Subsidiary Australian Zirconia Ltd was one of six companies the NSW Government has invited to apply for a uranium exploration licence in NSW.

Managing director Ian Chalmers described the development as “absolutely irrelevant”.

“We’re not interested in uranium and we can categorically, 100 per cent say we won’t be mining it there,” he said.

He said while the Toongi ore body contained rare earth elements and low levels of uranium, the development application did not include the production of uranium.

The invitations were issued following a thorough expression of interest process where applicants’ environmental performance, technical expertise and financial capacity were examined.

Mr Chalmers said the company had to lodge the expression of interest to protect its own interest in the Dubbo Zirconia Project.

“If we didn’t put in a licence, what could have happened is a third party could have put in an exploration licence over our existing exploration licence and then had rights to the uranium,” he said.

NSW Parliament passed laws to allow uranium exploration that came into effect in September 2012, and while there were uranium mines in other states, it is banned in NSW.

Minister for Resources and Energy Anthony Roberts said exploration would allow the government to “better understand the extent of the state’s resources and any potential economic benefits”.

“Uranium exploration is controlled by strict environmental, health and safety standards,” he said.

But NSW Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon said the Government’s announcement gave NSW residents reason to be “very worried indeed”.

She was not reassured by the fact the process was only at the application stage.

“What we’ve seen with mining in NSW is that, 99 per cent of the time, mining companies get what they want,” she said.

“Exploration is the first stage of full scale mining. With uranium, they do have more hurdles to jump but this government is intent on ramping up the mining industry, and accidents go hand in hand with this industry.”

Concerns about the nuclear industry were “no longer a fringe issue”, Ms Rhiannon said.

“It sends a bad message to the regions and to people thinking of moving there and about produce coming from the area,” she said.

“Even when the waste is collected, it’s not really resolved how it will be disposed of and we leave an environmental burden. It can make entire regions no-go zones for generations to come.

“There is much experience that has shown us how dangerous this industry is. They can’t use job creation as an excuse because it’s not a jobs-rich industry and it’s a threat to farming produce and a region being a lovely place to live.

“Fukushima (nuclear reactor) continues to pollute the Pacific Ocean. When it comes to energy, we should be going renewable, like Nyngan (solar project).”

A call to Hartz Rare Earths Pty Ltd, a company invited to apply for a uranium exploration licence south of Cobar, was not returned at the time of going to press.