Barrier Daily Truth

Big prospects for BH

Thursday, 16th February, 2012

By Paula Doran

The NSW Government is placing its bets on the uranium industry to boost the State’s dwindling coffers and experts say the overturning of a 26-year ban on uranium exploration this week will have a big impact in the Far West.

The Government yesterday introduced legislation into Parliament overturning the ban on exploration. Premier Barry O’Farrell said it was time for NSW to look at every opportunity to join the mining boom which was delivering enormous profits to the rest of the country.

In a potential boon for Broken Hill, NSW Minister for Resources and Energy, Chris Hartcher, said expert advice suggested the most valuable deposits might be in the west of the State, given the abundant resources just over the SA border. 

And experts agree the growth could bring a new wave of industry focus to the Broken Hill region.

Michael Angwin, CEO of the Australian Uranium Association (AUA), said given the large uranium deposits already discovered in SA, the Broken Hill region would no doubt be a central point for exploration.

And the industry was quick to praise the state government on the Cabinet vote made Tuesday night in a much-anticipated turnaround.

“There was no reason to continue the legislative ban on uranium exploration or mining in New South Wales or elsewhere,” Mr Angwin said.   

“During the last five years, a number of uranium projects have been approved under environmental law. The Commonwealth Minister giving the approval has each time emphasised the best practice involved and lack of credible threat to the environment.

“That shows that the uranium industry can meet all the environmental criteria that a project is required to meet through searching examination under environmental law.

Mr Angwin said he expected that uranium exploration companies would go out of their way to engage honestly and openly with the communities in which their activities take place and to address any concerns that arise.  

He reiterated that the extent of the uranium resource in NSW was not known because there had been no exploration in a generation.  

“What we do know, however, is that the more we explore, the more we find.”

In just under seven years uranium exploration expenditure in Australia has increased from $10 million in 2003/04 to over $200 million in 2010/2011.  

In WA after bans were lifted in 2008, uranium exploration expenditure quadrupled to more than $100 million in three years. 

Amongst local uranium mining companies such as Marmota Energy whose exploration has found significant deposits north of Cockburn, the overturning of the ban was described as a logical step.

However Marmota’s managing director, Dom Calandro, said it could be some time before the NSW Government established a regulatory framework for exploration that would support project development and enable certainty.  

Mr Calandro said the western border areas of NSW might have the potential for further uranium mineralisation, “however it will depend on the prevailing geology of area. 

“At Junction Dam, as with Honeymoon, we have found that the uranium mineralisation is well constrained to the ancient buried palaeochannel systems on the SA side of the border which have a strong north-south orientation . 

“These are further constrained by large scale basement structures that lie to the east of our discovery along the NSW border. 

“Our project area does extend to the NSW border, however the zone of mineralisation that we have discovered lies on the western side of our project area in SA.”

Logistically though, he said the company was well established in the area to undertake exploration into NSW should the chance arise.