Shadow resources minister says Australia shouldn’t waste uranium advantage

Shadow resources minister Senator Susan McDonald has called for Australia to take advantage of its world-leading uranium resources.

In a national TV interview, Senator McDonald advocated for lifting the current ban on uranium mining in light of the global surge in nuclear energy use and rising uranium prices.

Australia is currently ranked first for uranium resources but fourth for uranium supply, with the country’s only uranium exports currently produced at the Four Mile and Olympic Dam mines in South Australia.

Long uranium mining history

Senator McDonald stated that it makes sense for Australia to increase its uranium exports, given that the nation holds a third of the known uranium resources in the world.

“We have a long history of exporting uranium and know how to do it safely,” she said.

“We have expertise in mining in this country, understand the supply chains and are aware of the security issues.”

“The world is hungry for more uranium.”

The senator pointed to the US government’s recent decision to prohibit the import of Russian enriched uranium from July 2028 as providing another market opportunity for Australia.

“They will invest billions of dollars into enrichment in their own country and will be looking for a safe, allied supplier of uranium — and who should that be? Well, it should absolutely be Australia.”

“World prices for uranium are skyrocketing and we should be supplying uranium to the world.”

Increased acceptability

The Senator said there are growing opportunities worldwide with nuclear power becoming more acceptable.

“We know that 19 of the top 20 economies in the world are already using uranium; places that we trade with like South Korea, Japan and Canada are all using nuclear energy.”

“This technology is well understood and is growing in use because it is zero emissions.”

“It is the way that countries will be able to continue to keep the lights on, continue to have manufacturing and continue to have jobs in their own countries.”

“It just makes complete sense that Australia should be involved in mining another critical mineral,” she added.

“We’re very keen on critical minerals in Australia and mining them, supplying them to our allies and uranium should absolutely be another one on that list.”

Boss Energy on the move

Boss Energy (ASX: BOE) is one of a number of local companies ready, willing and able to take up the uranium supply challenge if called upon.

Boss’s newly-reopened Honeymoon mine (also in South Australia) recently announced that it expects its first uranium sale to occur in July 2024 and plans to ramp up production to an annual nameplate capacity of 1.2 kilotonnes by 2026.

The ramp-up at Honeymoon is expected to push Australia’s export earnings up to about $1.7 billion in 2025-26.

The company has also commenced work to accelerate the development of Gould’s Dam, considered an important satellite project to Honeymoon.