Why Australia Is One Of Ten Nuclear Horns (Daniel 7:7)

Australia could start uranium sales to India

Australian Nuclear and Uranium Mining

Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb told newspersons that Australian uranium sales to India were very close.

Author: Shivom Seth
Posted: Tuesday , 22 Jul 2014


Mumbai (Mineweb) -

With the International Energy Agency forecasting a doubling of nuclear power generation out to 2035, Australia has said it could soon start exporting uranium to India.

Australia holds about a third of the world’s recoverable uranium resources, and exports nearly 7,000 tonnes a year. Energy starved India is looking to nuclear power to supplement its existing options to fuel economic growth.

Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb told newspersons that Australian uranium sales to India were very close, after he attended a G20 trade ministers meeting in Sydney last week, and held talks with an Indian trade delegation.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard had started talks on supplying uranium to India during a three day official visit to the country in 2012. Gillard had reversed the ban in 2011.

With a new government at the helm in Canberra in 2013, India and Australia were aiming to complete negotiations on a civil nuclear agreement for uranium supplies by the end of the year. In February this year, Australia’s foreign minister Julie Bishop had also told newswire agencies that the two countries were in the middle of their fourth round of talks for a civil nuclear cooperation agreement.

Australia has been looking for a non proliferation assurance from India, similar to the one it has from other customers like China.

Andrew Robb, incidentally, is continuing negotiations with Chinese officials on a free trade agreement for the supply of uranium.

India has already concluded civil nuclear cooperation agreements with countries like Argentina and Kazakhstan. The chairman of Kazatomprom, Kazakhstan’s National Atomic Company, recently told newspersons that the country plans to remain a world leader in uranium supply.

Vladimir Shkolnik said Kazakhstan’s share in world uranium production over the past year has reached 38%, making the country first in this category.

Speaking about the complicated conditions in the uranium industry, especially in connection with the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, Shkolnik said almost all uranium producing entities were in the red.

He added that Kazatomprom was an exception and that the company completed last year with a profit of over $163 million, despite the fact that global market prices for natural uranium decreased from $55 to $28 per pound.

He added that by 2030, China plans to build more than 100 nuclear power units, some of which are already under construction. Incidentally, Western Australia is reportedly looking to export to the state’s biggest trading partner, China.

Western Australia’s Mines Minister Bill Marmion told delegates at a uranium and rare earths conference in Perth last week, that criticism to uranium mining has fallen off the public radar, and that with the lifting of the ban on uranium mining in Western Australia in 2008, more than $280 million has been spent on exploration.

Market observers have noted that the uranium market balance is expected to tighten substantially, given the delay in the development of major uranium mining projects. China and India alone have a total of 267 reactors slated for construction over the coming years.