EDITORIAL PAGE — Good uranium sense

There is something wonderful about individuals taking advantage of their God-given talents and strengths and using them for their own and mankind’s benefit. The same might be said about Canadian provinces that are rich in resources.

In particular, Saskatchewan might be singled out for its resource wealth which, in addition to “bread basket of the world” wheat, includes “world-class deposit” uranium and potash.

Canada, the world’s leading uranium producer, used to count heavily on two provinces for its uranium production, but with the winding down of mining activities at Elliot Lake in northeastern Ontario, Saskatchewan has become the dominant force. In 1991, Canadian production of U3O8 amounted to 21.3 million lb., with the prairie province accounting for 17.8 million lb. of that total.

Canadian uranium output was off last year by almost 7% from 1990, but that might be expected in a slow market. Several factors have acted to depress the market, the latest being the unleashing of stocks of the mineral on world markets by uranium-producing republics of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The cash price for U3O8 remains below US$10 per lb., a far cry from the US$43 level attained in the late 1970s.

Public opinion concerning uranium and the nuclear energy industry has also had a damaging effect on the market. At the moment, other means of producing electrical power, whether through the burning of coal or natural gas or the damming of rivers, seem to be preferred. Nuclear power does have many advantages to offer; obstacles such as nuclear waste disposal will eventually be overcome and nuclear power will again win public acceptance. One believer seems to be the ruling New Democratic Party government in Saskatchewan, which recently reversed a 9-year-old policy against expansion of the province’s uranium mining operations. Some 60% of the delegates voted in favor of throwing out the old motion calling for a moratorium on new uranium mines in the province’s north and a phasing out of existing mines. The inheritor of a devastating debt from the previous Tory government, the NDP perhaps has little choice but to exercise financial caution. Whatever the reason, the decision makes excellent sense from a provincial, national and international perspective.