Phil Edmonds, the former England cricketer, is expanding into the booming market for uranium with a near-£100 million move for an Australian mining group.

His CAMEC mining business has tabled an all-share bid for OmegaCorp, a company that has projects across Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

It comes as prices for uranium soar to their highest level since the 1970s on the back of a supply squeeze and a flurry of deals, as firms battle it out for the scarce resource.

A renewed interest in nuclear energy as an alternative to fossil fuel has impelled Areva, the French nuclear group, to buy a minority stake in Summit Resources, the Australian uranium explorer.

Mitshibushi, the Japanese giant, has taken a 50 per cent stake in the CanAlaska mining scheme.

In the pastd week uranium prices have surged 20 per cent, to $113 (£57) a pound.

Analysts have predicted that prices could reach $140 a pound next year.

Five years ago the metal was available for less than $10 a pound.

Although best known for the White Nile oil company, Mr Edmonds floated CAMEC on the London Stock Exchange five years ago with his business partner, Andrew Groves, and it remains their principal interest.

It owns a string of copper and cobalt assets across Africa and has expanded into China.

The group recently discovered possible uranium deposits in an exploration zone in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Its offer for OmegaCorp will spark a tussle with Denison Mines, of Canada, which has built a 31.5 per cent stake in the company after launching its own takeover bid in December.

CAMEC said that its deal valued Omega at A$1.44 cents a share, or A$221.9 million (£93 million) — a 25 per cent premium to Denison’s offer.

Mr Groves said: “We believe that we are tabling a bid for OmegaCorp that will be extremely beneficial to all parties.”

Times Recommends

• Bank slashes rates by 1% to historic low
• House prices fall at fastest pace in 25 years
• Dragons’ Den judge exits Woolworths bid race