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Indian companies have already expressed interest in mining uranium — the key input for nuclear power plants — in Queensland, Australia even before a formal agreement is signed between the two countries to export the mineral from Australia to India.
“The decision on allowing uranium export to India is a decision that the Federal Government of Australia will have to take. But Indian companies have expressed interest and they have visited some of the mines,” said Parag Shirname, Trade & Investment Commissioner - South Asia, Government of Queensland.
Queensland has the world’s largest resources of uranium and is the world’s third largest producer behind Kazakhstan and Canada. However, while exploration of uranium was taking place, commercial mining only opened up in July 2014 after a 25 year ban.
Shirname said the country has 165.95 million tonnes of reserves with a total uranium oxide content of 107,000 tonnes.
Shirname also added that there has been an increase in enquiries from Indian companies to import coal from Australia after the Supreme Court observed that all coal mines allocated between 1993 and 2010 were illegal. A final verdict on de-allocation is expected on September 1. De-allocation of all the mines could pull out nearly 40 million tonnes per annum from India’s coal supply.
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