Businessday.co.za
KOREA Electric Power yesterday said it had signed a n agreement on uranium mining with Areva.
The partnership followed the utility’s purchase of a 10% stake in the Imouraren uranium mine in Niger, the Seoul-based company, also known as Kepco, said.
Korea Electric and unit Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power said on December 10 they would buy shares in a unit of Paris-based Areva, the world’s biggest maker of reactors, which owns the mine.
South Korea, which operates 20 nuclear power plants, plans to add eight more by 2016 as Asia’s fourth-largest oil importer seeks to reduce its dependence on crude. Kepco said it aimed to secure as much as half of its uranium needs by developing mines overseas by 2020, and to buy more stakes in African and central Asian producers this year.
“It’s the right move as Kepco tries to reduce the impact of changes in raw material prices,” said Joo Ick Chan, an analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities who rates the stock “buy” with a share-price forecast of 60000 won. Korea Electric was also seeking to boost exports of nuclear plants, Joo said.
The utility was in discussions with at least five countries to build nuclear-power plants, Chung Kun Mo, an adviser to Kepco, said last month. Kepco led a consortium to win a tender in the United Arab Emirates worth 40bn for four nuclear plants in December.