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Uranium |
AIMR 2009 |
Uranium
Major uses for uranium are as fuel in nuclear power reactors for electricity generation, in the manufacture of radioisotopes for medical applications and in nuclear science research using neutron fluxes.
Electricity generation from nuclear power reactors is an internationally proven technology and, in many parts of the world, is competitive with fossil fuel electricity generation. At January 2009 there were 436 commercial nuclear power reactors operating in 30 countries, most of which are 'light water' type reactors. The total installed nuclear generating capacity was 372 000 MW (Megawatt). Nuclear reactors currently provide about 15% of the world's electricity - mainly base load electricity supply. A further 49 power reactors are under construction worldwide and a further 136 reactors are firmly planned (source: World Nuclear Association). The United States of America (USA) has the largest number of reactors with 104, followed by France with 59, Japan 55 and the United Kingdom 19. Developing countries such as China and India are planning major expansions of nuclear power capacity and could become significant importers of uranium.
The nuclear power industry has been developing and improving reactor technology for more than five decades. Generation II reactors are typified by the nuclear reactors currently operating for electricity generation in the USA and some other countries. During the past 20 years many of these reactors have received extensions of operating licences from 40 to 60 years. In addition there has been increased operating efficiencies and improved maintenance which has resulted in increased electricity generation over the two decades, despite little increase in installed capacity.
The next generation of nuclear power reactors (referred to as Generation III and III+) are currently being built or planned for many countries. These reactors use advanced technology and the first facility of this type has been in use in Japan since 1996.
Generation IV reactors are being designed, however none have been built and they are unlikely to be operational before 2020. In 2003 the Generation IV International Forum representing 10 countries selected six reactor technologies which will be the future of the nuclear power industry. Four of the six use fast neutron reactor technologies.
Natural uranium (mine production) contains about 0.7% U235 and 99.3% U238. Commercial light water reactors use only U235 to generate electricity because it undergoes natural fission. Generation IV reactors will also 'burn' the U238 to produce plutonium which will then be used to generate electricity. Generation IV reactors can utilise uranium about 60 times more efficiently than current commercial nuclear reactors. Generation IV reactors will use a 'blanket' of U238 around the core, where much of the plutonium is produced. The blanket can be reprocessed to recover plutonium which is used as fuel in the reactor.
The technology and design of Generation IV reactors are aimed at:
- using passive safety features which require no active controls or operational intervention to avoid accidents in the event of malfunction,
- being more resistant to diversion of materials for weapons proliferation, and more secure from terrorist attack,
- using the uranium fuel efficiently by using U238 and plutonium, as well as all the U235; and using spent fuel from current commercial reactors,
- greater fuel 'burn up',
- greatly reducing the amounts of high level waste compared with current reactors.
Current planning for high level radioactive waste (HLW) repositories in many countries considers the amount of waste from current commercial reactors used for electricity generation, i.e. the 'once through' fuel cycle. This will change when Generation IV reactors become commercially viable and advanced fuel processing is successful. Generation IV reactors will alter the nature and scale of HLW disposal by substantially reducing the volume of these wastes.
Uranium spot market prices fell from a peak of US$138 a pound (lb) for uranium oxide (U3O8) in July 2007 to US$53 per lb by the end of 2008.
Resources
Geoscience Australia prepares estimates of Australia's uranium (U) resources within categories defined by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency (the NEA/IAEA Scheme). The estimates in each category are for resources of recoverable uranium after losses due to mining and milling have been deducted (Tables 1 & 2).
Table 1. Australia's uranium resources at December 2008 (reported under corresponding categories of NEA/IAEA and Australian national schemes).
| National Scheme | NEA/IAEA Scheme | Tonnes U recoverable (December 2008) |
|---|---|---|
| Economic Demonstrated Resources (EDR) | Reasonably Assured Resources (RAR) recoverable at less than US$80/kilogram (kg) U | 1 163 000 |
| Paramarginal Demonstrated Resources | RAR recoverable at US$80-130/kg U | 13 000 |
| Submarginal Demonstrated Resources | RAR recoverable at US130-260/kg U | 3000 |
| Economic Inferred Resources | Inferred Resources recoverable at less than US$80/kg U | 449 000 |
| Paramarginal Inferred Resources | Inferred Resources recoverable at US$80-130/kg U | 48 000 |
| Submarginal Inferred Resources | Inferred Resources recoverable at US$130-260/kg U | 3000 |
Australia's EDR at December 2008 were estimated to be 1.163 million tonne U, which represented an increase of 18% over the estimates for December 2007 (983 000 tonne U). This was due mainly to a large increase in resource estimates for the Olympic Dam deposit in South Australia (SA). Resources also increased at Ranger deposit in the Northern Territory (NT) due to the initial resource estimates for Ranger 3 Deeps ore zone, and small increases in resources at Bigrlyi deposit (NT).
Australia had an additional 449 000 tonne U in Inferred Resources recoverable at costs of less than US$80/kg U which are the world's largest resources in this category. These inferred resources are mainly in the south eastern part of the Olympic Dam deposit. There was a significant decrease in Australia's Inferred Resources during the year because much of these resources at Olympic Dam were transferred to Measured and Indicated categories.
Approximately 90% of Australia's total uranium resources in EDR are within the following six deposits:
Olympic Dam, which is the world's largest uranium deposit
Ranger, Jabiluka, Koongarra in the Alligator Rivers region of the NT
Kintyre and Yeelirrie in Western Australia (WA).
Table 2. Uranium resources in States and the Northern Territory at December 2008.
| RAR recoverable at <US$80/kg U Tonnes U | Inferred Resources recoverable at <US$80/kg U Tonnes U | Total Resources Tonnes U | Percentage of Australia's Total Resources | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Australia | 893 453 | 347 140 | 1 240 593 | 77% |
| Northern Territory | 191 094 | 54 951 | 246 045 | 15% |
| Western Australia | 59 607 | 28 525 | 88 132 | 6% |
| Queensland | 19 132 | 18 815 | 37 947 | 2% |
| New South Wales | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| Victoria | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| Tasmania | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| Australia Total (rounded) | 1 163 000 | 449 000 | 1 613 000 | 100% |
Accessible EDR
Approximately 8% of uranium EDR is inaccessible for mining. During the year there was a marked increase in resources accessible to mining because the WA State Government lifted its ban on uranium mining and consequently all WA deposits are available for mining. All resources also are accessible in SA because State Government policies permit the development of new uranium mines. All uranium deposits in Queensland (Qld) remain inaccessible because the State Government's policy prohibits uranium mining. Applications for new mine developments in the Northern Territory are subject to approval by the Commonwealth Government Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism. Inaccessible resources in the Northern Territory include the Jabiluka deposit, where the traditional Aboriginal land owners have not granted approval to mine the deposit, and the Koongarra deposit where Aboriginal land owner approvals and environmental issues are yet to be resolved.
JORC Reserves
JORC reserves comprise total uranium resources in proven and probable reserves as defined in the JORC Code. In 2008, JORC reserves of 264 150 tonne U (recoverable) account for approximately 25% of accessible EDR.
World Ranking
Australia has the world's largest resources of uranium in RAR recoverable at <US$80/kg U (equates to EDR), with 38% of world resources in this category at December 2008. Other countries with large resources include Kazakhstan with 11%, Canada 11%, South Africa 7% and the Russian Federation 6%.
Olympic Dam is the world's largest uranium deposit. Based on ore reserves and mineral resources reported by BHPBilliton as at June 2008, Geoscience Australia estimated that the deposit contains approximately 30% of the world's total resources in RAR recoverable at <US$80/kg U.
Exploration
In 2008, uranium exploration expenditure increased to a record level of $220.5 million, which is 22% higher than the 2007 expenditure ($181.4 million). The majority of expenditure was in SA (42%), followed by the NT (26%), Qld (19%) and WA (13%). Uranium exploration expenditure in Australia has increased progressively since 2003, mainly because of the significant increases in spot market uranium prices, which reached a peak in July 2007 and subsequently declined during 2008.
BHPBilliton continued a major drilling program to explore for extensions of the Olympic Dam deposit to the south.
Exploration drilling continued at Four Mile deposit which is 8 kilometres (km) northwest of the Beverley uranium mine in SA. Drilling intersected extensions of both Four Mile East and Four Mile West deposits. The main mineralised zone is in a sequence of sediments ranging from coarse sand/gravel to silt, is between 200 and 210 metres (m) below the surface and ranges from 1 to 8m thick.
In the Mount Isa region, Paladin Energy (and joint venture partners) continued drilling at Valhalla, Skal, Andersons, Duke-Batman and Honey Pot uranium-vanadium deposits. Drilling intersected mineralisation within hematite feldspar breccias and albitites at these deposits and revised estimates of resources were reported.
Energy Metals Australia Ltd completed an exploration drilling campaign at the Mulga Rock deposit in WA and reported total Inferred Resources for the deposit of 15 810 tonne U3O8 (at cut off grade 0.05% U3O8).
Thundelarra Exploration Ltd intersected uranium mineralisation at Thunderball prospect, near Hayes Creek in the NT.
Haddington Resources Ltd intersected significant zones of uranium mineralisation at the Liberator prospect in the Mount Schoobridge area, 60km south-south-east of Rum Jungle (NT).
Uranium Equities intersected mineralisation in the N147 prospect southeast of Nabarkek in Arnhem Land, NT.
Production
Production for 2008 from Australia's three uranium mines were Ranger 5342 tonne U3O8, Olympic Dam 3943 tonne U3O8, and Beverley in situ recovery operations 659 tonne U3O8 for a total Australian production of 9944 tonne U308 (8432 tonne U), 2% less than for 2007. Australia, with 19.2% of world uranium production in 2008, is the world's third largest producer after Canada and Kazakhstan.
Exports
Exports in 2008 were 10 707 tonne U3O8 (9080 tonne U) valued at $737 million. Exports of Australian uranium are controlled by stringent safeguards conditions which ensure that it is used only for peaceful purposes and does not enhance, or contribute to, any military applications. These conditions are given effect through bilateral safeguards agreements between Australia and the importing country. In the case of non-nuclear-weapon countries, it is a minimum requirement that International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards apply to all existing and future nuclear activities in that country. In the case of countries with nuclear weapons, there must be a treaty-level assurance that Australian uranium will be used only for peaceful purposes and that it must be subject to that country's safeguards agreement with the IAEA.
Australian mining companies supply uranium under long-term contracts to electricity utilities in USA, Japan, China, South Korea and Canada as well as members of the European Union including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Belgium and Finland.
Industry Developments
Olympic Dam (SA): The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Olympic Dam Expansion was released for public comment in May 2009. This expansion is based on a large open pit to mine the south-eastern portion of the deposit. At full production, it is proposed that the open cut and underground operations will mine a total of 80 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of ore with annual production estimated to reach 750 000 tonne refined copper, 19 000 tonne U3O8, 800 000 ounces gold and 2.9 million ounces silver. Removal of overburden is scheduled to commence in 2010 and processing of ore from the open cut to commence in 2016. The capacity of the existing underground mine will be increased to approximately 20 Mtpa by 2015. It is planned that the smelting operation will produce 350 000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of refined copper. An additional 1.6 Mtpa of copper concentrates containing significant levels of uranium will be exported for further processing overseas.
BHPBilliton's estimates of ore reserves and mineral resources are shown in Table 3.
Table 3. Olympic Dam Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves at June 2008.
| Million tonnes | Copper % | U3O8 kg/tonne | Gold grams/tonne | Silver grams/tonne | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total resources(1) Measured + Indicated + Inferred | 8339 | 0.88 | 0.28 | 0.31 | 1.50 |
| Total reserves | 473 | 1.86 | 0.60 | 0.76 | 3.95 |
1. Mineral Resources includes Ore Reserves
Source: BHPBilliton Annual report 2008
Ranger mine (NT): Construction of a plant to treat stockpiled lateritic ores was completed in 2008 which will increase production of U3O8 by 400tpa.
A new radiometric ore sorting plant was commissioned and will upgrade 350 000 tpa of low grade ore. Total production from all existing low grade stockpiled ores is expected to be 1100 tonne U3O8.
ERA Ltd proposes to construct a heap leach facility for the extraction of up to 20 000 tonne U3O8 contained in low grade mineralisation, both in situ and in stockpiles.
Exploration drilling in the Ranger 3 Deeps area during 2007 and 2008 has defined a zone of high grade mineralisation over a strike length of 1.2km immediately east of the operating pit. Construction of an underground decline to enable underground exploration is proposed to commence in 2010. The company considers it likely that the mineralisation would be mined by an underground mine.
Total reserves plus mineral resources for Ranger showed a marked increase from 100 240 tonne U3O8 at December 2007 to 159 300 tonne U3O8 at December 2008 mainly as a result of the initial resource estimates for Ranger 3 Deeps.
ERA Ltd reported that the first shipments of uranium to China were made during the year.
Beverley (SA): Heathgate Resources operates the Beverley in situ recovery (ISR) mine located on the arid plains between the North Flinders Ranges and Lake Frome, approximately 300km north east of Port Augusta, SA. During recent years, exploration has identified new zones of uranium mineralisation extending to the east of the Beverley mining lease and additional mineralisation in an area to the south. In August 2008, the Minister for the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts approved the expansion of the Beverley mineral lease following the outcomes of an environmental impact assessment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Mining commenced in these areas in early 2009.
Four Mile (SA): ISR mining will be used at the Four Mile deposit. An ion exchange plant will be built at Four Mile and the resin will be trucked to the Beverley plant for recovery of uranium. The environmental impacts of the project were assessed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act and a Public Environment Report was released in January 2009. Geoscience Australia provided technical advice to Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and Arts as part of the assessment process. The Commonwealth Environment Minister approved the project in July 2009. Production is scheduled to commence at Four Mile East deposit in 2010.
Honeymoon uranium project (SA): Construction of an ISR mine and processing plant commenced during 2008 and production is planned to commence in 2010 at 400 tpa of U3O8. The Japanese trading company Mitsui purchased a 45% share of the project from Uranium One Australia Pty Ltd in October.
Oban project (SA): During 2008, exploration drilling outlined a new zone of uranium mineralisation to the west of Oban deposit 65km north of Honeymoon mine which extended over an area of more than 60 000 square metres within sands of the Eyre Formation. In early 2009, Curnamona Energy received South Australian Government approval for a field leach trial and construction of the plant commenced.
Yeelirrie project (WA): BHP Billiton is undertaking drilling at Yeelirrie to upgrade the resource estimate and has commenced a feasibility study for development of the deposit. Yeelirrie currently has total resources of 52 500 tonnes U3O8 with an average grade of 0.15% U3O8. The company applied to the Australian Government to commence an EIS process for the proposed mine development.
Crocker Well deposit (SA): PepinNini Minerals and Sinosteel joint venture have commenced an environmental impact assessment process to obtain government approval for development of the Crocker Well deposit.
MegaUranium submitted aan application to WA State government to develop Lake Maitland project WA.
Other Developments
The new Liberal-National government in WA lifted the ban on uranium mining in the state after its election in September 2008.
New legislation to establish a uranium royalty regime in the NT was introduced in the Australian Parliament in December 2008 and is expected to come into effect in the second half of 2009.
Geoscience Australia is preparing a National In Situ Recovery Uranium Mining Best Practice Guide, under a Steering Group chaired by Commonwealth Department of Resources Energy and Tourism, to assist the Government to meet its commitments on best practice uranium mining.