might be time to buy uranium stocks, page-35

Lets hope they can fast track the approval for U mining in QLD



http://www.miningweekly.com/article/queensland-industry-welcomes-uranium-discussions-2012-09-21


Queensland industry welcomes uranium discussions
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By: Esmarie Swanepoel
21st September 2012
Updated 3 hours ago
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PERTH (miningweekly.com) - The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has welcomed the state government’s willingness to discuss the possibility of uranium mining.

QRC CEO Michael Roche said that a debate on Queensland’s promising uranium mining sector was timely.

“Our uranium sector has been left behind by the rest of Australia because we had a state government that was not prepared to talk about the issue. Now the Minister of Natural Resources and Mines has signaled that it is the time for a serious discussion about uranium mining in Queensland.”

Roche was responding to comments made by Natural Resources and Mines Minister Andrew Cripps in a recent interview, where he said that the government was “keen to hear all views”.

“The time is ripe for Queensland to move from uranium exploration to mining,” Cripps was quoted as saying.

The Queensland government has recently been facing renewed calls to lift the ban on uranium mining in the state, with federal Resource and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson also stepping into the fray, urging the state to reconsider its position.

It was estimated that Queensland hosted some 37 000 t of uranium.

Roche meanwhile said that the QRC and the Australian Uranium Association (AUA) would soon issue a report on uranium opportunities in Queensland.

“This report will of course also address the full range of community concerns around safety and the environment,” he added.

“We are not pretending that a change in policy to allow uranium mining will see instant investment in new mines in Queensland. The experience in Western Australia, where their uranium mining ban was lifted in November 2008, has been that it takes time for a policy change to translate into mining projects, but several projects are in an advanced stage of development over there,” Roche said.

However, he noted that Western Australia’s experience also confirmed that a change in policy could lead to a major boost to mineral exploration in Queensland.

“In the three years since the policy change in Western Australia, exploration for uranium has taken off, totaling some A$234-million compared to just A$53-million in Queensland.

“one of the real spin-offs from exploration for uranium is the increased chance of new copper and gold discoveries, as these metals are often found with uranium,” he added.

Roche said that the QRC would also be encouraging Cripps to allow his department officials to enter into discussions with their counterparts in other states regarding a regulatory framework that would be needed to underpin local uranium mining.