I think this puts them in a good position with reagrd to the...

I think this puts them in a good position with reagrd to the land holdings around Yellerrie

THE race for WA's first operating uranium mine is down to two mining giants, the first day of the Australian Uranium Conference in Perth has been told.

Speaking at the conference in Fremantle this morning, Argonaut managing director Edward Rigg said Canadian miner Mega Uranium or BHP Billiton would operate WA's first uranium mine.

“In my personal view, Mega’s Lake Maitland project will be the first uranium project in operation in WA,” he said.

“We think Mega is likely to list on the Australian Stock Exchange given its assets are predominately in Australia."

The controversial ban on uranium mining in WA was lifted by the Liberal-National Government in November last year.

But Mr Rigg said the the delay in getting uranium mines operational in WA has already cost the state, and called for a speed up of the approvals process to avoid buyers looking to other markets.

“Since 2008 Asian utilities have spent $1.3 billion buying interests in uranium projects in Australia – that’s a tremendous amount of spending,” he said.

Mr Rigg said WA was primed to be a leading uranium province, but warned WA would continue to miss out if mines don’t come online soon.

There are three operating uranium mines in Australia, with BHP's Olympic Dam in South Australia one of the biggest in the world.

Environment Minister Peter Garrett last week approved Alliance Resources' Four Mile uranium deposit in South Australia - only the third uranium mine approved in 20 years.

Mr Rigg said said Toro Energy had fallen behind the pace and was unlikely to have the first operational mine in WA.

“The contenders have separated from the pretenders,” Mr Rigg said.

“The race is a true race between Yeelirrie (BHP) and Lake Maitland.

“Toro appears to have dropped a bit behind the pace of Mega Uranium.”

Australian Nuclear Science and Technology chair Ziggy Switkowski said a national strategy on greenhouse gas emissions needs to be the next step towards the use of nuclear power in Australia.

Mr Switkowski said Australia needed a regulatory regime to oversee nuclear power, and Australia would struggle to meet its emissions targets without nuclear energy.