India tempts Aus state to lift mining ban
The Australian state of Queensland lifted a 23-year ban on mining uranium on Monday, following a push by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to reach an accord to export supplies to energy-hungry India.
Australia, with no nuclear power plants of its own, is already one of the world's top exporters of uranium mined in other states and territories.
The Australian and Indian prime ministers held talks last week for Australia to sell uranium to India after Australia signaled it will end its block on exports. India needs uranium for its expanding civil nuclear power programme
Queensland State Premier Campbell Newman said the decision to allow mining to resume in his state – a region the size of Alaska – followed public debate coupled with strong support for the uranium industry from the Federal Labor government. “The Prime Minister Julia Gillard has just been in India selling the benefits of Australian-produced uranium to India, prompting many in the community to ask about the industry's potential in Queensland”, Newman said in a statement.
Australia, which mined 7,529 tonnes of uranium in fiscal 2011/12, worth A$782 million, according to government figures, has until now refused to sell nuclear material to India because it is not a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Australia holds 40 percent of the world's known uranium reserves but supplies only 20 percent of the global market. Sales to India would open up a new frontier at a time when the global nuclear industry is still
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