Western Australia is closer to having its first uranium mine as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd re-affirmed his support for the demise of Labor's three mines policy.
Australia has three mines, in the Northern Territory and South Australia.
Environment Minister Peter Garrett approved the Four Mile uranium mine in South Australia last week.
The approval of Lake Maitland, in the midwest region of Western Australia, would take the tally of uranium mines to five.
Western Australia's minority Liberal state government last year lifted a six-year ban on uranium mining imposed by the former Labor government.
Mr Rudd said he stood by Labor's decision, made "absolutely clear" at its 2007 national conference, to end the three mines policy.
The debate about nuclear power in Australia also took another turn on Thursday as an opposition frontbencher suggested a debate was needed on Australia's energy mix, prompting Mr Rudd to label the coalition as divided on the issue.
The prime minister hit out at opposition energy and resources spokesman Ian Macfarlane who suggested that nuclear power needed to be considered as "part of Australia's energy mix as we move to cleaner base load energy options".
"We've got this extraordinary situation, where the only thing the Liberal Party seems to be united on is putting nuclear plants, power plants, across the country when they can't even have a unified position on climate change," Mr Rudd told reporters in Mackay.
Western Australia's Lake Maitland uranium mine, in the midwest of the state near Wiluna, appeared a more likely prospect on Thursday after its Canadian owner, Mega Uranium, entered a $60 million joint venture with a Japanese firm.
Mega is vying to beat BHP Billiton's nearby Yeelirrie project as the state's first uranium mine.
Mega, which is expected to seek an Australian stock exchange listing, on Thursday said it had teamed up with Japan Australia Uranium Resources Development and Itochu to develop the project.
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett said he expected either Yeelirrie or Lake Maitland would be in production by 2014 at the latest.
"They seem to be the two frontrunners and I am quite certain that we will see a uranium project develop in WA over the next three to five years," he told Fairfax Radio Network on Thursday.
Mega executive vice president of project development Peter McNally said the project could be constructed swiftly in 2011, with a mining lease application expected to be lodged by October.
BHP Billiton's plans to start mining at Yeelirrie in 2014 were reaffirmed on Thursday by Dean Dalla Valle, chief operating officer for the mining giant's recently created unit Uranium Australia.
"Obviously, we have to give some indicative timing but that would be at the absolute earliest," he told reporters.
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