FEDERAL Environment Minister Peter Garrett says he will not speculate on whether Australia will boost the number of uranium mines.

The West Australian cabinet lifted a ban on uranium mining with immediate effect today, and its decision makes way for dozens of deposits across the state to be exploited if capital can be raised.

But Mr Garrett said the Federal Government's responsibility was to ensure proper regulatory issues were applied.

"We knew that Western Australia had a policy for opening up its uranium mining - that's a decision that the West Australian government has taken,'' Mr Garrett said today.

"Our responsibility is to take whatever decisions are made by the West Australian government - if there are any appropriate regulatory issues that have got to be addressed - then we'll address them in the same way that we're doing in the Northern Territory and South Australia.

"I'm not going to start speculating on the number of mines. Our job is to apply the proper regulatory approaches under EPBC Act (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999) and that's what we'll do.

"We will, as we always have, wait until any specific proposals come through to us for consideration under the EPBC Act. That's our requirement as regulators.''