HispanicBusiness

Queensland on Monday followed other Australian mining states and lifted a ban on the mining of uranium.

On a visit to India last week, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said her government had dropped its objections to uranium exports over India's refusal to sign a UN non-proliferation treaty.

"With the prime minister's statement about uranium exports to India there's no earthly reason why Queenslanders should miss out on the economic opportunities and the jobs from uranium mining in this state," state premier Campbell Newman said Monday.

A ban on uranium mining had been in place in Queensland for more than 30 years.

Newman said Australia's principal coal-producing state retained its objections to nuclear power plants and the storage of nuclear waste in its territory.

Most of the nation's uranium deposits are in Queensland, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.