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From uranium ore to fuel element: the front-end of the nuclear fuel cycle
Published in Peter R. Mounfield, World Nuclear Power, 2017
Uranium mineralization was first discovered in Australia at Carcoar in New South Wales in 1894, in South Australia at Radium Hill in 1904 and at Mount Painter in 1910. However, Australia’s first uranium mine, the Mary Kathleen mine in Queensland, was not opened until October 1958 (it was closed in 1982). Since 1970 very large deposits have been discovered, increasing resources in the lowest cost range to 463,000 tonnes, and there is always a strong probability that this figure will increase. The recent Olympic Dam find at Roxby Downs in South Australia, a copper–gold–uranium–silver association, is thought to harbour twice as much uranium as any other known find in the world. There are eight other significant discoveries so far unmined and in 1988, despite the plentiful reserves, only one mine, Ranger in the Northern Territory, was in production. The Narbarlek ore was all extracted in 1979 ready for subsequent milling (Figure 7.4).
Nuclear Fuel Resources
Published in Kenneth D. Kok, Nuclear Engineering Handbook, 2016
The Olympic Dam deposit is one of the world’s largest deposits of uranium, accounting for about 66% of Australia’s reserves plus resources and is categorized as a breccia complex deposit. It is overlain by approximately 300 m of flat-lying sedimentary rocks, and the deposit contains iron, copper, uranium, gold, silver, and rare earth elements. Only copper, uranium, gold, and silver have been recovered. Uranium grades average from 0.08% to 0.04% U3O8, the higher-grade mineralization being pitchblende. Copper grades average 2.7% for proved reserves, 2.0% for probable reserves, and 1.1% for indicated resources. Gold grades are 0.3–1.0 g/t.
Tectonothermal events in the Olympic IOCG Province constrained by apatite and REE-phosphate geochronology
Published in Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2018
A. R. Cherry, V. S. Kamenetsky, J. McPhie, J. M. Thompson, K. Ehrig, S. Meffre, M. B. Kamenetsky, S. Krneta
The Olympic Cu–Au Province (also known as the Olympic IOCG Province) in the Gawler Craton of South Australia is a metallogenic province that contains significant iron oxide–copper–gold (IOCG) deposits, including the Olympic Dam Cu–U–Au–Ag, Prominent Hill and Carrapateena deposits (Belperio, Flint, & Freeman, 2007; Ehrig, McPhie, & Kamenetsky, 2012; Fairclough, 2005; Skirrow, Bastrakov, Davidson, Raymond, & Heithersay, 2002). Numerous subeconomic iron oxide-rich prospects also occur in the province (e.g. Acropolis, Wirrda Well, Titan; Bastrakov, Skirrow, & Didson, 2007). The majority of these deposits and prospects contain an early magnetite-dominated assemblage and a later hematite-dominated assemblage (Bastrakov et al., 2007; Ehrig et al., 2012; Hayward & Skirrow, 2010; Oreskes & Einaudi, 1992). The Cu–Au–U mineralisation in the IOCG deposits in the Olympic Cu–Au Province is more strongly associated with the hematite assemblage than the magnetite assemblage (Bastrakov et al., 2007; Ehrig et al., 2012). The temporal evolution of a number of deposits and prospects in the Olympic Cu–Au Province have been suggested to have occurred over a geologically brief time frame with both the magnetite and hematite assemblages formed between 1590 and 1570 Ma (Apukhtina et al., 2017; Ciobanu, Wade, Cook, Mumm, & Giles, 2013; Courtney-Davies et al., 2016; Johnson & Cross, 1995; Mortimer et al., 1988; Reid et al., 2013; Skirrow et al., 2007). However, younger ages have also been reported from many of these deposits and prospects, including Olympic Dam (Davidson, Paterson, Meffre, & Berry, 2007; Ehrig, 2016; Kamenetsky et al., 2015; Maas et al., 2011; McInnes, Keays, Lambert, Hellstrom, & Allwood, 2008; Meffre et al., 2010; Trueman, 1986). The intense brecciation and hematite assemblage in the Olympic Dam deposit has obliterated much of the magnetite assemblage (Ehrig et al., 2012). In comparison, the nearby Acropolis prospect is much more structurally simple, and a lesser proportion of the magnetite assemblage has been replaced by the hematite assemblage; this offers an opportunity to understand the temporal evolution of the hydrothermal assemblage at Acropolis and compare with the other deposits and prospects in the Olympic Cu–Au Province.