Canada’s Consolidated Uranium has expressed hope over a nuclear shift in Australia as it completes acquisition of the Ben Lomond and Georgetown uranium projects in North Queensland for more than $3 million.

It comes as the latest Resources and Energy Quarterly points to the prospect of global uranium shortfalls in the wake of years of low prices and under-investment.

And nine Coalition Senators moved last week to remove the ban on nuclear power in Australia by introducing a Private Senators Bill.

Consolidated Uranium chairman and chief executive officer Philip Williams said Ben Lomond represented the cornerstone asset for the company in Queensland, where it now holds multiple projects in two important uranium districts.

“We believe that recent legislation introduced in Australia to remove the ban on nuclear power could be an important step in building support for additional uranium mining operations in the country of which CUR would be a beneficiary,” he said.

Uranium mining is banned in Queensland.

The Queensland Resources Council told a House of Representatives inquiry into the prerequisites for nuclear energy in Australia in 2019 that recent valuations had estimated the state’s uranium deposits to be worth about $10 billion.

Uranium prices are forecast to lift from US$51 a pound in 2022 to US$60 a pound by 2024, according to the latest Resources and Energy Quarterly report from the Office of the Chief Economist of Australia.

Consolidated Uranium is paying $2,500,000 in connection with the exercise of its option over Ben Lomond and the Georgetown project as well as an additional $535,000 in connection with spot price-contingent payment terms of its deal with previous owner Mega Uranium.

Consolidated Uranium last month announced a deal to buy the West Newcastle Range, Teddy Mountain and Ardmore East uranium projects in Queensland.

It came after the company sealed a deal with GBM Resources to acquire the Milo uranium, copper, gold, and rare earth project 40km west of Cloncurry.

Consolidated Uranium also announced in April that it had been granted three tenements about 65km north of Mount Isa – known as the Gidyea Creek project and sitting immediately adjacent to Paladin Energy’s Valhalla project.

The company said it was developing a comprehensive exploration plan for the projects.