Aboriginal land council amenable to uranium mining in Western Australia

The chairwoman of the Broken Hill Aboriginal Land Council has declared that she is open to possibility of uranium mining in the region.

ABC News reports that Maureen O’Donnell of the Broken Hill Aboriginal Land Council says that the issue will depend on what benefits uranium mining in the area can bring to local communities. O’Donnell says the land council has not yet discussed the matter in detail.

Uranium mining in Australia is looking more and more likely, with the Western Australian government recently conferring key environmental approvals for the Toro Energy (ASX:WOE) Wiluna uranium project, and the Newell government in Queensland overturning a decades-long ban on uranium extraction.

Prime Minister Gillard also made overtures to the New Delhi last month on the issue of uranium exports to India, indicating that the South Asian giant’s failure to sign the nuclear non-proliferation pact would not be an impediment to sales by Australia of the radioactive mineral.