Category: Highlights

France is considering increasing its capacity for uranium enrichment as the Western allies look to reduce their reliance on Russian nuclear power plant fuel. French state-held uranium conversion and enrichment specialist Orano SA is reviewing options to boost the capacity at its Georges Besse II plant to 11 million separative work units (SWU) from 7.5 million SWU now, a statement from France’s public debate committee says. SWU is the standard measure of the effort required to separate isotopes of uranium (U235 and U238) during an enrichment process in nuclear facilities.  France…

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The Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) of the OPEC+ group recommended on Wednesday that the alliance cut 2 million barrels per day (bpd) of production for November, according to various sources after the committee’s meeting ended. The full OPEC+ ministerial meeting begins shortly. Earlier reports suggested that OPEC+ would discuss a production cut of between 500,000 bpd and 1 million bpd at today’s meeting. Most analysts were leaning toward predicting a 1 million bpd cut. Then on Tuesday, more reports emerged that OPEC+ could discuss a cut as deep as…

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In late June, a severe earthquake struck southeastern Afghanistan. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) announced it would provide 50 million RMB ($7.2 million) in emergency aid, including tents, blankets, cots and other sorely needed supplies to the impacted areas (People’s Republic of China Ministry of Foreign Affairs (FMPRC), June 25). Beijing invests in Afghanistan to further its long-term economic, strategic and political interests. Since the U.S. withdrawal last year, China has had an opportunity to advance its interests and deepen its clout…

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Volatility on metal and mining markets continued in the third quarter with copper losing sight of record prices hit in March, gold’s bounce back sputtering, lithium doubling in price year to date, coal surging to unprecedented levels, potash advancing to a 14-year peak and uranium experiencing the best market since Fukushima.   The MINING.COM TOP 50* ranking of the world’s most valuable miners lost $134 billion – based on primary exchange share price movements converted into US dollar – over the course of the third quarter and are now worth $1.22 trillion. From its peak at the end of March…

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Oil consumption plunged 22 percent to 1.52 million tonnes in the month of September this fiscal compared to 1.96 million tonnes in the same month of the last year owing to ebbing demand and rising fuels prices, data showed on Tuesday. The year-on-year drop in oil sales is primarily due to a rise in the fuel prices, lower vehicle sales, monsoon-halted agricultural activity and subsequent drastic reduction in the demand of petroleum products,” said Nasheed Malik, analyst at Topline Securities. Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC)’s data showed that amid lower…

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