Radium Hill

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Radium Hill
General information about the mine
Radium Hill 1954.jpg
Mine area in 1954
Mining technology Underground mining
Funding / total 860 tons of uranium
Information about the mining company
Start of operation 1906
End of operation 1961
Successor use Repository for low level radioactive waste
Funded raw materials
Degradation of Uranium ore , davidite , carnotite
Greatest depth 420 m
Geographical location
Coordinates 32 ° 20 '44.1 "  S , 140 ° 38' 7.8"  O Coordinates: 32 ° 20 '44.1 "  S , 140 ° 38' 7.8"  O
Radium Hill (South Australia)
Radium Hill
Location Radium Hill
Location Olary
State South Australia
Country Australia

Radium Hill is a former mine in South Australia that operated from 1906 to 1961. It is located about 460 kilometers north of Adelaide , 110 kilometers southwest of Broken Hill and was the first uranium mine in Australia long before the next larger mines such as Rum Jungle in the Northern Territory (1950) or Mary Kathleen in Queensland (1958) were built. The associated workers' settlement, in which up to 1,100 people once lived, has largely been demolished and is now a ghost town . While production peaked between 1954 and 1961, almost one million tons of Davidite ore were mined here, from which 860 tons of uranium oxide (measured as uranium (V, VI) oxide U 3 O 8 ) were extracted.

history

As a future mine location, the area was identified in 1906 by prospector Arthur John Smith, when he accidentally found radioactive material about 40 km southeast of Olary . Smith mistakenly thought the dark ore was tin oxide or wolframite . His samples were brought to the University of Adelaide to the young geologist and future Antarctic researcher Douglas Mawson , who found out that the ore, in addition to radium and uranium, also contained traces of ilmenite , rutile , magnetite , hematite , pyrite , chalcopyrite - grown in quartz , biotite , next chromium , vanadium and molybdenum contained.

Radium Hill Company share issued in 1913

Mawson named the ore davidite after the geologist and Antarctic explorer Sir Edgeworth David . The mine was originally called Smith's Carnotite Mine ( carnotite is a similar uranium-containing mineral), but in September 1906 Mawson proposed the name Radium Hill. Smith worked the mine for another two years before letting his mining rights expire. Adjacent claims ran for three miles along the corridor , with Smith only having half a stake in one. Later in 1908 the Radium Hill Company took over the rights and more shafts were dug.

The ore concentrate was shipped to New South Wales and Victoria for further processing . However, after the price of a gram of radium had risen to £ 13,000 in 1911, a processing plant for £ 15,000 was built by the Radium Hill Company near Hunter's Hill in New South Wales that same year . A total of 350 milligrams of radium bromide and 150 kilograms of uranium were produced.

The radium bromide was used in the emerging research in the fields of radiation and radioactivity , but some of the radium from Hunter's Hill was also sold to the pioneers of nuclear research Ernest Rutherford and Marie Curie .

The mine ceased operations in 1914 and the processing plant closed the following year.

The second phase began in 1923 when the Radium and Rare Earth Treatment Company NL resumed operations. In 1923, a new ore processing facility was also built in Dry Creek , near Adelaide, to produce radium bromide for medical purposes. However, this proved to be uneconomical in the following years and the operation of both facilities was discontinued in 1931.

It was only after the Second World War that ore mining in Radium Hill reached its peak. First, geological surveys were carried out by the Department of Mines in 1944, followed by test drilling from 1946 to 1947. In March 1952, the Commonwealth and the Government of South Australia signed a seven-year contract for the supply of uranium with the Combined Development Agency , a joint agency of the United States and Great Britain . As a result, part of the Maldorkey Station was annexed in 1954 and designated as a uranium mining reserve. The official opening of the mine took place on November 10th of the same year by the Governor General of Australia , Field Marshall Sir William Slim .

The government of South Australia operated the mine and expanded the infrastructure to ensure smooth operation. An 18 km long siding connecting the site with the main line to Broken Hill was built in 1954, as was an airfield and a small town where the miners and their families would live. In 1961, 867 people lived in the 145 houses.

The main shaft of the mine was 420 m deep with a 40 m high headframe. The ore was ground in a ball mill and enriched on the spot by deposition processes. The preprocessed uranium ore was then transported by rail to the purpose-built Port Pirie Uranium Treatment Complex , also operated by the government of South Australia.

The mine output was 970,000 tons of ore, grading 0.09-0.13% uranium. The enrichment produced 150,000 tons of yellow cake , which was then processed in Port Pirie by leaching with hot acid to a total of 860 tons of U 3 O 8 , with a market value of ₤ 15 million. After seven years, the contract with the Combined Development Agency was fulfilled and the Radium Hill plant was officially shut down on December 21, 1961.

Redevelopment

The renovation work on the facility was carried out in 1962 and 1981. The tailings were covered with 75,000 m³ of material from four excavation holes . The old mine shafts were also filled.

Repository for low level radioactive waste

In 1981 an area of ​​the mine site was designated as a repository for low-level radioactive waste. About 16 different loads of waste, including radioactively contaminated soil from Thebarton , Greater Adelaide area, were dumped at Radium Hill. The last delivery took place in 1998.

A 1979 New South Wales government study found cancer-related deaths among ex-Radium Hill workers four times more likely than the national average. According to this study, 59% of those who worked underground for more than two years died of cancer.

No other substances have been stored in Radium Hill since 1998. Today, responsibility for the site, including radioactive waste, lies with the Resources Division of Minerals and Energy .

Quote

“One ounce of it would be sufficient to drive or propel three of the largest battleships afloat for a period of two thousand years. ... it will mean that foreign nations will be obliged to seek from us the power wherewith to heat and light their cities, and find means of defense and open ... "

“An ounce would be enough to power three of the largest battleships over a period of 2,000 years ... that means that foreign nations will be forced to obtain from us the ability to heat and light their cities, but also to defend and attack "

- The Adelaide Register (on uranium), 1913.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Welcome . In: Radium Hill Historical Association . Archived from the original on June 12, 2009. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Radium Hill, SA . In: www.sea-us.org.au . Archived from the original on September 13, 2009. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
  3. ↑ a b c Australia’s Uranium and Nuclear Power Prospects . In: World Nuclear Association . April 2009. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
  4. ^ Radium Hill / Bonython Hill . In: Toro Energy Ltd . Archived from the original on April 30, 2009. Retrieved July 27, 2009.
  5. ↑ a b c Kevin R. Kakoschke: "A Clouded History" Radium Hill Australia's First Uranium Mine (PDF; 645 kB) In: History Trust of South Australia . August 10, 2005. Archived from the original on October 24, 2009. Retrieved on February 13, 2011.
  6. ↑ Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, V. 30 1906
  7. ↑ a b c General Purpose Standing Committee No. 5th Chair: Ian Cohen (MLC): The former uranium smelter site at Hunter's Hill (PDF; 504 kB) In: Parliament of New South Wales . September 2008. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
  8. ↑ Radium was discovered by Marie Curie in 1898 and she extracted the element's first pure metal in 1908.
  9. ^ Uranium deposits in Australia . In: Government of South Australia Primary Industries and Resources . March 13, 2009. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
  10. ^ Port Pirie Uranium Treatment Complex, SA . In: www.sea-us.org.au . Archived from the original on May 8, 1999. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
  11. ^ Radium Hill Mine . In: South Australia Department of Primary Industry and Resources . Retrieved February 13, 2011.
  12. ↑ M. Mcleary: Radium Hill Uranium Mine and Low level Radioactive Waste Repository Management Plan Phase 1 - Preliminary Investigation 2004 (PDF; 4.7 MB) In: South Australia Department of Primary Industry and Resources . 2004. Archived from the original on August 4, 2008. Retrieved on February 14, 2011.