pressure keeps building on Anna
Calls for uranium mining grow
Tony Moore
May 22, 2009 - 6:49PM
Pressure is growing on Premier Anna Bligh to allow uranium mining in Queensland as the industry prepares to shed jobs thanks to the uptake of an emissions trading scheme (ETS).
A report released overnight on behalf of the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) estimates 11,440 Queensland mining jobs could go by 2020.
It comes as BHP Billiton seeks to build Australia's first major uranium mine in 20 years in Western Australia, which only last year lifted its ban on uranium mining. The Yeelirrie deposit is reportedly valued at $17 billion.
The author of the MCA report, Dr Brian Fisher - the former head of economics from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural Research and Economics (ABARE) - said an ETS would make uranium extraction in Queensland more price competitive.
"We are basically seeing more interest in nuclear power around the world - not here in Australia for policy reasons - but more generally," Dr Fisher said.
"So we would expect to see a growth in the importance of the uranium industry over time and any constraints here in Australia will obviously the limit the growth in output and jobs in that industry."
In March, Treasurer Andrew Fraser said Queensland's uranium industry would create only 150 jobs, and this afternoon Premier Anna Bligh said the uranium policy would not change.
"The Bligh Government has no intention of revisiting its position on uranium in Queensland," Ms Bligh said.
"The industry itself has said uranium mining would create only 150 jobs a year and in the tough economic climate Queensland is in, this does not justify the huge investment in new infrastructure that would be needed for this product, or the environmental risks of transporting radioactive material into populated centres."
But Queensland Resources Council (QRC) CEO Michael Roche said demand could only grow as countries such as China and India looked for emissions-free energy sources.
"Our view is that it doesn't make a lot of sense for Queensland to keep our uranium in the ground when there are so many countries that are looking to nuclear facilities to produce electricity and they need uranium to do so," Mr Roche said.
"So many countries are choosing to add nuclear power to the electricity-generating mix as their way of reducing their emission footprint," he said.
Mr Roche said he was not asking the state government to use nuclear power, just export uranium to countries that want to.
"It makes sense for Queensland to become a reputable supplier to countries that have signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty," he said.
Of the jobs tipped to go in the MCA report, more than 9000 were in Queensland's coal industry.
Queensland's ALP policy opposes uranium mining, but allows uranium exploration.
A motion to July's ALP federal conference calls for the policy to be reviewed is expected to gather strength on the basis of the latest economic modelling.
The Federal Government says the MCA report does not take into account the number of jobs that can be created in the renewable industry.
Link Provided: www.brisbanetimes.com.au/qld-news/calls-for-uraniu...
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