Cotton reports that few minerals in recent history have generated as much global discussion as uranium, but this hasn’t curbed the eagerness of several ASX stocks in firming up uranium operations both in Australia and internationally. From the days of activists waving the flag on uranium mining’s perceived imposition on indigenous land rights and environmental protection, through to debates around whether nuclear energy is part of the solution to climate change, views have been divided.
Several global events, including the Fukushima nuclear disaster and Kazakhstan ramping up uranium production, tipped the uranium market into oversupply in 2011. A gruelling seven-year bear market ensued, dragging the commodity’s price down 85%. The bear market also killed off many industry participants, with the number dropping from more than 500 to around 50.
Larger producers such as Cameco and Kazatomprom opted to shut-in parts of their production, refusing to continue mining during the bear market, despite some moving closer to the end of their long-term supply contracts. However, green shoots are emerging signalling the long bear market is over, with the uranium spot price soaring almost 40% between April and November 2018. While nuclear power’s future in OECD countries remains a question mark, experts believe there will be significant growth in non-OECD nations due to current nuclear commitments. So, what is uranium, what role does it play in today’s economy, and why has its very existence created such heated debate?
Raw Uranium
Uranium is one of the heaviest of all naturally occurring chemical elements, almost 19 times denser than water. Comprising 92 protons and 92 electrons in its atomic structure, it was discovered in 1789 by German chemist Martin Klaproth in a mineral called pitchblende (or uraninite). Uranium was first isolated as a metal in 1841 by French chemist Eugene-Melchior Péligot when he showed the black metallic substance obtained by Klaproth was really the compound uranium dioxide. Péligot made actual uranium metal by reducing uranium tetrachloride with potassium metal.
In 1896, French physicist Henri Becquerel discovered uranium to have radioactive properties and in 1938, German physicists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann showed that under certain conditions, the metal could be split into parts to yield energy in the form of heat. The active part of this energy process is the uranium-235 isotope which raw uranium contains in small amounts (0.71%), along with isotopes U-238 (99.28%) and traces of U-234 (0.0054%). Of these, only U-235 (143 neutrons + 92 protons) is fissile, meaning it can start a nuclear reaction and sustain it. U-238 (145 neutrons + 92 protons), by comparison, has no current nuclear use although many Generation IV designs are envisaged to use this (which makes up 95% of spent fuel) as fuel.
Uranium occurs as a significant component of more than 150 minerals and as a minor component of another 50, and is commonly found at low levels (measured in parts per million) in soil, water, plants, and animals (including humans). Additionally, the earth’s oceans are estimated to contain some 4 billion tonnes of uranium. According to the World Nuclear Association, while the bulk of the world’s uranium supply is used for making electricity, a small proportion is used to produce medical isotopes.
Uranium Mining
Uranium can be extracted using open pit, underground or in-situ processes. Open pits are most viable when the uranium ore body is near the surface (up to a 150m depth) and while they generally involve less capital expenditure than underground operations, this mining method can leave a massive footprint and environmental remediation can be costly in terms of time and money. These operations often require a larger ore resource to be commercially viable.
Underground mining is most commonly used to exploit ore bodies with higher grades of uranium that are too deep to access using open pit methods and, while it requires the construction of access tunnels and declines, the long-term environmental impact is not usually as great. The rate of excavation underground is also slower than in an open pit operation, and the process can sometimes be more hazardous for miners. Mine truck carries rock under the discriminator which measures the radioactivity level to determine if the material is ore or waste. Uranium ores recovered from open pits and underground mines are milled in a process which (in its simplest form) involves crushing and chemical separation of the uranium mineral from the remainder of the ore.
Chemical separation of the ore continues until all that is left is the desired amount of uranium, with the objective being to isolate the uranium oxide concentrate to sell to companies for further enrichment. Milled uranium is also known as U308 or yellowcake, due to its yellowish color. Pure U308 contains about 84.8% uranium metal.
The final method of mining uranium is in-situ recovery (also known as in-situ leaching or solution mining). This method can often require a lower capital expenditure to get the operation off the ground. Most suited to deposits sandwiched between low permeability layers porous enough to allow water to flow through, in-situ recovery involves keeping the uranium ore in the ground, where it is introduced to an acidic mix of groundwater and gaseous oxygen via a series of injection wells. The pregnant ore-containing solution is then pumped to the surface before recovering the minerals.
Unlike open pit and underground mines, in-situ recovery creates little disturbance at the surface and does not produce tailings, eliminating the need for tailings dams. Mill tailings and slurry ponds can pose an environmental risk if not managed properly, due to the chemistry of their waste. However, mining companies are governed by strict laws regarding care of tailings to avoid potential contaminated spills.
Energy Resources of Australia knows all too well the social and financial burden of accidental tailing leaks, after a radioactive spill occurred at its Ranger uranium mine in the Northern Territory in 2013. The spill led to a forced shutdown until authorities completed an audit of the entire site and were satisfied it was compliant with regulations. The operation – currently processing stockpiled ore and due to cease production by January 2021 – has generated over 30 million tonnes of liquid waste over the past three decades.
Read on. The article is not well founded in facts but over all, it is a good read. The author has likely written on anti-nuclear activities and perspectives.
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