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Sunday, February 11, 2007

India Gets its Dil Chahata Hai

Dil Chahata Hai means "heart's desire" in Hindi. India has been reduced to beggar status in the international nuclear community because it does not have enough uranium to meet its needs. It got a lifeline from US because Uncle Sam wants India as a regional counterweight to a rising (and sometimes belligerent) China. But Australia, the world's richest storehouse of uranium, refuses to sell to India because it broke international nuclear proliferation treaties.

Well, maybe India doesn't have to beg anymore:

NEW DELHI: India has identified the uranium deposits in Andhra Pradesh, which can meet the fuel requirements of India's nuclear power programme and mining for the uranium ore will start by the end of this year. Read more by CLICKING HERE.

I don't have information on India's uranium deposits. I don't know how rich they are, mining costs, etc. But this has the potential to give India a much better seat at the table, and could also shift the balance between India and its neighbor, Pakistan. Keep your eye on this story.

UPDATE: Now -- NOW -- Australia says it could sell uranium to India "within a decade." Ziggy Switkowski -- the best-named bureaucrat EVER -- who headed Australia's Nuclear Task Force, says ""India's credentials are well regarded in Australia and... therefore it may mean they emerge eventually as a potential market for Australian Uranium."

Well, depending on how ambitious India's nuclear program is, they may definitely need it. For now, I think the real excitement in India will be over mining their native uranium.

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