Australia said that it could give resource-hungry China direct access to its huge uranium deposits if Beijing signs pledges the nuclear material would not be used for military purposes. China has a ravenous appetite for energy to power its rapidly growing economy and is already a major purchaser of Australian coal and natural gas.
Australia has about 40 percent of the world's known uranium reserves but has only three operating uranium mines, two in South Australia and one in the Northern Territory. The country has no nuclear power industry. In 2004, Australia exported 9,648 tonnes of uranium, 39 percent of which went to the United States, 25 percent to Japan, 25 percent to the European Union, 10 percent to South Korea and one percent to Canada.