SAN FRANCISCO () -- The uranium market's screaming uptrend was challenged this year after spot prices plummeted from $138/lb to $75/lb in just four months from June to October. Prices have since recovered to $92/lb, but stocks have yet to rebound. Investors want to know whether sentiment has changed.
At the , James Dines, editor of the Dine's Letter, told listeners that "nothing has changed in uranium." As opposed to Global Resource Investments' Rick Rule, who yesterday of his intention to move clients out of uranium stocks, Dines said that "we have not yet hit the top of the cycle ... stocks will continue higher."
Dines said he likes to hold stocks in the intermediate term, because short-term trading will "drive you crazy" and long-term trading is like "life insurance."
He profiles companies in his Letter at IIC's conferences throughout the year in a panel called "Dine's Picks Uranium Panel." Resource Investor has reviewed Dines' uranium picks since 2006.
At the in , Dines covered Pinetree Capital Ltd. [TSX:PNP], Laramide Resources [TSX:LAM], Alberta Star Development Corp. [TSX-V:ASX; OTCBB:ASXSF] and Continental Precious Minerals [TSX-V:CZQ]. Laramide is the shining star among this group, with Alberta Star trailing the pack.
at the , Dines covered Mega Uranium [TSX:MGA], Tournigan Gold [TSX-V:TVC], Uranerz Energy [AMEX:URZ] and Bayswater [TSX-V:BAY]. Uranerz is the winner here, while Bayswater is the loser.
At the in late , Dines revisited Mega Uranium, Laramide and Tournigan Gold, but offered a new pick: Cash Minerals [TSX-V:CHX]. So far, Cash Minerals has disappointed shareholders.
At this year's in , Dines again profiled three previous companies, Bayswater, Laramide Resources, Mega Uranium, but offered another new pick: Titan Uranium [TSX-V:TUE]. Titan has lost nearly half of its value in six months.
In September of this year at the , Dines revisited Bayswater and Mega Uranium, but offered two more: Uracan Resources and Silver Spruce. In two months time, we've seen nothing but losses.
At the this week, Dines once again profiled Alberta Star, Mega Uranium and Laramide, but did not disappoint listeners, adding another new company to the list: Mawsom Resources.
"Their stock looks like they're read to move up," said Dines. "I own stock in all of these and plan to buy more."
Mawson Resources
Mawson Resource [TSXv:MAW] is a European uranium explorer with 19 100%-owned uranium projects, including five advance uranium properties in Spain, Sweden and Finland.
Qualifiers: Don Benito (Historic), Duobblon (Inferred. NI43-101 Compliant), Kl"appib"acken (Indicated. NI43-101 Compliant), Nuottij"arvi (Historic), Tasj"o, (Exploration Target)
Dines said he likes Mawson because it offers investors an opportunity to diversify into European resources. Mawson CEO Michael Robert Hudson spoke about the political and national considerations in Europe, saying "that is the key question we deal with on a daily basis."
Sweden produced uranium in 1960s, with heavy exploration in the 70s, but there hasn't had any uranium drilling since about 1984 or 1985. At this time, uranium mining is banned in Sweden. But because Sweden is about 47% dependent on nuclear power, Swedish parliament has repeatedly delayed plans to shut down it stations.
Hudson said the government is now pro-nuclear power for the first time in 20 years. The company recently received final permission from Swedish Authorities to allow further drilling at the Klappibacken uranium project.
In Sweden, the company has estimated an exploration target of 75 to 150 million tonnes at a grade between 0.03% to 0.07% U3O8 for 104 to 116 million pounds of contained U3O8 and 165,000 to 180,000 tonnes of rare earth metals.
Besides, Duobblon, Klappibacken and Tasjo, sampling within an area of 450 by 600 metres at Flistjarn revealed 30 assays from 0.01% to 19.1% U3O8 and averaged 1.7% U3O8. Drill results from the company's Stensjodalen property revealed 7 metres of 0.14% U3O8, 3 metres of 0.33% U3O8 and 3 metres of 0.75% U3O8.
In Spain, Mawson recently expanded its uranium interests via staking of the Don Benito project in the country, covering three areas of historic uranium exploration and exploitation, being La Haba, Corredor de la Guarda and Las Cruces-Manantial.
The La Haba area includes an historic open pit uranium mine with a global resource of 9.4 million pounds of U3O8, of which 6.0 million pounds at 0.06% U3O8 remain in situ. However, La Haba is overlain by a 3,865 hectare State Reserve where Mawson has no rights to mine. The company has entered discussions with authorities to have the State Reserve lifted.
Spain produced uranium as recently as November 2002, and is a significant uranium consumer with eight nuclear reactors providing 23% of national electricity production.
And in Finland, Mawson's claim application is approximately 100 hectares in size, and the Finnish state mining authority, the Ministry of Trade & Industry (MTI), has confirmed that the project holds priority. Nuottij"arvi is one of Finland's largest known uranium deposits and was identified in 1959 from the discovery of a radioactive outcrop.
Mawson was granted six claim reservations in Finland in late 2006, covering three areas of known uranium mineralization in the
Finland has no road blocks in place for uranium mining, said Hudson. The country uses 25% nuclear power for its electricity needs.
"The choice will not be between uranium and oil, but between uranium and shivering in the dark," said Dines.
Shares in Mawson traded down 13 cents at C$1.36 today. The company's 52-week range is C$1.10-C$2.10. With 44 million shares fully diluted, Mawson has a market cap of about C$60 million, along with no debt and $50 million in cash.
