article Hi All,Dosen't BLN have prospects in QLD? :))))...

article Hi All,

Dosen't BLN have prospects in QLD? :)))) interesting article below!!!


Townsville Bulletin news article out today:

http://townsvillebulletin.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,16580808%5E14790,00.html

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Uranium seen as alternative

By JOHN ANDERSEN
13sep05

CHANGING national and world opinion on the mining of uranium could see mines opening up in North Queensland sooner rather than later, two West Australian miners said last week.

Directors of Perth-based Glengarry Resources and Summit Resources Ltd both said changing world and domestic opinion would force Premier Peter Beattie to step away from his partisan support for the State's coal industry in order to meet growing public calls for uranium mining.

Glengarry finished a drilling program in the Greenvale district last week while Summit is waiting to develop a major site 40km north of Mount Isa.

Their calls for Mr Beattie to move away from fossil fuels and get behind uranium was preceded by Queensland Senator Russell Trood who told federal Parliament on Thursday four uranium mines were waiting to open in Queensland. He said the mines were located in the Townsville, Georgetown and Mount Isa areas.

Summit director Lindsay Colless said that as greenhouse gas levels rose there was increasing pressure on Australia to make uranium available for nuclear power stations in America and China.

"Australia has the largest reserves of uranium in the world but Canada is the biggest supplier," he said.

Mr Colless said Mr Beattie, as a politician, was protecting the interests of coal sector unions.

"But it is becoming harder for him to maintain the argument against uranium. He's a politician and he'll change his mind. I don't think it's that far away," he said.

State secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Andrew Dettmer, said while he recognised that coal was a finite resource and that it contributed to greenhouse gas emissions, he could not advocate a switch to uranium.

He said spillages, run-off and proliferation were all issues which placed uranium in a bad light.

Glengarry managing director David Richards said South Australia was opening new mines and with the Prime Minister John Howard giving the go-ahead for further development in the Northern Territory, states like Western Australia and Queensland, which have a ban on uranium mining, would have to have a rethink.

© The North Queensland Newspaper Company Pty Ltd