ENERGY Resources of Australia continues to harbour ambitions to develop the $20 billion Jabiluka uranium deposit near its Ranger mine in the Northern Territory despite traditional owners recently renewing their opposition.

The listed Rio Tinto subsidiary told shareholders at its annual meeting in Darwin yesterday that the undeveloped Jabiluka deposit was world class and that ERA continued to ''think about how this could be developed to the benefit of all stakeholders''.

Chairman David Klinger conceded that ERA had undertaken not to develop Jabiluka without the agreement of the Mirarr traditional owners.

But he did not add that this month a senior traditional owner, Yvonne Margarula, had called for the inclusion of Jabiluka in Kakadu after expressing sadness that Ranger uranium had been exported to Japan to be used by nuclear power companies, including at the stricken Fukushima plant.

Ms Margarula said that in the Mirarr's dreaming a sacred dangerous power, Djang, was unleashed when it was disturbed on their land. She said her late father, Toby Gangale, warned the Australian government in the late 1970s that Djang ''might kill all over the world'' if disturbed at Ranger, which was built despite opposition from traditional owners.

''No one listened to him,'' she said.

Dr Klinger told the meeting that ERA had a long relationship with Japan and ''we express deep sympathy for the people of Japan as they deal with and recover from these extraordinary events''.

''In response to these events and the resulting potentially serious and extensively reported problems experienced at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, there was a significant weakening in the uranium price,'' he said.

''Additionally, several countries … have taken the very sensible step of looking at the lessons to be learned for the environmental performance of the older generation of nuclear power plants. As it has turned out, the reduction in price was temporary, lasting only a matter of weeks and it is now rapidly recovering.''

Despite the recovery, ERA shares were savaged on the market yesterday, falling 84¢, or 10.8 per cent, to $6.88. This was in response to its announcement after trading on Tuesday that it would be extending the closure of Ranger because of concerns about the operation's tailings pond.

The region has had near record rain. The extended closure means output for 2011 will be well short of sales commitments, forcing ERA to buy in third-party material. A first-half loss for 2011 of $30-$50 million because of the extended closure has been forecast.