Ranger uranium mine
| Ranger uranium mine | |||
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| General information about the mine | |||
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| Mining technology | Open pit | ||
| Information about the mining company | |||
| Operating company | Energy Resources of Australia | ||
| Start of operation | 1980 | ||
| Funded raw materials | |||
| Degradation of | Uranium ore | ||
| Geographical location | |||
| Coordinates | 12 ° 41 ′ 0 ″ S , 132 ° 55 ′ 0 ″ E | ||
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| Location | Kakadu National Park | ||
| territory | Northern Territory | ||
| Country | Australia | ||
The Ranger Uranium Mine is one since 1981 existing uranium - mining in the north of Australia in the Northern Territory . The mine is operated by Energy Resources of Australia (ERA), which is owned by the Rio Tinto Group .
history
The area was sacred to the Aborigines . It was a burial place that one was not allowed to enter. One of the first Europeans to cross this area in 1845 was the German researcher Ludwig Leichhardt . At that time, however, the deposit was still unknown; Later, the search for uranium began in the sacred area and was found here in 1969.
The Aborigines claimed the area and got it back under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act in 1976 , which also gave them a portion of the mine’s revenue. After the publication of two investigations in October 1976 and May 1977, the Ranger Uranium Environmental Inquiry , ore mining was permitted. Work on the mine began in 1979, and on August 13, 1981, the first uranium oxide was produced. Approximately 20 million tons of ore were mined from May 1980 to December 1994.
In 1991 Pancontinental sold the plant to ERA. In autumn 2006, ERA announced an extension of Ranger's term until 2020.
Dismantling
In 2005, the Ranger uranium mine produced 5910 t of triurane octoxide . The Ranger Mine produced 12% of the world's uranium requirements in 2003 alone. The ore extracted has a concentration of 0.24% uranium. The uranium mining takes place over days , which has a heavy impact on the environment. Overburden with only a little uranium is stored above ground and covered with a layer of soil that is always kept moist. Radioactively contaminated water is stored in large sludge basins in order to separate water and radioactive residues by means of evaporation.
Environmental pollution and disasters
The mine is located in Kakadu National Park . Due to the associated environmental regulations, the annual flood in the area cannot be controlled, and radioactively contaminated water from the sludge basins repeatedly finds its way into the environment. As a result, the rivers in the area and the surrounding area are radioactively contaminated. The last major disaster occurred in 1988 under the leadership of Pancontinental. At that time, almost 450,000 tons of radioactive waste rock was improperly stored, and over a period of six months unwanted radioactive material leaked out.
More uranium mines
The “sister mine” Jabiluka mine is only 20 kilometers away , but it never went into operation. Other former uranium mines in the Northern Territory were the Nabarlek , Rum Jungle and South Alligator mine.
In addition to the Ranger mine, there were two other active uranium mines in Australia in 2005: Olympic Dam and Beverley in South Australia .
See also
swell
- ↑ world-nuclear.org: Australia's uranium mines
- ↑ a b anawa.org.au: Ranger's Environmental Breaches to 1995. ( Memento from July 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Environmental damage caused by the Ranger uranium mine
Web links
- "Radioactive Racism" - The Australian uranium industry in conflict with the Aborigines Report by Deutsche Welle , March 23, 2007.
- Timeline from Energy Resources of Australia Ltd (ERA) to the Ranger uranium mine (PDF; 74 kB)
- THE SUSTAINABLE ENERGY and ANTI-URANIUM SERVICE INC.
- Ranger uranium mine. ( Memento from September 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Map of the mine
- The Ranger Uranium Mine. ( Memento from September 26, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Environmental malfunctions