6 Jun (NucNet): Three Japanese power utilities are going to take part in a joint venture project to explore a uranium mining concession in Australia.
Kansai Electric Power Company, Shikoku Electric Power Company and Kyushu Electric Power Company will carry out the exploration jointly with Australian mining company Quasar Resources. Together with Japan’s Itochu Corporation, the three utilities will have a total stake in the project of around 25 percent.
The mining concession lies some 500 kilometres north-west of Adelaide and consists of two sectors in the Gawler Craton, an area which covers approximately 440,000 square kilometres of central South Australia. Each sector will take some four years to explore.
The Japan Atomic Industrial Forum said the purpose of the project is for the utilities to “accumulate knowledge and eventually secure a stable supply of nuclear fuel”.
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
‘Uranium Resources Sufficient For Long Into Future’, Says New Red Book (News in Brief No. 64, 3 June 2008)
