urg:::Silex U Enrichment ?; MOX-v-Tas; Roxby Only 8,000 t U3O8

[Gavin Mudd]

Silex Systems Ltd  Quick Quote: SLX

Request for Trading Halt

6/19/02

SILEX SYSTEMS LIMITED 2002-06-19 ASX-SIGNAL-G


HOMEX - Sydney


+++++++++++++++++++++++++


Silex hereby confirms its request for an immediate trading halt
pending an update on the current status of its uranium enrichment
project being conducted with USEC.

Silex requests that the trading halt commences from the opening of
trading today and that the trading halt remain in place until a
further release is made to the market by the company.

Silex is not aware of any reason why the trading halt should not be
granted.


Dr M Goldsworthy
MANAGING DIRECTOR / CEO


© 2002 StockHouse Media Corporation. All Rights Reserved. - StockHouse.com

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Tuesday, June  18, 2002. Posted: 06:19:33 (AEDT)

Greenpeace warns of nuclear shipment off Tasmania


Greenpeace says Tasmanians should be concerned about the presence in
southern waters by the end of next month of two ships carrying nuclear fuel.

It says the ships are in Japan loading plutonium mixed oxide belonging to
British Nuclear Fuels.

Greenpeace says the ships will head across the Pacific, through the Tasman
Sea and then below Australia.

Although the ships will be required to sail 200 miles out from any part of
the Australian coast, Greenpeace campaigner Steven Campbell says that is no
guarantee of safety.

"Regardless of where it is, I mean if it were adjacent to Tasmania's coast
it would certainly be a radiological impact and it would tarnish Tasmania's
clean, green environmental profile for many years to come," he said.


© 2002 Australian Broadcasting Corporation

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Source:   AFX News - Australia
Date:  06/19/2002 02:37
Document ID:  MA20020619590000089
Subject(s):  Acquisitions & mergers; Australia; United Kingdom & Ireland;
Canada; Oil & Petroleum; Mining industry


BHP Billiton sells Smith Ranch uranium ops to Cameco


SYDNEY (AFX) - BJP Billiton Ltd said its subsidiary Rio Algom Mining LLC
agreed to sell the Smith Ranch uranium mine in Wyoming to Cameco Corp of
Canada for an undisclosed sum.

The sale completes BHP's exit from uranium production as part of its planned
divestment of non-core businesses.

The sale is subject to various regulatory approvals, BHP said.

Smith Ranch is BHP's only operating uranium asset and produces natural
uranium concentrates for sale to the power generation industry.

Smith Ranch produced 0.93 mln pounds of uranium in 2001.

It was acquired by BHP as part of its acquisition of Rio Algom in 2000.

BHP closed down 0.39 aud at 10.26.

- plk/tr


© Copyright AFX 2002, All Rights Reserved.
Portions of above Copyright © 1997-2001, Northern Light Technology, LLC. All
rights reserved.

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WMC to ramp up Olympic's output

By Barry FitzGerald
June 19 2002

- Father lode ... Mr Morgan and his directors at yesterday's meeting. Photo:
Viki Lascaris


Aggressive expansion plans outlined by WMC chief Hugh Morgan yesterday at
the group's Melbourne annual meeting envisage a multi-billion-dollar
expansion of the Olympic Dam copper-uranium mine in South Australia.

Early planning has annual copper production being more than doubled, from
235,000 tonnes to 600,000 tonnes, establishing the remote operation as one
of the world's biggest copper producers.

Uranium production would also more than double, to 8000 tonnes a year,
making Olympic Dam the biggest uranium mine in the world, although WMC faces
the challenge of first finding buyers for the radioactive material.

WMC has previously talked about the potential for the huge Olympic Dam ore
body to support a major expansion. But that talk has usually stopped at
350,000 tonnes a year of copper - the operation's present limit under
government environmental authorisations.

At yesterday's annual meeting Mr Morgan said WMC was now "actively
investigating a major step change in operations to lift production to at
least 350,000 tonnes of copper a year.

"We are also investigating annual production levels of 600,000 tonnes and
higher."

Olympic Dam is the biggest and best of the growth opportunities for WMC
Resources, with the new upside target of 600,000 tonnes of copper having
implications for the market's valuation of the project.

WMC Resources is the group that will house all WMC's non-alumina interests
after the group's planned demerger later this year. The alumina interests -
40 per cent of the Alcoa-managed AWAC business - will be held by a
separately listed company called Alumina Ltd.

Much of yesterday's meeting was spent promoting the demerger to
shareholders, although their vote on the plan and its implementation has
been delayed pending the the passing of federal demerger tax-relief
legislation late in August or early September.

WMC chairman Ian Burgess told shareholders that once the legislation was
passed, a general meeting of shareholders to approve the demerger plan would
be held about six weeks later.

The late October or early November start date for the demerged companies is
expected to trigger a bidding war for WMC Resources. Likely bidders are BHP
Billiton, Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Xstrata and Inco.

Alumina Ltd is considered to be off limits to all but Alcoa because of its
managing share of the AWAC business. A 1994 agreement dictates that AWAC can
be the sole owner of bauxite-alumina assets for Alcoa and WMC. It was that
situation that prompted WMC to go down the demerger path after Alcoa made an
unsolicited offer of $10.20 a share for the group late last year.

"Alcoa left us with no choice but to pursue a strategy that would introduce
an element of competition in the event of a further approach and that would
allow the AWAC and WMC Resources businesses to be fully valued by the
market," Mr Burgess told shareholders.


Copyright © 2002. Sydney Morning Herald. All rights reserved.

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Saturday, June  15, 2002. Posted: 06:53:44 (AEDT)

Quake shakes Nevada mountains


An earthquake measuring 4.4 on the Richter scale has shaken the United
States state of Nevada's Yucca Mountains, near the site of a proposed
nuclear waste dump.

The US Geological Survey says the trembler did not cause any damage or
injuries.

Nevada's Governor Kenny Guinn has been opposing the Bush administration's
plan to store long-term radioactive waste in the area, saying part of the
danger is earthquakes.


© 2002 Australian Broadcasting Corporation