The Uranium Council is an entity created by the Australian Government in 2009. Chair Mark Chalmers has described it as "a combined Australian Government, Industry and Stakeholders committee (represented by

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Compa ...

, Heathgate,

Cameco Cameco Corporation (formerly Canadian Mining and Energy Corporation) is the world's largest publicly traded uranium company, based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. In 2015, it was the world's second largest uranium producer, accounting for 18 ...

and

Paladin Energy Paladin Energy Ltd is a Western Australian based uranium production company. It currently has one operating mine in Africa; the Langer Heinrich mine (LHM) in Namibia. Paladin was listed on the Australian, OTC and Namibian Stock Exchanges, as ...

) organized to review and remove impediments to Australia’s uranium exploration and development policy." It contains representatives from Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments, the uranium industry and the

Northern Land Council The Northern Land Council (NLC) is a land council representing the Aboriginal peoples of the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia, with its head office in Darwin. While the NLC was established in 1974, its origins began in the strugg ...

History

The Uranium Council was preceded by the Uranium Industry Framework Implementation Group (UIF), which was established during the Howard government in August 2005. Minister Ian Macfarlane formed the UIF in order to "advance the uranium industry in Australia at the highest possible standards." Its founding chairman was Dr John White FTSE, who was also a founding member of the Nuclear Fuel Leasing Group. The

Government of South Australia The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government, SA Government or more formally, His Majesty’s Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of South Australia. It is modelled o ...

was represented on the UIF by

Paul Heithersay Paul Sinclair Heithersay is a public servant employed by the Government of South Australia. He is the chief executive of the Department for Energy and Mining. He was appointed to this role by the then recently elected Liberal government in Jun ...

and the

Minerals Council of Australia The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) is an industry association, notable for representing companies that generate most of Australia's mining output. The MCA was founded in 1995, succeeding the Australian Mining Industry Council which was estab ...

was represented by Mitchell Hooke.

Ian Hore-Lacy Ian Leslie Hore-Lacy (1940 – 2 December 2021) was an Australian nuclear industry communicator, author and advocate for nuclear power in Australia. He semi-retired as Senior Advisor with the World Nuclear Association, London. Career He was a ...

from the

Uranium Information Centre {{Unreferenced, date=December 2021 The Uranium Information Centre (UIC) was an Australian organisation primarily concerned with increasing the public understanding of uranium mining and nuclear electricity generation. Founded in 1978, the Centr ...

was also an original member of the UIF. The group's recommendations informed uranium mining and nuclear industrial development policy which was announced in April 2007. In 2009 the Australian government undertook a review of its Uranium Industry Framework Implementation Group (UIF), and subsequently replaced it with the Uranium Council. Mark Chalmers served as Chair of the Uranium Council and was previously a member of the UIF. In 2011, Chalmers described the Uranium Council as "a combined Australian Government, Industry and Stakeholders committee, organized to review and remove impediments to Australia’s uranium exploration and development policy."

Vision and objectives

As of 2015, the Uranium Council's official vision is "to contribute to national well-being through the progressive and sustainable development of the Australian uranium exploration, mining, milling and exporting industry in line with world's best practice standards." Its objectives are: * to change the basic legislative and policy framework for the "sustainable development of the industry" * to facilitate the "economically competitive development of the industry" * to improve coordination, consistency and efficacy of regulation and policy regimes * to encourage "new and expanded investment in competitive uranium development opportunities" * to provide an "opportunity for information and policy exchange on issues affecting the uranium industry"

References

{{Energy in Australia Uranium mining in Australia 2009 establishments in Australia