3/8/2023 0 Comments Radium glass vs uranium glass![]() ![]() It is now owned by BHP Billiton, following its 2005 takeover of WMC Resources. Annual production capacity for uranium oxide has been expanded from 1800 to 4600 tonnes U 3 O 8. The large underground mine produces copper, with gold and uranium as major by-products. The massive deposit is underground, some 350 metres below the surface, and is the largest known uranium orebody in the world. Production ceased in January 2021.ĭuring 1988 the Olympic Dam project, then a joint venture of Western Mining Corporation and BP Minerals, commenced operations about 560 km north of Adelaide, in an arid part of South Australia. Ranger is owned by Energy Resources of Australia Ltd (ERA), for many years a 68.39% subsidiary of Rio Tinto, but becoming 86.33% owned in February 2020 to ensure that it had funds for rehabilitation. Negotiations are exploring the potential to extend the deadline. This is due both to slow recovery in the uranium market and the requirement to cease operations under the present Ranger Authority, which expired in January 2021. Substantial development was undertaken to mine the Ranger Deeps, and in June 2015 ERA announced that it will defer proceeding further with development of the underground mine to access 27,650 tonnes of uranium, after spending A$ 177 million on the project. Any future development will be underground, and application was made for approval of this in January 2013. Mining of the second pit was 1997 to 2012, and this is now being backfilled. The mine opened in 1981 at a production rate of approximately 3300 tonnes per year of uranium oxide and has since been expanded to 5500 t/yr capacity. The Ranger mine and associated town of Jabiru is about 230 kilometres east of Darwin, in the Northern Territory, surrounded by the Kakadu National Park, a major tourist attraction. Recent Production from Australian Uranium Mines * average $A from declared net FOB estimates See also Former Australian Uranium Mines appendix.Īustralian Uranium Production and Exports The mine site is now rehabilitated.Ī brief history of Australian uranium mining is appended. The orebody was mined out in one dry season and the ore stockpiled for treatment from 1980. In 1979, Queensland Mines opened Nabarlek in the same region of Northern Territory. The Commonwealth Government announced in 1977 that new uranium mining was to proceed, commencing with the Ranger project in the Northern Territory. Mary Kathleen's second production phase was1976 to the end of 1982. Other developments were deferred pending the findings of the Ranger Uranium Environmental Inquiry, and its decision in the light of these. Mary Kathleen began recommissioning its mine and mill in 1974. The minor exploration boom 2002-07 was driven by small companies focused on proving up known deposits.) (Since then only two significant new ones have been found: Kintyre and Beverley Four Mile. A total of some 60 uranium deposits were identified from the 1950s through to the late 1970s, many by big companies with big budgets. ![]() The development of civil nuclear power stimulated a second wave of exploration activity in the late 1960s. However, much of it was used for electricity production. Sales were to supply material primarily intended for USA and UK weapons programs at that time. Production ceased either when ore reserves were exhausted or contracts were filled. Radium Hill, SA, Rum Jungle, NT, and Mary Kathleen, Queensland, were the largest producers of uranium (as yellowcake). Uranium ores as such were mined and treated in Australia initially from the 1950s until 1971. As a result a few hundred kilograms of uranium were also produced. In the 1930s ores were mined at Radium Hill and Mount Painter in SA to recover radium for medical purposes. Uranium is a small part of this economically, but in energy terms, uranium (4200 PJ in 2015-16) comprises about one-quarter of energy exports. The Australian economy is unique in the OECD in that about 20% of GDP is accounted for by mining and mining services (in 2012). Its main recommendation was for an international high-level nuclear waste repository, though this was not accepted. In May 2016 the South Australian government's royal commission on the nuclear fuel cycle reported.Australia uses no nuclear power, but with high reliance on coal any likely carbon constraints on electricity generation will make it a strong possibility.All production is exported. Uranium comprises about one-quarter of energy exports. It is the world's third-ranking producer, behind Kazakhstan and Canada. In 2019 Australia produced 7798 tonnes of U 3O 8 (6612 tU).Australia's known uranium resources are the world's largest – almost one-third of the world total.Australia's uranium has been mined since 1954, and three mines are currently operating. ![]()
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