AURA ENERGY - PETER REEVE
A nugget of uranium ore
project excites Reeve with its ability to offer uranium and base metals , including nickel , zinc , cobalt and vanadium . “ What we ’ re going to operate there is a bacterial heat bleach ; it ’ s quite fascinating ,” he enthuses . “ There ’ s pyrite ( known as ‘ fool ’ s gold ’) in the ore . It ’ s Fes2 and if you bleach it , you end up with sulphuric acid which you can use to bleach the uranium out of the ore .
“ At Haggan , the bugs and bacteria are naturally resident in the ore and provide the biological agent we need to start the heat bleach . So , all we do is take the ore out of the ground , stack it up in heaps – as you do in a typical heat bleach – and then we cultivate the bacteria to increase its concentration before using it to leach the uranium and base metals from the ore and process it . The ultimate vision and
dream for a project like this is to end up with a good deal of base metals to fuel spin off fabrication businesses and downstream businesses in metals while making substantial uranium .” Reeve also sees the potential for Haggan to provide stability for utilities in Sweden where over 40 % of electricity is derived from nuclear power . “ Euratom ( European Atomic Energy Community ) is quite concerned about the lack of available uranium ore and supply in Europe ,” he explains . “ You ’ ve got Kazakhstan there … the Russians and Chinese are trying to get their hands on that . And you ’ ve still got to feed an awful lot of uranium reactors across Europe , despite the fact some countries are turning theirs off .”
Global optimism Kazakhstan is the world ’ s largest uranium producer , controlling around 40 % of the global market . The recent decision to scale back its output by 10 % to tighten global supply has seen prices creep up , fuelling Reeve ’ s optimism for what Aura is placed to achieve . Another reason for Reeve to be cheerful is US President Donald Trump showing
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