chinese buy stake in sa uranium deposit This is good news for...

chinese buy stake in sa uranium deposit This is good news for SIM with their SA leases exposure.


Chinese buy stake in SA uranium deposit
Email Print Normal font Large font September 14, 2006 - 6:31AM

Advertisement
AdvertisementChina has bought a controlling stake in a $160 million South Australian uranium deposit in a move which allows it to bypass Australian suppliers and export it directly to its own nuclear power plants.

One of China's giant metals corporations, Sinosteel, has taken the first step to owning 60 per cent of the Crocker Well uranium field in South Australia, which is now held by Sydney-based explorer PepinNini, The Australian newspaper reports.

In April the federal government agreed that China could buy uranium from Australia under strict controls designed to ensure it is used only for non-military purposes.

Paul Heithersay, from South Australia's Department of Minerals and Resources, said future Chinese interest in the state's uranium was likely once the export deal was ratified.

"I expect to see a lot more investment interest after this particular agreement," Mr Heithersay told the newspaper.

South Australian Premier Mike Rann was unavailable to comment on the deal, and federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane would not comment on the proposed venture because it would have to be reviewed by the Foreign Investment Review Board.

But Labor resources spokesman Martin Ferguson said the Sinosteel purchase should lead to a reexamination of the definition of national interest in the context of foreign investment laws.

"There's a national interest test to be applied here and one of the problems is that there is no clear definition of the national interest," he told the newspaper.

"Perhaps it's time some serious attention was turned to that, given there is a global race to lock up energy supplies."