Energy policy made a surprise entry to one of Australia’s premier mining conferences last month amid upbeat talk for the future of uranium mining.

On the sidelines of the Diggers and Dealers Forum in Kalgoorlie, Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said that of the top 20 economies in the world, Australia was the only one that does not have, or has not signed up to, nuclear power.

The Opposition will go to the next Federal election with a policy to build seven nuclear reactors at the sites of existing or former coal-fired power stations. Collie has been nominated as a possible WA site.

Federal Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the plan “fails at the first hurdle”.

He told the Australian Financial Review: “There’s a ban on nuclear power not just in Australia but at the state level in New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland. Five of the sites are in States with bans on nuclear power at the state level that won’t be overturned.”

Asked at the Diggers and Dealers conference about convoluted and confusing mining and uranium policies across the different states and territories, Mr Dutton said there would be an “insatiable demand for uranium”.

“We know that the United States, France, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, now Australia, many other countries are using nuclear propulsion systems for their submarines,” he said.

“So, the demand is there. Why would we be doing ourselves out of an export opportunity? Why would we be stopping ourselves from earning additional income for our country, creating extra jobs?

“We can do that through opening up uranium exports. We can help take WA to the next level. We can help in South Australia and in the Northern Territory. I just don’t understand the Government’s reluctance here. It’s ideologically based, and we’re going to do ourselves out of thousands of jobs.”

But WA Mines Minister David Michael ruled out any change to the Labor Government’s policy on uranium mining, introduced in 2017. Four mines, approved at the time of the ban, were excised: the Wiluna (Toro Energy), Kintyre and Yeelirrie (Cameco Australia), and Mulga Rock (Deep Yellow Ltd.) projects.

Presentations at Diggers and Dealers from uranium miners Deep Yellow, Paladin Energy, and Boss Energy all highlighted the surge in the uranium price, which suffered big falls after the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011.

Deep Yellow Head of Business Development Andrew Mirco told the conference that post Fukushima several countries phased out nuclear power but by 2024 there has been a global pivot towards nuclear power for energy security and clean base load power.

There was now a “race to restart” with limited greenfield production slated or expected prior to 2030.

“It took 10 plus years of underinvestment to create the structural deficit, it will take 10 plus years and a lot of investment to fix it,” Mr Mirco said.

“One of the key issues we faced in that post Fukushima era was that we saw a sharp pullback in supply while demand continued to increase. Demand has exceeded production since 1990.”

He said the strong rally in the uranium price would not spark a plethora of new deposits and a wave of new supply.

“All of the uranium deposits globally today were those discovered in the 1970s and early 80s post the oil shock. This was a time when time when corporates and governments, and even oil companies, were spending billions scouring the Earth looking for new deposits.

“More recently despite the billions being spent over the past couple of decades the only two material uranium deposits that have been discovered are those of NextGen and Fission Uranium (both in Canada).”

Paladin Energy Chief Operating Officer Paul Hemburrow said the growth in the uranium price has been driven by global decarbonisation and a supply shortfall partly caused by geopolitical tensions.

He said there are 440 operating nuclear reactors worldwide and more in various stages of construction and planning.

Boss Energy Managing Director Duncan Craib said supply was insufficient to meet growing demand as government set new targets for achieving net-zero emissions.

“Nuclear power is being recognised and supported by policy worldwide as essential to achieving these targets so demand for uranium is growing,” he said.

The WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry said in March that WA uranium mining could generate $1 billion a year.

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