Green tick for uranium mine
Cameco has been granted a five-year window to start construction of the Kintyre uranium mine in the east Pilbara as two of the State's most anticipated next-wave resources projects received key environmental backing.
With WA's once-in-a-lifetime resources boom turning to bust, all focus is on the next cycle upturn and projects that can overcome environmental and fiscal hurdles and be developed.
Kintyre's conditional approval from State Environment Minister Albert Jacob yesterday coincided with the Chevron-led Gorgon LNG venture receiving support from the Environmental Protection Authority. The EPA nod for a fourth Gorgon train still needs to be ratified by Mr Jacob, expected in coming months.
For Kintyre and Gorgon, the environmental approval loomed as the biggest hurdle beyond the proponents' control.
Gorgon remains one of the State's most environmentally controversial developments, based on the Barrow Island nature reserve. The anti-nuclear lobby yesterday attacked Mr Jacob's decision and vowed to contest the Kintyre approval.
Chevron and its partners are focused on finishing the $US54 billion ($69 billion) three-train Gorgon foundation project before any expansion though, as Cameco did with Kintyre, the Gorgon partners kept the regulatory approvals process going.
The Kintyre environmental approval gives Cameco a five-year window to devise a financial case for a mine development 260km north-east of Newman. If it fails to get going by 2020, it will need to apply for an extension.
Cameco chief executive Tim Gitzel told investors last month it needed a uranium price of "well north" of $US67 a pound to make Kintyre work. Uranium was last night worth $US39.25/lb as the industry continues to wait for green shoots to deliver.
Cameco has extended its landholding around Kintyre in the hope of finding more uranium-bearing ore for a bigger, and therefore more viable, operation.
