A quarter-century-old uranium discovery in WA’s backblocks looks to be one of the hottest beneficiaries of the new Barnett Governments lifting of the ban on uranium mining in the bountiful west. The discoverer of the Energy and Minerals Australia flagship Mulga Rocks Deposit was not as one might suspect a Geiger-counter-wielding prospector in a beaten-up Landcruiser but in the early 1980s it was the far-sighted Government of Japan (a geographically compact nation today operating 55 nuclear power stations). In a surprisingly comprehensive pre-feasibility effort, it drilled 1600 holes, found water, studied flora and fauna, and dug a huge test pit.
If one could possibly exclude the massive slump in global equity markets, the arrival of EMA on the ASX – following a $5m raising in April last year - could be seen as rather ideally timed. As lucky as you could get might be a better way of putting it. On the 26th August Alan Carpenter promised to ban uranium mining, on the 14th September his government was out on its ear, and on 17th November the new Barnett Government unlocked WA’s trove of uranium for development.
Apart from the three grandly named deposits at Mulga Downs – Emperor, Ambassador and Shogun deposits – EMA has the Gunbarrel and Minigwal deposits also lying within this otherwise featureless WA expanse. Holes are being twinned, a mass of data is being assembled into digital data sets and EMA is enjoying the sudden jump in the availability of rigs and technical personnel. It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good. EMA now has time, cash and space to see if it can push the Australia’s largest uranium resource outside BHP and Rio into development. Not to be missed!
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