Approval sought for NT project
CAMERON ENGLAND, CHIEF BUSINESS REPORTER
Adelaide Advertiser
URANIUM exploration companies with a Western Australian or Queensland focus should not expect much investor interest, analyst Peter Strachan says.
The author of Stockanalysis told the Paydirt 2008 Uranium Conference in Adelaide yesterday the reality was that there was unlikely to be any political movement allowing uranium mining in those areas.
"If a company floats with a bunch of properties in either of those states, analysts like us will not be interested in that company at all,'' Mr Strachan said.
"Unless (WA Premier) Alan Carpenter falls under a bus, there will not be a change of government in that state for 10 years.
"Labor will be very much the dominant force in WA state politics, and the premier cannot be expected to change his local anti-uranium mine policies in any foreseeable future.''
The comments follow numerous calls from conference presenters for political leadership on uranium mining, which is illegal in WA and Queensland, while in New South Wales it is illegal even to explore for uranium.
The managing director of Toro Energy, Greg Hall, told the conference that only South Australia and the Northern Territory allowed uranium mining.
"These two states have learned a lot about the modern uranium and nuclear power industry, and see the necessity of supplying uranium into the global industry,'' Mr Hall said.
"By contrast, the uranium policies of Western Australia and Queensland appear out of date, and are not in line with this industry as it is now.
"There needs to be a much higher appreciation that a modern uranium industry is a lot different than something WA and Queensland's policy thinkers learned in the seventies. It is this dilemma therefore, and imbalance, which the Rudd and state governments need to address.''
Mr Strachan said world demand for uranium was strong, built on the back of a resurgent nuclear industry.
"Mine production also has to rise dramatically if current demand is to have any chance of being met,'' Mr Strachan said.
The author of Stockanalysis told the Paydirt 2008 Uranium Conference in Adelaide yesterday the reality was that there was unlikely to be any political movement allowing uranium mining in those areas.
"If a company floats with a bunch of properties in either of those states, analysts like us will not be interested in that company at all,'' Mr Strachan said.
"Unless (WA Premier) Alan Carpenter falls under a bus, there will not be a change of government in that state for 10 years.
"Labor will be very much the dominant force in WA state politics, and the premier cannot be expected to change his local anti-uranium mine policies in any foreseeable future.''
The comments follow numerous calls from conference presenters for political leadership on uranium mining, which is illegal in WA and Queensland, while in New South Wales it is illegal even to explore for uranium.
The managing director of Toro Energy, Greg Hall, told the conference that only South Australia and the Northern Territory allowed uranium mining.
"These two states have learned a lot about the modern uranium and nuclear power industry, and see the necessity of supplying uranium into the global industry,'' Mr Hall said.
"By contrast, the uranium policies of Western Australia and Queensland appear out of date, and are not in line with this industry as it is now.
"There needs to be a much higher appreciation that a modern uranium industry is a lot different than something WA and Queensland's policy thinkers learned in the seventies. It is this dilemma therefore, and imbalance, which the Rudd and state governments need to address.''
Mr Strachan said world demand for uranium was strong, built on the back of a resurgent nuclear industry.
"Mine production also has to rise dramatically if current demand is to have any chance of being met,'' Mr Strachan said.