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General Market Commentary
Argentina’s Putin-backed nuclear plan carves out opportunity for uranium miners
Austrian scientist Ronald Richter, a nuclear physicist, left Germany following World War II and got an audience with Argentine President Juan Domingo Peron to develop his invention, the Thermotron. Peron gave Richter Argentine nationality and put him in charge of a nuclear fusion experiment.
The experiment didn’t pan out, but Argentina’s nuclear legacy has endured, with three reactors in operation and plans to build more. Deep energy shortages linked to a lack of investment in natural gas fields in the South American nation, and an agreement with Vladimir Putin, may mean Argentina is on the cusp of expanding its nuclear power industry and mining abundant uranium resources.
The Putin agreement appeared to benefit two uranium mining companies – Uranium One and UrAmerica – who were both present during an official state visit by Argentine President Mauricio Macri to the Kremlin earlier this year. But the agreement could also lead to the development of Blue Sky Uranium Corp.‘s (TSXV: BSK | OTCQB: BKUCF) major Amarillo Grande discovery.
“This positions our company in a very favourable light,” Blue Sky CEO Nikolaos Cacos told InvestorIntel. “We are receiving a lot of support from both federal and provincial governments,” he added.
The protectionist policies of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, and her predecessor and husband Nestor Kirchner drove energy companies out of Argentina, causing a massive energy deficit that requires Argentina to import huge amounts of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to run its power stations. Blackouts are commonplace in Buenos Aires.
Nuclear provides a short-cut solution to this problem. Despite opening up Argentina to the world in his 2015 election as Argentine president, Mauricio Macri nurtured a relationship that Fernandez had cultivated with Putin. That relationship bore fruits this year when both countries announced that Russian state nuclear company Rosatom plans to build a nuclear reactor in Argentina.