Rio Tinto executives predict Uranium Prices to rise following new Chinese plan
Rio Tinto Group is reportedly looking into opportunities for growth in the Uranium industry, with executives predicting a rise in China’s demand for nuclear energy in the coming years. Sam Walsh, Chief Executive of Rio Tinto, stated “Uranium has been a tough business since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, but the uranium market will recover with new nuclear power plants coming on in China and other countries in the world.” Following the Fukashima crisis, uranium prices declined from more than $130 to around $40 last year with widespread temporary closures of plants worldwide. With China embarking on a program to build approximately 110 nuclear reactors by 2030, experts are forecasting a recovery in uranium prices in the near future. Click here for the full article.
China Expanding Solar Capacity
Following new projections from the 13th Five Year Plan, China intends on nearly tripling its solar capacity by 2020, adding between 15 – 20 gigawatts of solar capacity every year for the next five years. Already, in 2015, China added more than 15 gigawatts of new solar capacity, overtaking Germany as the world’s largest solar power market. This intended plan would bring China’s installed solar power to more than 140 gigawatts. China currently has 43.2 gigawatts of solar capacity, compared to 38.4 in Germany and 27.8 in the United Sates. To balance this, China is also the world’s largest carbon emitter, burning more coal annually than any other nation in the world. Solar capacity is only a minute fraction of China’s overall energy portfolio, and it must be recognised that capacity does not necessarily equate to generation with an estimated one-third of solar capacity in Gansu province laying idle last year. Click here for the full article.
China seeks more crude oil export from Nigeria
Multinational oil refineries commented on how they would look to import more crude oil from Nigeria into China, last year it was only 1.3% of Nigerian oil exports. Although the dip in oil prices have shocked the global economy Mr Zao LingXiang from the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria stressed that China needs to increase its imports of petroleum and foster better trade relations with this growing country. Nigeria’s economic recovery and growth has been largely due to its debut within the world economy as a major exporter of petroleum (although it is dwarfed by Saudi Arabia, Russia and the USA). China and Nigeria are both the largest and fastest developing countries on their respective continents. They have access to substantial human capital, funds and are hungry to grow their presence and impact the global economy. “China’s total investment volume in Africa last year increased by 100 times more in a short span of 10 years” (Zao LingXiang). Click here for the full article.
Over production of Iron Ore may be coming to an end?
‘The spell of overproduction of Iron Ore may be coming to an end, but the industry will take a while to recover from’, stressed Andrew Forrest Chairman of Fortescue Metals Group. Major iron miners have received criticism of saturating the market with produce which has had an impact on the Iron Ore industry. As a result of their strategies lead to an oversupply of commodities within the market and pushed down prices. However this opinion may not be shared amongst the industry as we see various global groups such as FMG and Vale expanding their ventures in Brazil in order to increase their production strategy to add more tonnes of produce. They stressed that new projects will increase the quality of Ore and strengthen the groups within the industry. Click here for the full article.