Up to 15 uranium exploration companies could fold within the next 12 months.

As the share market slows, investors are taking their money out of the riskier stocks, leaving exploration companies without cashflow.

Resources market analyst, Peter Strachan, says state bans on mineral exploration and extraction are also affecting company profits.

"So if you're a small company and you're stuck with some small exploration plate in Western Australia and Queensland and you're down to your last three million dollars, given that it's going to take $600,000 to $700,000 a year just to keep the doors open, that money soon dwindles away even before you approach the surface of the earth with a drill bit," he says.

"So these companies have a half-life, if you like, of about 12 to 15 months."