Mr Sweeney's comment follows an indirect quote from one of the foundation's speakers at a recent anti-uranium meeting which was published in  The North West Star  on May 7.

One of the meeting presenters, Bill Williams, was quoted as saying the foundation would tolerate uranium mining if the state government guaranteed radioactive waste was securely isolated for 10,000 years.

Mr Sweeney said the response did not match the foundation's views.

Mr Williams was responding to the question: ``If assuming uranium mining is legalised in Queensland, what conditions would need to be in place for the Australian Conservation Foundation to support it?''

Mr Sweeney was more recently asked the same question, but said it could not be assumed uranium mining would be legalised in Queensland.

Mr Sweeney said BHP Billiton decided to close its multibillion-dollar uranium operations at Olympic Dam within the past two years.

BHP decided to close down operations in the largest known deposit of uranium in the world, meaning uranium mining in Queensland should not be assumed, he said.