|
|||
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
Acclaim Uranium NL (AIU) was incorporated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Acclaim Exploration NL (AEX) on the 15 May 1997 to pursue uranium exploration and mine development projects in Australia. It was the first new uranium company floated in Australia in 20 years. Acclaim Uranium floated on the stock exchange in mid 1997, raising $5.78 million. It was chaired for three years by Bill Hassell, a former parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party in WA, and the former WA Liberal Party President. All told, the group held 76 active uranium and gold holdings by March 1998. A key platform of their share float was the prediction that within two to three years, an Asian 'Window of Opportunity' was due to open if contracts for new nuclear power stations were signed in the Pacific rim countries of Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. This did not happen. The world spot uranium price peaked briefly at $12.50 a pound at the end of 1998, and then fell to less than $10 per pound in 2001. Political developments ran against Acclaim's uranium hopes as well. Early in 1998, the WA Labor Party came out strongly against uranium mining with a policy which would sink any hopes of bringing a mine into production in WA. Then in August 1998, the ALP came to power in Queensland and put a stop to plans for uranium mining there. Acclaim's directors, seeing the writing on the wall, gave up many of their WA holdings (including Myroodah and Kintyre East) and spent $800,000 of their dwindling reserves on the Langer Heinrich uranium deposit in Namibia. Acclaim gambled most of its shareholders cash on the Murchison Uranium Prospect, a collection of 3 seperate deposits including Nowthanna, Lake Maitland and Millepede/Abercromby. The company stated it would attempt to build a central mill at Lake Maitland. In May 2000, Bill Hassell
resigned and was replaced by Brett Robert Matich. August 2000 saw more
changes at the top, with long-time director Malcolm Mason stepping aside
to make way for new director and chairman Ron Gajewski. The company changed its name to Aztec Resources but by 2005 had let most of its holdings lapse. Ironically, these have now been taken up by a new wave of hopefuls.
|
|
||
|
the Anti-Nuclear Alliance of Western
Australia
email robin@anawa.org.au |
