Officials stats show another buoyant result

Spending on uranium exploration continues at high levels

Continuing stable uranium prices and indifferent capital-raising circumstances have not greatly dampened spending on uranium exploration during the second quarter of the 2011-12 financial year.

Uranium exploration expenditure remains particularly buoyant in Western Australia, where a handful of projects continue to progress towards development as mines.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that uranium companies spent $21.3 million on exploration in WA during the second quarter of the 2011-12 financial year. This is approaching the $25.9m expended in the first quarter, on the heels of a record year in 2010-11, when companies in the West spent $100.7m.

Exploration spending remained robust in the Northern Territory ($10.5m) and South Australia ($10.3m), while Queensland companies spent $3.6 million on uranium exploration in the first three months of 2011-12, even though uranium mining is prohibited in that State.

Across Australia, uranium companies have now spent just shy of $100m ($99.6m) in the first half of the financial year on searching for and proving up uranium resources. This is below spending in the first half of 2010-11, which started especially strongly.

Uranium Exploration: Australia 2005/06 to 2011/12 *

$A millions

 

(Year)

Queensland

Western Australia

Northern Territory

South Australia

AUSTRALIA

05/06

4.6

2.2

19.1

30.3

56.1

06/07

9.0 (est)

11.2 (est)

30.1

63.8

114.1

07/08

38.1

26.8 (est)

48.7

118

231.5

08/09

29.5(est)

28.6(est)

54.5

72.6

185.3

09/10

22.4 (est.)

55.4

38.6

52.7

169.1

10/11

17.6 (est)

100.7

41.9

53.7

213.9

11/12 (H1)

7.8(est.)

47.2

22.6

22.1

99.6

 

*Source: ABS, series 8412.0.

(Exploration for uranium is banned in Victoria and New South Wales and is negligible in Tasmania)