On the eve of an energy-focused trade mission to China and Japan, Premier Roger Cook has softened his language on the WA government’s uranium mining ban.
On the eve of an energy-focused trade mission to China and Japan, Premier Roger Cook has softened his language on the WA government’s uranium mining ban.
By Connor McGoverne
September 19, 2025 — 3.00am
On the eve of an energy-focused trade mission to China and Japan, Premier Roger Cook has softened his language on the WA government’s uranium mining ban, saying it is “watching this space”.
Cook flies to Shanghai on Sunday for a nine-day visit to the state’s number one and two trading partners, respectively, seeking to strengthen ties with business and government.
“These are important relationships and we want to maximise them; this is about WA jobs,” Cook said.
“China is our biggest trading partner, taking over 50 per cent of all exports from Western Australia, so obviously it’s important to continue to work with the resources industry customers in China so that they can continue to have confidence.”
The trade trip moves to Osaka before finishing in Tokyo. Cook will arrive in Japan armed with the recent approval of Woodside’s bid to extend the life of its massive North West Shelf facility.
Japan is WA’s second-largest trade partner and its largest imported commodity is liquified natural gas.
“It assists them to get out of coal, and that’s an important part of ensuring that Western Australian gas is part of the global solution to reducing emissions,” Cook said.
The premier has increasingly warned WA would likely see an “uptick” in its own emissions as it helps other countries reduce their carbon footprint. As recently as this week he said it means “the globe is the winner, but you may see emissions locally rise slightly”.
The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA has argued the same logic should be applied to exporting uranium, which the Labor state government has had a ban on since 2017.
“As the world gets decarbonised, we’re seeing a lot of other countries look to nuclear power as a low-emission base load power source,” CME policy director Anita Logiudice said.
“Japan is one of those, so we’d like the premier to consider removing the ban on new uranium projects in WA so that we can supply some of that uranium to trusted trading partners like Japan.”
Only South Australia and the Northern Territory allow the mining of the nuclear fuel. Four sites have exemptions as they were approved by the Colin Barnett Liberal government before Labor put its ban in place.
But Cook has left the door open to lift the ban, telling 9News Perth he was working with miners about the “future potential” of uranium.
“We’re continuing to work with industry around what their expectations and what the future potential for these things are,” Cook said.
“We are conscious of the fact that there are companies who have mining leases for uranium mines today, and as we’ve always said that WA is a reliable place for people to undertake business.
“So we’re not going to turn around and tell people that they can’t mine when they have a legitimate legal permit to do so.
“[But] we need to see a significant shift in the global market for uranium before Western Australia’s in a position to have a sustainable mining industry in uranium.
“We’re continuing to watch the current players that have permits or leases to mine uranium, and, and we’ll continue to watch this space.”
One source said the comments marked the strongest softening of language they had heard from the Labor government since it implemented the ban eight years ago.
The CME estimates exporting uranium to other countries would generate $1 billion in economic value to WA’s economy and generate 9000 jobs.
However, the premier was firm that his government’s primary focus would be on renewable energy.
“I’d just stress, some of the richest uranium mines around the world are all mothballed today because the price of uranium is still very low,” Cook said.
Part of that focus is firing up the fledgling green steel industry, which China would play a crucial role in as the state’s largest importer of iron ore, making up more than 83 per cent of the total export share last year.
Acting co-chief executive of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA Aaron Morey will join Cook overseas and said green iron needed to be the premier’s top priority.
“Those discussions around green iron and getting that underpinning investment is really important for providing the certainty to invest in the infrastructure needed to develop that sort of industry,” Morey said.
“China is the biggest steelmaker in the world, and in terms of the signals they send when it comes to green iron, there is no more important customer in that space.”
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Connor McGoverne is a reporter for 9 News Perth who specialises in state politics.