Can Queensland keep ignoring uranium?

Queensland is potentially in a solid position to benefit should the current political stance on uranium change. There are currently 11 companies listed in Queensland with significant untapped uranium reserves and 23 per cent of Australian uranium companies have operations in Queensland.
According to Deloitte Corporate Finance Partner, Dr Eric Lilford, who specialises in the energy and resources sector, it is practically impossible for the world to increase its insatiable demand for power at the exclusion of nuclear energy.
“Research suggests it is possible to achieve both the increasing demand for energy with the ever-increasing focus on clean energy sources through the application of cleaner technologies, including carbon sequestration, as well as increasing our reliance on nuclear and renewable energy.”
Dr Lilford revealed in an article published in Deloitte’s Queensland Energy & Resources Index, that nuclear energy provides 16 per cent of the world electrical energy generation and that around the globe there is a significant pipeline of planned and proposed reactors. Australia is well placed to meet much of this likely pipeline of demand - Australia’s share of global uranium resources currently exceeds Saudi Arabia’s share of the world’s oil resources.
In fact, the paper shows that Australia is considered to be the largest holder of economically viable recoverable uranium resources worldwide.
“The opportunity that this holds for Australia - in particular Queensland - cannot be overstated,” said Dr Lilford. “This country has abundant uranium resources and is well positioned, geographically, geopolitically and geologically, to capture a significantly greater piece of the global uranium production pie and attract higher investment income and increased employment for the state and country.”
Suggested global resources indicate that there is enough uranium to last for the next 85 years, mining at ever-increasing rates.

Dr Eric Lilford
Partner – Corporate Finance, Energy, Mining, Oil & Gas
Tel: +61 (0) 8 9365 7279
Email: elilford@deloitte.com.au

Source: Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation