Yeelirrie uranium deposit

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The Yeelirrie uranium deposit is a near-surface uranium deposit in Australia . It is located approximately 70 km southwest of Wiluna and 420 km north of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in the state of Western Australia .

The name Yeelirrie comes from a sheep breeding station, is borrowed from the language of the local Aborigines and means place of death .

Occurrence

Location map of the mining area

The deposit was discovered in 1972 and explored by 6,000 holes by 1980 . It covers an area of ​​9 km² with a width of 1 km. The depth is on average 15 m to a maximum of 25 m. It is an average seven meter thick layer of conglomerate with an average overburden of five and a half meters. The deposit is of the sandstone type , its uranium content is 0.14 to 0.15%. The total content of the deposit is estimated at 44,000 t of uranium oxide (measured as uranium (V, VI) oxide U 3 O 8 ); Vanadium is a by-product .

history

When uranium mining was due to begin in March 1979, the unions Transport Workers Union of Australia , Australian Railways Union , Seamen Union and Waterside Workers Federation protested and declared that they would not transport uranium ore. The mining was stopped in 1983, decided when the ruling Labor Party, allow only three mines ( Three mine policy , translated three mines policy ). Yeelirrie was not one of those mines. Then the investors withdrew from the project and it was discontinued; falling uranium prices due to dwindling demand also played a role. Further disputes about the project arose in 1985 when 4,000 tons of uranium oxide were to be extracted. The first investigations of the project came to the conclusion that 27,000 t of radioactive waste would be produced and that the personnel should only be protected from radon gas .

WMC was acquired by BHP Billiton in 2005.

By 2008, the Western Australian provincial government had imposed a uranium mining ban, which was lifted by the Liberal Party after the Labor Party was defeated. The Anti-Nuclear Alliance of Western Australia protested against this political decision . The local Aborigines criticized the government and demanded guarantees for their land and the animals living there.

Planned dismantling

The Yeeliree project has been driven by BHP Billiton since 2008 and is one of three uranium mining projects in Western Australia and is scheduled to begin production in 2014. The other projects are on Lake Maitland , which will begin production in 2012, and Lake Way , which will mine uranium in 2013.

The Yeelirrie deposit is the second largest uranium deposit in Australia, according to BHP Billiton. When the government of the Australian state of Western Australia allowed uranium mining from 2008, BHP Billiton undertook further investigations from November 2008 and intends to start mining from 2014. A processing plant with a capacity of 80 tons of yellow cake per week is to be built to process the uranium ore . While an annual production of 2,000 tons of U 3 O 8 was initially planned, in February 2010 BHP Billiton applied for an extension of the production license to 3,500 tons per year, as mining below this amount would be uneconomical.

The mined uranium is to be transported by rail through South Australia to the Northern Territory .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Another Classic Case of WMC Mismanagement and Environmental Contamination ( Memento of November 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Website of the Sustainable Energy & Anti-Uranium Service, accessed on February 17, 2011.
  2. ↑ a b Official site of the Yeelirrie Project Overview: Yeelirrie Project. June 2009 at www.bhpbilliton.com . Retrieved February 10, 2011.
  3. ^ A b Another Classic Case of WMC Mismanagement and Environmental Contamination ( Memento of November 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved February 10, 2011.
  4. ↑ Yeelirrie uranium deposit in Western Australia ( Memento June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Parliament of Australia - Department of Parliamentary Services, November 24, 2009, accessed February 17, 2011.
  5. ↑ a b Yeelirrie Project Overview BHP Billiton website from June 2009, accessed on February 17, 2011.
  6. ↑ MINEDEX website , accessed on February 17, 2011.
  7. ↑ Toro gets WA nod for uranium project adelaidenow.com.au, January 7, 2010, accessed April 28, 2011.
  8. ^ Mining Projects website of the Anti-Nuclear Alliance of Western Australia, accessed on February 17, 2011
  9. ↑ BHP under fire over uranium plans at AGM : ABC Rural of November 17, 2011, accessed February 17, 2011.
  10. ↑ perthnow.com.au BHP bosses grilled at AGM in Perth on November 16, 2010, accessed April 28, 2011.
  11. ↑ perthnow.com.au Great science debates of the next decade: Spotlight on uranium, February 1, 2010, accessed April 28, 2011.
  12. ^ Toro gets approval for uranium project The Sydney Morning Herald, January 7, 2010, accessed April 28, 2011.
  13. ↑ Australia's Uranium Deposits and Potential Mines at www.world-nuclear.org . Retrieved February 11, 2011.