make of this report from "Taipan Daily", but it is unusual enough that I figure I'll throw it in to the mix (it may just be a bizarre piece of marketing by the uranium industry however) - SWAT Team Looks To Cut China's Dependence On Dirty Coal.

There is a coal panic in China, and Beijing has dispatched a SWAT team of energy traders to corner the market on abundant, clean-burning uranium. China’s problem is two-fold: a lack of coal and severe coal pollution.

In case you haven’t seen the CNN.com story of May 20th, Chinese power plants are running out of coal, with less than a three-day supply in some areas, according to official government statements. About 32 power plants shut down due to a scarcity of fuel — aggravated by the May 12th earthquake.

The current decline in uranium prices gives these China super-traders a critical inflection point to pick up the slack and clean up the environment.

China is the world’s biggest emitter of sulfur dioxide, a toxic byproduct of burning cheap, dirty coal. The country’s all-powerful State Council reported that pollution cost more than $200 billion in 2005, nearly 10% of the national GDP — the last year Beijing released the numbers of the nation’s environmental damage.

The pollution is also sparking little-known riots. On April 8, 2006, villagers armed with iron bars attacked factories polluting their water. Pollution riots in Huashui in April 2005 pitted outraged citizens against 10,000 police officers. And in mid-July 2005, some 15,000 protestors amassed in at the gates of an offending factory, throwing stones and overturning police cars, despite the thick clouds of tear gas.

The Chinese people are taking to the streets. They want to stop the pollution that is damaging their livelihoods and health. ...

There is a growing sense of urgency to corner the uranium market. This stealth team of Chinese traders is armed with a $300-billion war chest to grab up every last ounce of U308 uranium. And if anyone can pull this off, it’s the Chinese.

Unlike gold, oil or copper, there’s no regulated trading exchange for U308. You can’t buy an ETF for it. U308 moves in a near-underground economy of secretive auctions where uranium trading is fast and furious.

The absence of a regulated trading exchange gives an enormous advantage to a stealth team of Chinese traders instructed by the government to track down every last pound of U308.

This crackerjack team is headed by a cabinet-level rising star who is chauffeured around Beijing in a big, black Audi. He sports a cigarette holder like FDR and is considered one of China’s top economists.

Under his brilliant supervision, the Chinese uranium traders will draw on a war chest of $300 billion in U.S dollars. That amount is nearly twice the size of the world’s largest mutual fund. It’s about six times bigger than the legendary Magellan Fund. And it’s bigger than the world’s top four mutual funds combined.

Over the next 15 years, China plans on building 30 new nuclear reactors. Without those critical reactors, the country’s environment and economy could be heading straight for the dumpster.