Tuesday, 2 December 2025

 Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (02:35): (2190) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Energy and Resources, and the action I am seeking is for the minister to close the loopholes in Victoria’s Nuclear Activities (Prohibitions) Act 1983 to prevent the mining and export of commercial quantities of uranium, as will be the case with Astron Corporation’s Donald rare earths and mineral sands project. Astron Corporation’s Donald rare earths and mineral sands project is in the Wimmera town of Minyip, in my electorate of Western Victoria. It was earlier this year given the green light by the Victorian Labor government and was recently granted major project status by the federal government. It is set to become the fourth-largest rare earths mine outside China. The project has been given the go-ahead despite major community distress regarding the impacts on farming, the environment, water availability and the health of residents. Of considerable concern is the apparent mining and export of uranium under the guise of rare earth mining. Despite a supposed ban on uranium mining in Victoria, Astron will be able to export commercial quantities of the stuff, and this is all apparently fine with the government because uranium, and to a lesser extent thorium, are considered by-products of this project’s rare earth mining and, at least according to Astron, the concentration of radioactive material in the mined ore will allegedly fall below the limits specified in the Nuclear Activities (Prohibitions) Act.

This loophole has allowed this project to proceed despite the clear intention of the company to process the uranium in the USA. According to public reporting, Astron will ship rare earth concentrate to Utah, where a US nuclear fuel manufacturer, Energy Fuels, will purchase and process it to extract rare earths and uranium. According to this same reporting, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the two companies that indicates the uranium would be onsold to US nuclear power plants. In a statement to shareholders Energy Fuels have indicated that they expect to yield 20 to 45 tonnes of low-cost uranium per year from the project. Essentially, Energy Fuels is getting their costs for extracting uranium covered by the profits from the rare earths component. As one wonderful farmer has said, they get to have their free yellowcake and eat it too. This project has exposed gaping loopholes in our laws that supposedly ban uranium mining in this state. With rare earth and mineral sands mining expanding all over Victoria, there is an urgent need to close these loopholes to prevent the expansion of uranium mining.