urg::: Australia's uranium policy seen as open door for African energy

[Len Kanaar - FoE Sydney]

Mining Weekly, South Africa

Australia's uranium policy seen as open door for African energy

The uranium policy of the Western Australian Government has been 
attacked for paving the way for uranium-rich Africa to meet emerging 
demands for nuclear energy to overcome supply and environmental 
problems with oil and coal energy sources.

Addressing the Africa Downunder conference in Perth at the weekend, 
resources consulting group, RSG Global, said the actions of the WA 
Government towards uranium were economically and environmentally 
irresponsible.

"The Government has chosen to mortgage the wealth of Western 
Australia's uranium reserves by not allowing uranium mining, for the 
sake of political expediency," RSG Global principal Rick Yeates told 
delegates.

"Yet this is against the dramatic escalation in the uranium price 
which is now providing huge opportunities in many regions of Africa 
that have seen little serious exploration and mining activity since 
the 1970s and early 1980s," Yeates said.

"These countries include Niger, Gabon, Malawi and Tanzania, along 
with more established uranium producers such as Namibia and South 
Africa.

"Unlike the Western Australian Government, few such political 
expediency issues exist among the more liberal and responsible 
African governments, providing for significant future investment in 
these states' uranium sectors."

Yeates told conference delegates that while much of the world demand 
for raw materials in the current resources boom was attributed to 
China's domestic infrastructure requirements, it was China's 
modernising industrial sector seeking value-adding opportunities for 
re-export, that was now adding to energy pressures.

"One impact is China's escalating demand for oil which is occurring 
at a dramatic rate," Yeates said.

"This demand is a major contributor to the increasingly critical 
crude oil supply and associated price increases.

"Further dramatic oil price increases and/or physical shortages will 
serve to significantly curtail economic growth, not just in China, 
but in all industrial economies.

"It is not surprising therefore that in the past 12 months, concern 
over long-term oil supply and increased international awareness of 
climate change, has sponsored the dramatic review of nuclear power.

"Within this environment, nuclear energy is increasingly being seen 
as an environmentally more sustainable option to meet global energy 
needs.

"This in turn has resulted in a significant increase in the uranium 
price - and the opportunity for uranium-rich countries like the 
Africa states, to take a lead in new exploration projects - at the 
expense of Western Australia."


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