Australia Agrees to Sell Uranium to India During Modi Visit

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(Bloomberg) — Australia has agreed to sell uranium to India for power generation in a landmark deal signed between the two nations during a visit to Melbourne by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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India will purchase uranium for exclusively peaceful purposes, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement Thursday. The agreement comes as the country seeks to boost its nuclear energy capacity. The statement did not provide details on how much uranium oxide, or yellowcake, the country would purchase or over what time frame. 

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“Today, we can confirm the signing of the administrative arrangement to enable uranium exports,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a joint press conference in Melbourne. “The arrangement facilitates Australian uranium exports to India to help increase the share of non-fossil fuel power capacity, providing an additional market for the Australian resources sector.”

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The agreement is the culmination of more than a decade of negotiations, including over safeguards to ensure the material can’t be used for nuclear weapons. The two countries signed an initial nuclear co-operation pact in 2014, soon after Modi became Prime Minister. 

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The deal will “pave the way for uranium supplies from Australia to India and give our clean energy objectives fresh momentum,” Modi said at the conference, through a translator. “We will also work on a critical minerals corridor.”

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India’s goal is to expand generation capacity more than ten-fold to 100 gigawatts by 2047. Social and environmental challenges with expanding domestic uranium output necessitate imports.

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The country currently imports uranium from Russia and Uzbekistan, and shipments from Canada’s Cameco Corp. will start next year, according to a deal signed in March.

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While Australia holds the world’s biggest reserves of uranium there are only three operating mines, all in South Australia. Several other states ban uranium mining due to concerns the material could find its way into nuclear weapons. 

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Still, the country is the world’s fourth-largest producer of the radioactive metal, according to government figures. Exports over the 2025-2026 financial year were worth A$1.6 billion ($1.1 billion).

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Australia’s largest producer of uranium oxide is BHP Group Ltd., from its Olympic Dam copper operations as a byproduct. Yellowcake from the remote mine is sent to customers mostly in France, Canada and the US, according to a company spokesperson. 

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Spot prices of uranium have hovered around $85 a pound this year, though briefly spiked to $94/lb in February, well above the $63/lb price it fetched in early 2025. 

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(Adds comments from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in paragraph five.)

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