First Australian Uranium Shipped To China - Minister
November 22nd, 2008 | by mantrionline |The first Australian uranium has been exported to China, with demand for the fuel likely to increase sharply in coming years, Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said Friday.
The shipment follows the signing of two bilateral nuclear safeguards agreements in April 2006 and their ratification in January 2007, which provide assurance that Australian uranium will be used exclusively in China for peaceful purposes, he said.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that concerns relating to energy security and climate change are set to drive a significant increase in global demand for uranium in those countries which rely upon nuclear power as a clean energy source,” Ferguson said in a statement. With more than one quarter of the world’s uranium resources, Australia is well placed to benefit economically from uranium mining and uranium exports, he added.
Expansion of the uranium industry could generate up to A$17 billion in economic benefits for Australia to 2030 and avert up to 15 billion metric tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere through the use of uranium to generate power, he said. Ferguson didn’t provide details of the source of the uranium. Australian uranium production is sourced from three mines.
BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) is assessing a massive expansion of its Olympic Dam project, which if developed could triple the mine’s uranium production to 15,000 metric tons a year.
The other two uranium mines are Ranger, which is operated by Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. (ERA.AU), a unit of Rio Tinto PLC (RTP), and General Atomics’ Beverley mine.
