If you read about the markets — whether from papers like The Wall Street Journal, publishers like StreetAuthority, or even blogs like 247WallSt.com — I think you’ll start to notice how much press is devoted to China.

It’s for good reason. China, especially as most of the developed world is still entangled with this slowdown, looks to be one of the only major growth markets in the world.

And one thing China needs is power — lots of it.

The nation is investing loads of money in its electrical transmission system. It’s putting up wind turbines as fast as it can. It’s building coal-fired power plants nonstop.

Perhaps most interesting is that of the 50 or so nuclear reactors being built in the world, more than half are in China. And that means that demand for uranium is about to spike. Without uranium, conventional nuclear power just isn’t possible.

And that brings up something few people know: Coal contains trace amounts of uranium. And that uranium stays in the ash even after coal is burned. The approximate concentration of uranium in coal is 50 parts per million (0.005%).

That doesn’t seem like much until you consider how much ash is stacked up around the world. In the U.S. alone, about 700 million tons of coal ash is created each year. Add in the coal burned across the world — including in China — and those trace amounts of uranium start to add up. That is, if you could only find a way to extract it.

Well, I’ve discovered a little company in Canada that has developed a process to extract uranium from coal. And it’s signed a deal with the Chinese to tackle a 2.7 billion ton pile of ash in Yunnan province.

I want to quickly review the numbers on this:

2.7 billion tons is 5.4 trillion pounds. 5.4 trillion times 0.005% equals 270 million pounds. The company says 75% of the uranium is recoverable, and 75% of 270 million is 202.5 million pounds.

With me so far?

The cost to extract a pound of uranium is $35, and the price of uranium under long-term contracts, where most of the material is sold, is about $60, which is a per-pound profit of $25. The recoverable uranium, thus, is worth an estimated $5.062 billion.

Not bad for a company trading at about a dime a share.

I’ve put together the following audio chat to discuss a little more about this company — including the most important thing of all — its name. I’ve also included a link below to my recent webcast on four companies with “game-changing” technologies. This cutting-edge company is one of my four ideas. You can watch the webcast for free to learn about the other three.

When I talk about “game-changers” — little companies like this is what I’m talking about. These small business have the potential to grow huge… rewarding early investors handsomely in the process.

As I said before, I have a recent webcast covering three other companies with the same (or better) potential as the one discussed in my audio chat. Simply follow this link to watch the webcast for free.