KEPCO Furthers Uranium Exploration with Fission Energy

Power co. agrees to spend C$30 million on the Waterbury Lake project

Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) has agreed on the establishment of a joint venture and expanding uranium exploration at Waterbury Lake with Fission Energy Corp., a Canadian based uranium exploration and development company. A Korean consortium, headed by KEPCO, and Fission Energy Corp. on Aug. 16 agreed to invest an aggregate C$30 million into drilling 180 wells 6.6 km deep and the prospecting of the Waterbury Lake project at a ratio of 50:50.
In a deal for a three-year basic exploration with Fission Energy, reached in January 2008, the Korean consortium poured C$15 million into exploring 97 wells and succeeded in the discovery of 22 percent-grade uranium, the highest quality level, from some 20 wells. The consortium, which owns 50 percent of the uranium production from the project, comprises KEPCO with a 20 percent interest, Korea Hydro Nuclear Power Co. with a 15 percent stake as well as Korea Nuclear Fuel, Hanwha and Gravis, each with a 5 percent stake.
KEPCO aims at discovering additional high-grade uranium deposits through the prospecting of the mine in the next three years, and the development of the mine is expected to begin three years later, following a feasibility study. KEPCO officials said the prospects for the project are bright since less than 30 percent of the whole Waterbury Lake area with probable reserves has been prospected so far.
Fission Energy Corp. owns properties in Quebec, Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin and the Macusani District in Peru.
KEPCO has secured an annual supply of about 1,000 tons of uranium by acquiring a 17 percent stake in Canada’s Denison mine and a 10 percent interest in a uranium mine in Niger in 2009 in an effort to ensure a stable supply of nuclear fuel. The deals have led to increasing KEPCO’s uranium development rate from naught to 22 percent.
So far this year, KEPCO has been striving to raise the nation’s own uranium development rate through the acquisition of uranium mines and M&As of uranium developers in such areas as Africa, Europe and Central Asia.

Cracking Mexican Power Plant Market

Korea Electric Power Corp. and Samsung Engineering win bid to build thermal power plant in Mexico

Korea Electric Power Corp., jointly with Samsung Engineering, won the right to build a thermal power plant in Mexico in an international bidding, the two companies said on Aug. l4.
The Korean consortium, which also included Techin Construction Co. of Mexico, won the right on BOO (build, own and operate) conditions at a cost of $420 million. KEPCO will share 56 percent of the stake, Samsung will hold 34 percent and 10 percent will go to the Mexican partner, who will run the power plant for 25 years.
The projected combined thermal power plant will be located near Chihuahua in northern Mexico and will be able to generate 433Mw of electricity.
The consortium is obligated to complete all kinds of preparations for signing a formal contract by the end of this year and build the plant by June 2013 and then begin operations.
The consortium plans to finance the project through the Korea Export-Import Bank and international commercial banks. Samsung Engineering will take charge of the construction of the power plant. Samsung Trading has secured a stable income by winning the right to run the power plant for 25 years from 2013.
Officials of the company said it is the first time a Korean consortium won the right to enter the Mexican power plant construction market, which has so far been dominated by Spanish and Japanese construction firms, and it will also be a bridgehead for Korean construction companies to advance into the United States’ power plant construction market.
This is the second time the KEPCO-Samsung consortium won an international bid for power plant construction projects. On March 25, the consortium won the bid for a project to build and manage a coal-fired thermal power plant in Kazakhstan worth $2.5 billion based on BOO conditions. nw

Chairman Kim Ssang-su of Korea Electric Power Corp.