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Miners urge Australia to allow uranium mining: Australia’s uranium explorers are urging state governments to lift bans on mining the fuel, anticipating a surge in demand driven by increased interest in nuclear energy, Bloomberg reports. Despite Australia holding nearly a third of the world's known uranium ore deposits, only South Australia and the Northern Territory currently permit uranium mining.
The concerns and challenges: Environmental and safety concerns have deterred other states from embracing the industry with only two uranium mining projects being currently operational in Australia, Bloomberg adds. However, proponents argue that modern mining techniques and stringent regulations can mitigate these risks, making uranium mining a viable and safe option for contributing to the global energy transition.
Australia has big potential: Australia has the potential to play a significant role in the nuclear energy sector with its vast uranium resources — the world’s largest economic demonstrated resources of uranium. Supporters of the industry believe that by allowing more states to mine uranium, Australia can both meet its own energy needs and become a major exporter of nuclear fuel.
Australian tech start-up raises funds to unlock lithium supplies: ElectraLith — an Australian start-up backed by mining giant Rio Tinto — is raising USD 15 mn to develop new lithium extraction technology, the Financial Times reports. This technology could benefit countries that are investing in EVs while looking to reduce reliance on China for lithium refining — such as the US and Australia — by reaching new reserves of lithium — a critical material needed to manufacture EV batteries.China currently controls 65% of global lithium refining, chief executive of ElectraLith Charlie McGill told FT.
About the tech: ElectraLith is developing direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology, which could significantly lower the cost of lithium mining and access previously unviable deposits. ElectraLith’s unique approach, termed DLE-R, uses electrodialysis to refine lithium brine into lithium hydroxide.
