![]() The office of the chief economist’s December 2022 Resources and Energy Quarterly Report said the sector was worth more than $346.6m (A$500m) in exports, rising to as much as $623.9m (A$900m) by the end of 2024. It puts the country, and his principles, arguably in an arduous position. That’s my position, and it hasn’t changed.”Īlbanese’s opposition to nuclear extends to the entire fuel cycle, and by association potentially uranium mining, to which he clearly been opposed since the mid 2000s. “I think you’ve got the issue of waste and you’ve got where it goes,” he said, “so I think it’s a distraction from what we need to do. Most recently the prime minister clashed even with his own party over the potential role nuclear power can play in the country’s energy mix.Īlbanese said that every five years an analysis on the issue concludes nuclear doesn’t stack up. Largely due to issues relating to defence, which then evolved into civil nuclear and power, Australians have been enduring something of a rumpus over the matter. Stating there were “problems with the nuclear fuel cycle” during his time as shadow environment minister back in 2006, he contradicted his party’s stance on nuclear calling for ultimate closure of the country’s uranium mines.įor Albanese, his political counterparts and the country more broadly, the future of its nuclear sector – or not – has been a topic of debate for years. However, it came just a matter of weeks after the elected government of Anthony Albanese, a politician with a long noted background of nuclear objection. It’s a shot in the arm for Australia’s uranium mining sector. Boss Energy, which bought Uranium One in 2015, estimates the site will produce 1,134 tonnes of uranium by 2026. In June last year the mine’s owners said they planned to resume production by the end of 2023, having announced a multimillion dollar revival package. It was a decision that took almost a decade to reverse. ![]() ![]() “This is not a closure phase, so the option to reopen is there,” said Kuzma Otto, the company’s vice president. In what was a blow to the Australian sector Canadian-based Uranium One announced it was to place the Honeymoon mine in South Australia into care and maintenance, cutting production and jobs. At the time mine operators faced perhaps one of the biggest questions they could – can large-scale uranium mining ever be justified? – and Australia, for the last decade at least, has responded with an emphatic ‘no’. In 2013, as the world grappled with the consequences of the Fukushima disaster, global uranium prices plunged as countries questioned the wisdom in operating such facilities. In part the reason for the country’s seemingly untapped abundance can be tracked back for a decade or so. The BHP Billiton-owned Olympic Dam site – which ranked eighth and delivered 1,922 tonnes or 4% – is also not a uranium mine per se, only extracting the resource as a by-product. Producing 2,241 tonnes – 5% of global production – the Four Mile site is actually an in situ leach facility. ![]() The first, owned by Quasar, ranked sixth. ![]() However, only two of its mines rank among the ten largest producers in 2021, a conundrum the country has been contending with for some time. Home to almost a third of the world’s uranium resources – 28% according to the World Nuclear Association (WNA) figures for 2019 – Australia is, or at least should be, the epicentre of global supply. Photo by: Glenn Campbell/Fairfax Media via Getty Images. The Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu National Park finished operations in 2021, and its output has yet to be replaced. ![]()
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