The Western Australian Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety has approved the Project Management Plan for the Mulga Rock uranium project, Vimy Resources announced today. Having already received approval from State and Federal governments, this is the first of three state government departmental approvals required to implement the project.

The governments of Australia and the UK have signed a letter of intent to establish a partnership on low emissions solutions including clean hydrogen and small modular reactors. Meanwhile, the Australian Research Council  has awarded funding to a newly launched project to develop fuel for hydrogen-boron fusion which its participants say has the potential to re-establish Australia as a leader in fusion research and clean energy technology.

Incorporating a circuit to produce by-product base metals has the potential to improve the "already strong" uranium economics of the Mulga Rock project in Western Australia, Vimy Resources CEO Mike Young says. Vimy plans to complete an assessment of the potential impact of the base metals plant during the first half of this year.

Processing operations at Energy Resources of Australia's Ranger mine ended today in accordance with legislative and regulatory requirements. The mine, which is in the Northern Territory, was Australia's longest continually operating uranium producer.

An inquiry into potential benefits to Victoria of removing prohibitions on nuclear activities has tabled its final report in the Australian state's parliament. Energy security, stability and accessibility, and the need to lower carbon emissions due to climate change should be the priority, regardless of technology, the report finds.

A planned expansion of the Olympic Dam copper, gold and uranium mine in South Australia has been scrapped by BHP Billiton after studies of the ore body questioned the viability of the project. It has decided instead to invest in the existing infrastructure at the underground mine.

An Australian Senate committee has recommended that Parliament pass legislation that would make Napandee in South Australia the site for a low and medium-level nuclear waste facility. The Senate Standing Committee on Economics issued its final report on the provisions of the National Radioactive Waste Management Amendment (Site Specification, Community Fund and Other Measures) Bill 2020 on 14 September.

A newly completed update to Vimy Resources' definitive feasibility study for the Mulga Rock Project in Western Australia has demonstrated stronger financial returns than previously forecast for the uranium project, the company says. The DFS Refresh indicates an 8% decrease in cash operating costs over the first five years to USD23.33 per pound, and a 7% decrease over life-of-mine.

CNNC Rössing Uranium has announced the suspension of normal mining operations at the Rössing uranium mine in Namibia from 28 March because of a partial lockdown of the Erongo region in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Elsewhere, uranium miners continue to address issues arising from the global pandemic.

A new radioactive version of the element scandium has been produced in Australia's OPAL reactor for the first time. Scandium-47 has the potential for theranostic use, that is, both as a therapeutic drug and a diagnostic agent, and has similar properties to lutetium-177, which is already being used in clinical trials.

The government of New South Wales should support the repeal in its entirety of legislation that prohibits uranium mining and nuclear facilities in the Australian state, an inquiry by the state's Upper House has concluded. As well as encouraging and supporting uranium exploration, the state should also pursue the repeal of federal prohibitions on nuclear facilities, it recommends.

Australia has three electricity futures - coal, nuclear or chaos. It's time to bring Australia into the 21st century by aggressively embracing the nuclear one, writes Terry McCrann, business columnist with The Australian newspaper.

The prime minister's thought bubble that a future could be crafted out of some hybrid mix of gas generation and so-called renewables is an embarrassingly inefficient and unworkable dead-end. The idea that we could go all renewables - with assorted batteries from the Tesla version in South Australia to the Turnbull one in the Snowy included - is a fantasy; it would be the embracing of the third future: chaos.