Industry wants State Govt to break election promise
THE uranium industry's national peak body's call for Queensland to start mining the resource has been dismissed by Mines Minister Andrew Cripps.
Following discussions by Prime Minister Julia Gillard in India about exporting the material, the Australian Uranium Association called on the Federal and State Governments to develop a united approach.
The group - which counts BHP Billiton amongst its members - said with the current government and opposition both backing plans to export uranium to India, it was time for Queensland and New South Wales to lift their state-wide bans on its mining.
But Mr Cripps was unmoved.
A spokeswoman for Mr Cripps said there were no current plans to develop uranium resources in Queensland.
Rather, it would focus on cutting red tape for coal and other resources while speeding up approval processes for new and expanding mines.
The AUA has previously stated Australian uranium would only be used for "peaceful purposes" in overseas nuclear power stations.
