Australian state may allow uranium mines after 40 years

The New South Wales (NSW) government has taken a major step towards potentially allowing uranium mining and nuclear energy in Australia’s most populous state.

A bill to repeal the 1986 prohibition on nuclear energy and uranium mining was passed in NSW’s Upper House on Wednesday. Libertarian Party MLC John Ruddick introduced the Uranium Mining and Nuclear Facilities (Prohibitions) Repeal Bill last November.

“This is about lifting the ban on uranium mining,” Ruddick said Wednesday in the house. “We can have an absolutely booming uranium mining industry in this country, in this state, which will generate a lot of jobs. There’s an enormous amount of demand around the world for our uranium and Australia has something like 40% of the world’s proven reserves.”

The bill will now move to the Lower House for a vote before it can become law.

Global uranium rethink

The NSW government’s move comes as more countries are looking to zero-emissions energy sources such as nuclear and as tensions in the Middle East raise concerns about access to fossil fuels. Oil prices have surged by more than 50% since late February when the Iran war began and the Strait of Hormuz crisis escalated.

Most Australian states and territories prohibit uranium mining and exploration. Exceptions are South Australia and the Northern Territory, which host producing uranium mines. Nuclear energy is banned nationwide.

‘Different view of nuclear’

The Minerals Council of Australia welcomed NSW passing the bill, saying it recognizes the need for the country to use its uranium assets for supporting zero-emissions energy and local jobs through responsible and safe mining.

“[It] aims to repeal the original prohibitions from 1986, which should never have been implemented and were made obsolete just two years later with the creation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,” Minerals Council of Australia CEO Tania Constable said Thursday in a release.

“Forty years on, the world is taking a very different view of nuclear energy, with countries representing approximately 70 per cent of global GDP looking to nuclear energy and Australia’s uranium to meet their energy security needs and help decarbonize their electricity grids.”

Due to the state’s ban on uranium activity since 1986, few current studies on NSW’s uranium endowment exist. Uranium exploration had taken place around the Broken Hill region in western NSW in the 1970s and 1980s.