Ben Hood was elected to the South Australian Legislative Council in March 2023. He lives in Mount Gambier with his family and is a passionate advocate for regional South Australia, for smaller, less interventionist government and conservative values.

Ben Hood MLC is at Beverley Uranium Mine.

13 hours ago

Last week I headed out to Heathgate Resources’ Beverley operation, between Lake Frome and the Northern Flinders Ranges.

Heathgate opened Australia’s first in-situ recovery uranium mine here in 2000. Instead of digging a pit, they pump a solution through the ore underground and bring the uranium up dissolved in it. There’s no open cut and no waste rock dumps. Once a wellfield is finished, it’s rehabilitated, and as the before-and-after shows, you’d struggle to find where it was.

Twenty-six years on, Beverley’s uranium goes to the US, Canada and France to fuel their nuclear power stations.

South Australian uranium is good enough to power other countries’ grids. It should be good enough for ours. Australia remains the only G20 nation with a legislated ban on nuclear power. That needs to change.

Thanks to the Heathgate team for the tour. ... See MoreSee Less

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