Rio Tinto wants expanded uranium mining in WA

energy

The head of one of the world's biggest miners, Rio Tinto, says the company wants to use its Kintyre deposit in Western Australia to significantly increase its production of uranium.

Leigh Clifford has been addressing Rio Tinto shareholders in Perth, at his last annual general meeting as the company's chief executive before retiring on Monday.

WA Premier Alan Carpenter has said there would be no mining of uranium while he is Labor leader.

However Mr Clifford says the Kintyre deposit has significant potential despite holding a fairly modest 25,000 tonnes of uranium.

He says he hopes there continues to be sensible debate about opening up uranium mining in Australia.

"You can be rest assured we'll be looking to expand our capacity and I think there's a real opportunity for Australia and Western Australia to participate in that," he said.

Mr Clifford also says both uranium and coal should play a significant role in the future of Australia's energy market.

Rio Tinto mines both uranium and coal and Mr Clifford says that while Rio Tinto is striving to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, any suggestion of shutting down the coal industry is ridiculous.

"It's a little bit ridiculous I think to say that something has to shut down in so many years or what have you, when it's an important part of the Australian economy," he said.

"I think the part that we can play is contributing to the debate."

Mr Clifford also says the company's iron ore production in WA could rise to 300 million tonnes a year due to the continuing demand from China.

He says Rio Tinto is aiming to lift its production to 220 million tonnes a year by 2009, but there are already plans for a significant lift in capacity beyond that.

"We're not talking about a few tens of millions of tonnes, I think we're talking numbers in the order of 300 million tonnes," he said.

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