Uranium in Australia - As of 2013

Uranium (Nuclear Minerals) / Mapping and Geospatial Information

Uranium (U) is a radioactive element that averages one to four parts per million in the Earth's crust. Natural uranium contains about 0.7% of the U235 isotope (the fissile isotope) and 99.2%of the U²³⁸ isotope. Concentrations of uranium minerals such as uraninite, carnotite and brannerite can form commercial deposits. Major uses for uranium are as a fuel for nuclear power reactors for electricity generation, in the manufacture of radioisotopes for medical applications and in nuclear science research using neutron fluxes.

Uranium resources are categorized using the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency classification scheme for Reasonably Assured Resources (RAR). In this scheme, uranium resource estimates are for recoverable uranium, which deducts losses due to mining and milling. RAR recoverable at costs of<us$130 kg.

In Australia, uranium is recovered using both conventional (open-cut or underground) and in situ recovery (ISR) mining techniques. ISR can be used where geologically suitable and recovers uranium without excavating the ground. Uranium is extracted by means of an acid or alkaline solution which is pumped down injection wells into the permeable mineralised zone to remobilize uranium from the ore body. Then the uranium-bearing solution is pumped to the surface and recovered in a processing plant.

ISR mining is used extensively in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and the United States of America. In Australia, there are currently two ISR mines and a satellite ISR operation in South Australia at Honeymoon and Beverley/Beverley North, and another South Australian ISR operation at Four Mile is expected to begin production in 2013. The conventional uranium mines in Australia are Olympic Dam in South Australia, which is an underground operation, and Ranger in the Northern Territory where open-cut mining ended in November 2012 and the company is investigating the possibility of an underground mine.

There have been a number of legal developments in the Australian uranium industry over the past decade. The industry has been bolstered by bipartisan Commonwealth support for uranium mining, the lifting of bans on uranium mining in Western Australia and Queensland and the New South Wales Government's repeal of the ban on uranium exploration.

Australia's identified uranium resources occur in the Northern Territory and all states except Victoria and Tasmania (Figure 3.24 and Figure 3.25). Olympic Dam in South Australia is a hematite breccia complex and is the world's largest uranium deposit. Geoscience Australia estimates that it contains 77% of Australia's RAR recoverable at less than US$130/kg U. Unconformity-type deposits such as Ranger, Jabiluka, Koongarra in the Northern Territory and Kintyre in Western Australia account for 13% of Australia's resources.

Sandstone-hosted deposits account for 3% of Australia's uranium resources and are more widespread occurring at Beverley, Honeymoon and Four Mile in South Australia, Junnagunna, Red Tree and Huarabagoo in Queensland, Angela in the Northern Territory and Manyingee, Mulga Rock and Oobagooma in Western Australia.

Calcrete deposits also account for 3% of Australia's resources with Yeelirrie in Western Australia the largest of this type. Others include Lake Way and Centipede (both part of the Wiluna Project) and Lake Maitland, all in Western Australia. Other types of uranium deposits hosting significant resources in Australia include the metasomatic deposits of Valhalla and Skal in Queensland, the volcanic-hosted Ben Lomond and Maureen deposits in Queensland and the alkaline intrusion that hosts Toongi in New South Wales.

According to the World Nuclear Association (WNA), in July 2013 there were 432 commercial nuclear power reactors operating in 30 countries, most of which are light-water type reactors. This number is lower than the peak of 442 at December 2010 due to the closures of nuclear plants in several countries following the damage at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan caused by a tsunami in March 2011. The total installed nuclear generating capacity is 371,870 megawatts, which provides about 11% of the world's electricity generation (source: WNA). The total uranium required to fuel these reactors is approximately 66,500 tonnes in 2013 of which primary uranium supplies 84% and secondary sources the remainder. Secondary sources arise from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, blended down highly-enriched uranium from nuclear weapons, or mixed oxide fuels.

Australia does not have any nuclear power reactors and there are currently no plans for Australia to have a domestic nuclear power industry. Australia exports all of its uranium to countries within its network of bilateral safeguards agreements, which ensure that it is used only for peaceful purposes and does not enhance or contribute to any military applications.

Australian mining companies supply uranium under long-term contracts to electricity utilities in the United States of America, Japan, China, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan and Canada as well as members of the European Union including the France, Germany, Sweden and Belgium. Since 2007, Australia has negotiated bilateral safeguards agreements for the export of uranium to China, Russia and the United Arab Emirates and, in December 2011, negotiations commenced with India on a bilateral safeguards agreement.

Trends

The majority of Australia's uranium deposits were discovered between 1969 and 1975 when approximately 50 deposits, including 15 with significant resource estimates, were discovered. Since 1975, only another five deposits have been discovered and, of these, only three deposits (Kintyre in the Paterson Province of Western Australia, Junnagunna in Queensland and Four Mile in South Australia have Reasonably Assured Resources recoverable at less than US$130/kg U (equates with EDR). As a result, the progressive increases in Australia's RAR for uranium from 1975 to the present were largely because of the ongoing delineation of resources at known deposits.

From 1983 onwards, the Olympic Dam deposit in South Australia has been the major contributor to increases in Australia's RAR. The large increases shown in Figure 3.26 occurred:

• in 1983, when initial resource estimates for Olympic Dam and Ranger No. 3 Orebody (Northern Territory) were made by the former Australian Atomic Energy Commission ('a' in Figure 3.26)
  
  
• in 1993, when further increases in RAR for Olympic Dam and first assessment of resources for the Kintyre deposit were made by Geoscience Australia's predecessor, the Bureau of Mineral Resources ('b' in Figure 3.26)
  
  
• in 2000, when increases were due to continuing additions to the Olympic Dam resources
  
  
• from 2007 to 2009, when a major increase in RAR for Olympic Dam was made after drilling outlined major extensions to the southeast part of the deposit.

Economic resources decreased in 2010 because of higher costs of mining and milling uranium ores. Resources in some deposits were reassigned to higher cost categories than in previous years. In previous years, resources in the cost category of less than US$80/kg uranium were considered to be economic. As a result of increases in costs and uranium market prices, economic resources from 2010 onwards were extended to include resources within the cost category of less than US$130/kg uranium.