markets seem to be acting as if the world has a future,

UCORE URANIUM

The markets seem to be acting as if the world has a fu-
ture, particularly in the commodities sector and some of the
mining stories that looked like they were dead as a doornail
a while ago, are coming back to life.
Today Ucore Uranium has a huge spurt, mainly because of
moves made by the Chinese government. In an announce-
ment today Ucore Uranium commented on yesterday’s an-
nouncement by the Chinese Ministry of Information Technol-
ogy as the Chinese intend to tighten the production of rare
earth over the next six years.

Beijing is also expected to
restrict the export of its rare earth over this period with the
annual export quota to be below 35,000 tons per year.
This involves commodities I am sure you’ve never heard
of such as dysprosium, terbium, thulium, lutetium and yt-
trium. Got that? Yes, I’m sure you’ve never heard those
names before, but all of a sudden you are hearing names
like lithium everywhere, so get used to this name.
Ucore, according to their announcement is one of only
two companies in North America

with a perspective deposit
that hosts a comprehensive suite of HREE. Further, they
point out in the announcement, that it’s the only such com-
pany located within the United States.
Another near-dead mining story, regains life. One could
take a look at some reports about this Vulcan deposit and be
impressed...as a non-compliant report suggested an esti-
mated 374 million pounds of rare earth oxides at Bokan.
More than a few shares out on UCU due to recent private
placements.

Keith Schaefer of the Oil and Gas Investments newslet- ter writes today

Keith Schaefer of the Oil and Gas Investments newslet-

ter writes today about Bernstein analyst Benjamin Dell

“showing overall decline rates in natural gas from 15% in

1992 to 25% in 2000 and 29% in 2008, and this higher de-

cline rate will help lower production. First year production

declines were much sharper—62% for horizontals and 45%

for non-horizontals.” Bernstein and Co. had a very bullish

report published just recently.

Schaefer continues, “And of course they are right. Pro-

duction is already decreasing, and natural gas prices and

stocks will go higher sometime—but it’s the timing that

has investors confused. Will investments in natural gas

stocks be dead money for a long time or are these stocks

on the cusp of a major recovery?

Schaefer continues, “How important would that be for

investors? Most Canadian gas stocks have almost no

positive cash flow right now, have used up 70% or more of

their debt capacity, and yet have stock prices that are al-

ready pricing in $5-$6 gas.

High profile market commentator Josef Schachter pub-

lished in his most recent “Maison Monthly” of August

12th, “We remain concerned about the rising crude and

product inventories in the U.S. We expect energy prices

to decline into the October shoulder season and for the

S&P/TSX Energy Index to retreat.” But then he gets hope-

ful and writes, “Investors should buy during this weak-

ness.”

Some of his charts showing the huge builds in inven-

tory for both oil and natural gas, Schachter looking at the

natural gas situation writes, “With the price of natural gas

declining to uneconomic levels, and the resultant fiscal

discipline of a drilling decline—the question becomes;

why is storage rising?”

He then looks at two companies, Encana in Canada and

Chesapeake in the States and notes that both of them

have very successful hedging programs. Encana with two

thirds of its production hedged at $9.13/mcf and Chesa-

peake with 90% of its production at a very decent price of

$7.30/mcf. However, once we get into next year, suddenly

those hedges are gone. Schachter then writes, “It is our

contention that once the strong hedge books are used up,

producers will face reality and be forced to shut in high

cost production. This window for significant production

declines, just before winter, could set the stage for a mod-

est price recovery. If winter is very cold and inventories

shrink faster than normal, a more robust price outlook

may occur.

Schachter continues, “As a result of the present ex-

cess in storage, deliverability and weak demand, we see it

necessary to again lower our price outlook.”

As far as his conclusions, Schachter writes:

The price recovery for natural gas may take longer

than current expectations due to excessive invento-

ries, continued shale gas additions and strong hedg-

ing profits that end for most companies at the end of

this year. Only then will fundamentals finally set the

stage for a recovery in late 2010.

Into late September and through October, we see sig-

nificant erosion in the stock prices of natural gas

companies. If so, we would move to a bullish posture

again and would recommend investors become fully

invested in their favorite natural gas securities.

Our top picks for purchase during the upcoming cor-

rection from the Maison Universe are: Delphi Energy

(DEE), Galleon Energy (GO), Questerre Energy (QEC) and

Vero Energy (VRO).”