Australia's Uranium

Although known to exist in Australia since the 1890s, uranium was first discovered at Mount Painter in the Flinders Ranges in the early 1900s. It was not until the 1930s that uranium ore was mined at Radium Hill in South Australia. The radium extracted from the uranium ore was used for medical purposes. The first major producer of uranium in Australia operated from 1954 - 1971. It was the Government-owned Rum Jungle project, in the Northern Territory. In 1958, mining started at Mary Kathleen in Queensland.

After much exploration, discoveries of uranium were also made at Nabarlek, Ranger, Jabiluka and Koongarra in the Northern Territory, Yeelirrie and Kintyre in Western Australia, Olympic Dam, Beverley and Honeymoon in South Australia and Ben Lomond and Westmoreland in Queensland.

Most of Australia's known uranium reserves are in South Australia. In fact, Olympic Dam is the world's largest known uranium resource. Also in South Australia, the Beverley mine is the first in the country to use in situ leaching which has been widely used over the past 25 years - particularly in the United States of America. The Honeymoon deposit, awaiting approval to begin operation, will also use this method. In situ leaching is the most common form of uranium mining in the US.

Over the past decade, Australia has earned more than $2.8 billion in income from more than 50,000 tonnes of exported uranium.

Greater technical detail can be found on this topic by searching through the listed briefing papers and education resources at www.uic.com.au.