By Nicole Strandlund Business Edge

Act I: Uranium? My-ranium.

* The Player: Cameco Corp. (TSX:CCO)

* Action: Down nine per cent in a month (from $41.59 May 16)

* Recent Price: $37.95

* 52-Week High/Low: $59.90/$31.39 Saskatchewan ships out a third of the world's uranium, but so far, the province has done nothing with it on its own. That may be about to change.

Bruce Power, a private nuclear generation company that operates the Bruce Nuclear Station on Lake Huron, is proposing to build two 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactors in the province. The company plans to work with SaskPower to evaluate Saskatchewan's power demand, and expects to complete its study by the end of the year.

Shares of the world's largest uranium producer, Saskatoon-based Cameco Corp., have recently been hit by falling spot uranium prices and trouble with a subsidiary's gold-mining licence in Kyrgyzstan. But news of a possible local nuclear facility may help boost Cameco's stock, as it not only mines for the controversial mineral, but also converts uranium from dismantled Russian nuclear weapons into fuel for nuclear power plants.

Act II: Line in the sand

* The Player: Biovail Corp. (TSX:BVF)

* Action: Down 15 per cent in a month (from $12.79 May 16)

* Recent Price: $10.90

* 52-Week High/Low: $27.80/$10.30 There's a mutiny brewing in an Ontario pharmaceutical company, but the captain isn't volunteering to walk the proverbial plank.

Bruce Brydon, spokesman for The Concerned Shareholders of Biovail Corporation, has criticized the inexperience of Biovail's CEO William Wells and has challenged Wells to a debate. When Wells declined to participate, Brydon accused him of being "afraid to show - one-on-one - his lack of knowledge."

Recent analysis by independent company Glass Lewis & Co. calls Wells' appointment to CEO "inappropriate" and suggests a conflict of interest in "lavish" compensation packages to Wells and his predecessor when Biovail itself is financially struggling.

The conflict has only exacerbated Biovail shares' woes. The stock, which has dropped 61 per cent from highs near $28 a year ago, has fallen another 15 per cent in the last month, and is posting new 52-week lows.

Act III: Diggin' in the desert

* The Player: Geo Minerals (TSXV:GM)

* Action: Up 105 per cent in a month (from $0.22 May 16)

* Recent Price: $0.45

* 52-Week High/Low: $0.88/$0.10 The next time you vacation in Arizona, take a shovel with you - you may find your snowbird property has more value than you thought.

Geo Minerals, a Vancouver-based junior minerals exploration company, has commenced drilling on the Middle Mountain property near Florence, Ariz.

The target is a porphyry copper system buried beneath shallow gravel cover, and the first hole drilled will provide geologic data to help guide further drilling.

The company only has one property to date: The Scotia Property, a zinc/lead/silver prospect approximately 42 km south of Prince Rupert, B.C., but has applied for coal permits in east-central Saskatchewan and acquired potash rights in Saskatchewan and Manitoba with partner Alix Resources.

Act IV: Pretty please?

* The Player: Crystallex International (TSX:KRY)

* Action: Down eight per cent in a month (from $0.84 May 16)

* Recent Price: $0.77

* 52-Week High/Low: $4.81/$0.56 A Toronto-based gold producer is filing a second appeal to the Venezuelan government, hoping this time a mining rights denial will be reversed.

Crystallex International received permits and approvals from 2004 to 2007 for all steps leading up to development of the Las Cristinas gold mine in Venezuela's Imataca forest. But in April of this year, the Venezuelan government quashed the company's plans when it announced all mining activities in the region are illegal.

Crystallex's appeal to the environment ministry's director general of permitting was denied, but the company is filing a second appeal.

Crystallex shares have lost half their value since April, and the company's president and CEO has resigned. Venezuela's environment minister has 90 days to make a decision on the appeal.

NOTE: The above is not intended as investment advice to buy or sell any mentioned securities.

Investors should do due diligence before investing. Quotes are based on results through June 17, 2008.

(Nicole Strandlund can be reached at nicole@businessedge.ca)