Post by Serafina on May 27, 2009 7:58:03 GMT 4
A UAE based private business group has launched the first independent Arab uranium exploration company, as several regional countries plan to build nuclear reactors, an executive said on Tuesday May 26, 2009.
Arabian Uranium Ventures, a unit of Thani Holdings which has a diversified business in oil and gas, mining, real estate and trading, was launched on Tuesday and will be extracting the radioactive metal from the Middle East and Africa.
"With growing energy needs, ever-decreasing oil and gas reserves and environmental concerns, I believe the business case for Arabian Uranium Ventures is sound," Rishard Camball, chief executive officer of Thani Holding, told the news agency Reuters.
He added that the company will only be involved in the extraction of the metal and not its conversion into uranium rods which are then used by nuclear reactions.
"There are only four or five companies in the world which are very closely monitored that manufacture these rods, this very sensitive business which we have no interest in."
The UAE plans to have its first nuclear reactor ready by 2017.
Last week, U.S. President Barack Obama approved a nuclear energy deal with the UAE worth potentially billions of dollars to U.S. energy companies.
Other Arab countries including Egypt, Yemen and Jordan are also in the process of setting up reactors.
"This is a very good opportunity for us to start our project now before any of the Middle East reactors start operating, because it generally takes seven to ten years for the extraction to be complete," said Camball.
The company is now in the process of signing licence deals with countries it has targeted for exploration.
"We will start with six countries in Africa and one in the Middle East which is now being carefully monitored," said Camball declining to name the countries.
"We are also in the process of signing a deal with an international partner to provide us with the know-how and technology," he added.
Without "proper" exploration work in Africa, by 2012 the world will face a shortage of about a third of the total uranium supply, said Camball.