Everything about Uranium Mining totally explained
Uranium mining is the process of extraction of
uranium ore from the ground. As uranium ore is mostly present at relatively low concentrations, most uranium mining is very volume-intensive, and thus tends to be undertaken as
open-pit mining. It is also undertaken in only a small number of countries of the world, as the resource is relatively rarely found.
The worldwide production of uranium in 2003 amounted to 41,429
tonnes, of which 25% was mined in
Canada. Other important uranium mining countries are
Australia,
Russia,
Niger,
Namibia,
Kazakhstan,
Uzbekistan,
South Africa, and the
USA.
A prominent use of uranium from mining is as fuel for
nuclear power plants. Known uranium ore resources which can be mined at about current costs are estimated to be sufficient to produce fuel for about 85 years, based on the 2004 nuclear electricity generation rate.
History
The first deliberate mining of
radioactive ores took place in
Jáchymov (also known by its German name,
Joachimsthal), a silver-mining city in what is now the
Czech Republic.
Marie Curie used
pitchblende ore from Jáchymov to isolate the element
radium, a
decay product of uranium; her death was from
aplastic anemia, almost certainly due to exposure to
radioactivity. Until
World War II uranium mining was done primarily for the radium content. Sources for
radium (contained in uranium ore) were sought for use as
luminous paint for watch dials and other instruments, as well as for health-related applications (some of which in retrospect were incredibly unhealthy). The byproduct uranium was used mostly as a yellow pigment.
In the United States, the first radium/uranium ore was discovered in
gold mines near
Central City, Colorado. However, most American uranium ore before
World War II came from
vanadium deposits on the
Colorado Plateau of
Utah and
Colorado.
Because of the need for the element for bomb research during
World War II, the
Manhattan Project contracted with numerous vanadium mining companies in the American Southwest, and also purchased uranium ore from the
Belgian Congo, through the
Union Minière du Haut Katanga, and in
Canada from the
Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited company, which had large stocks of uranium as waste from its radium refining activities. American uranium ores mined in Colorado were mixed ores of vanadium and uranium, but because of wartime secrecy the Manhattan Project would only publicly admit to purchasing the vanadium, and didn't pay the uranium miners for the uranium content. (In a much later lawsuit, many miners were able to reclaim lost profits from the U.S. government.) American ores had much lower uranium concentrations than the ore from the Belgian Congo, but they were pursued vigorously to ensure nuclear self-sufficiency.
Similar efforts were undertaken in the
Soviet Union, which didn't have native stocks of uranium when it started developing its own atomic weapons program.
In the 20th century the United States was the world's largest uranium producer. Grants Uranium District in New Mexico was the largest United States uranium producer. The Gas Hills Uranium District, was the second largest uranium producer. The famous Lucky Mc Mine is located in the Gas Hills near Riverton, Wyoming. Canada has since surpassed the United States as the cumulative largest producer in the world.
By territory
Oceania
Australia
Australia has the world's largest uranium reserves - 24 percent of the planet's known reserves. The majority of these reserves are located in South Australia with other important deposits in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Almost all the uranium is exported under strict
International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards to satisfy the Australian people and government that none of the uranium is used in
nuclear weapons. Australian uranium is used strictly for electricity production; however, some argue this still frees other uranium to be used in weapons.
The
Olympic Dam operation run by
BHP Billiton in
South Australia is combined with mining of
copper,
gold, and
silver, and has reserves of global significance. There are currently three operating uranium mines in Australia, and several more have been proposed. The expansion of uranium mining in Australia is supported by the Federal Australian Labor Party (ALP) Government headed by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. The ALP abandoned its long-standing and controversial "no new uranium mines" policy in April 2007. One of the more controversial proposals was
Jabiluka, to be built inside the
World Heritage listed
Kakadu National Park. The existing
Ranger Uranium Mine is surrounded by the National Park as the mine area wasn't included in the original listing of the Park.
Uranium mining and export and related nuclear issues have often been the subject of public debate, and the
anti-nuclear movement in Australia has a long history.
Americas
Canada
Canada is the largest exporter of uranium ore, with the largest mines located in
Athabasca Basin in northern
Saskatchewan.
Canada's first uranium discovery was in the
Alona Bay area, south of
Lake Superior Provincial Park in Ontario, by Dr. John Le Conte in 1847. But the Canadian uranium industry really began with the 1932 discovery of
pitchblende at
Port Radium, Northwest Territories. The deposit was mined from 1933 to 1940, for
radium,
silver,
copper, and
cobalt. The mine shut down in 1940, but was reopened in 1942 by
Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited to supply uranium to the
Manhattan Project. The Canadian government expropriated the Port Radium mine and banned private claimstaking and mining of radioactive minerals.
In 1947 the government lifted the ban on private uranium mining, and the industry boomed through the 1950s, spurred by high prices due to the nuclear weapons programs. Production peaked in 1959, when 23 mines in five different districts made uranium Canada’s number-one export. That same year, however,
Great Britain and the
United States announced their intention to halt uranium purchases in 1963. By 1963, seven mines were left operating, a number that shrunk to only three in 1972.
A price rise caused uranium to boom again in 1975.
Ontario
In 1948, prospector Robert Campbell discovered
pitchblende at
Theano Point, in the area of Alona Bay, Ontario, and staked 30 claims. By November 1948 a rush had begun, and in the next three years, 5,000 claims would be staked in the area. A shaft and headframe were constructed, but abandoned before operations could begin; the mine proved unprofitable after uranium discoveries at
Elliot Lake, Ontario.
The uranium-bearing
pegmatite of
Bancroft, Ontario began mining in 1952.
Uranium was discovered at
Blind River-
Elliot Lake area in 1949, and production began in 1955. The deposits are in
Precambrian quartz-pebble
conglomerates, similar to uranium deposits in
Brazil and
South Africa.
Saskatchewan
Pitchblende veins were discovered near
Beaverlodge, Saskatchewan in 1935, and uranium mining started in 1953.
Today the
Athabasca Basin in northern
Saskatchewan hosts the largest high-grade uranium mines and deposits.
Cameco, the world’s largest low-cost uranium producer, which accounts for 18% of the world’s uranium production, operates three mines and one dedicated mill in the region. Among the major mines are Cameco's flagship
McArthur River mine, the developing
Cigar Lake mine, the
Rabbit Lake mine and mill complex, and the world's largest uranium mill at
Key Lake. French-owned uranium syndicate
Areva also operates the McClean Lake mill. Most of these mines are joint ventures between Cameco, Areva, and various other joint venture shareholders. Future mines currently in early development stages include Areva's Midwest Project (near McClean Lake), and Cameco's Millennium Project (near Key Lake).
As of 2007, with uranium spot market prices well over the $100 USD/lb mark, Saskatchewan has become a hotbed of uranium exploration, with many junior exploration companies rushing to explore the highly valuable Athabasca basin.
United States
Most uranium ore in the
United States comes from deposits in
sandstone, which tend to be of lower grade than those of
Australia and
Canada. Because of the lower grade, many uranium deposits in the
United States became uneconomic when the price of uranium declined sharply in the 1980s.
Regular production of uranium-bearing ore in the United States began in 1898 with the mining of
carnotite-bearing sandstones of the
Colorado Plateau in
Colorado and
Utah, for their
vanadium content. The discovery of
radium by
Marie Curie, also in 1898, soon made the ore also valuable for radium. Uranium was a by-product. By 1913, the
Colorado Plateau uranium-vanadium province was supplying about half the world supply of radium. Production declined sharply after 1923, when low-cost competition from radium from the
Belgian Congo and
vanadium from
Peru made the
Colorado Plateau ores uneconomic.
Mining revived in the 1930s with higher prices for vanadium. American uranium ores were in very high demand by the
Manhattan Project during
World War II, although the mining companies didn't know that the by-product uranium was suddenly valuable. The late 1940s and early 1950s saw a boom in uranium mining in the western US, spurred by the fortunes made by prospectors such as
Charlie Steen.
Uranium mining declined with the last
open pit mine shutting down in 1992 (Shirley Basin, Wyoming. United States production occurred in the following states (in descending order): New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Texas, Arizona, Florida, Washington, and South Dakota. The collapse of uranium prices caused all conventional mining to cease by 1992.
In-situ leach mining has continued primarily in Wyoming and adjacent Nebraska as well has recently restarted in Texas. Rising uranium prices since 2003 have increased interest in uranium mining in the United States.
Europe
Czech Republic
Uranium mining took place at
Jáchymov from 1948 to 1964 as well as other places, like
Horní Slavkov and
Příbram, later becoming infamously known as parts of the "Czech Gulag".
Today, the
Rožná underground facility is Europe’s only operating uranium mine, continuously operating since 1957.
Since 2007, the Australian company
Uran Ltd. is interested to participate in the operations at Rožná, as well as seeking permits with the Czech Ministry of Trade and Resources to open mines in Czechia at other known locations, like
Brzkov,
Jamné,
Polná and
Věžnice, through its Czech partner Timex Zdice and since 2008 through its subsidiary Urania Mining.
England
The South Terras Mine in Cornwall was mined for uranium from 1873 to 1903.
Germany
Uranium was mined from 1947 to 1990 from mines in Saxony. One of the former uranium producers is the Königstein mine, presently being flooded by Wismut GmbH, which plans to recover an estimated 2 million pounds (770 tonnes) [[triuraniumoctoxide|]] from the mine water.
Hungary
In
Hungary uranium mining began in the 1950s around
Pécs to supply the country's first atomic plant in
Paks. After the fall of communism, uranium mining was gradually given up because of the high production costs. That caused serious economic problems and a rise of unemployment in Pécs.
Russia
The former Uranium Institute now the World Nuclear Association states that Russia has known uranium deposits of 500,000 tonnes and plans to mine 11,000 to 12,000 tonnes per year from deposits in the South Urals, Western Siberia, and Siberia east of Lake Baikal, by 2010.
Scotland
Substantial uranium deposits were found on
Orkney in the 1970s, When
Margaret Thatcher proposed a uranium mine on Orkney a campaign followed which successfully argued that uranium mining would mean irreversible environmental, social and psychological damage.
Sweden
In
Sweden developmental uranium mining of oil shale deposits took place at Ranstadsverket between 1965 and 1969. The goal was to make Sweden self-supplying with uranium. The high operating costs of the pilot plant (heap leaching) due to the low concentration of uranium in the shale and the, at that time, availability of comparatively cheap uranium on the world market, caused the mine to be closed, although a much cheaper and more efficient leaching process, using sulfur-consuming bacteria, had by then been developed. Since 2005 there have been investigations on opening new uranium mines in Sweden.
Africa
Namibia
Namibia produces uranium at
Rossing deposit, where an
igneous deposit is mined from one of the world’s largest
open pit mines. The mine is owned by a subsidiary of the
Rio Tinto Group. The Langer Heinrich calcrete uranium deposit was discovered in 1973 and the open pit mine was officially opened in 2007.
Niger
Niger is Africa’s leading uranium-producing nation. Uranium is produced from mines at
Arlit owned by
Areva NC.
Niger's uranium came to world attention before the US invasion of Iraq, when it was asserted that Iraq had attempted to buy uranium from Niger (see
Niger uranium forgeries).
South Africa
South Africa produces uranium from deposits in
Precambrian quartz-pebble
conglomerates of the
Witwatersrand Basin, at
Brakpan and
Krugersdorp, Gauteng.
India
In
Nalgonda District, the
Rajiv Gandhi Tiger Reserve (the only
tiger project in
Andhra Pradesh) has been forced to surrender over 1,000 sq. kilometres to uranium mining following a directive from the
Central Ministry of Environment and Forests.
Exploration
Uranium prospecting is little different than other forms of mineral exploration with the exception of some specialized instruments for detecting the presence of radioactive isotopes.
The
Geiger counter was the original radiation detector, recording the total count rate from all energy levels of radiation. Ionization chambers and Geiger counters were first adapted for field use in the 1930s. The first transportable Geiger–Müller counter (weighing 25 kg) was constructed at the
University of British Columbia in 1932. H.V. Ellsworth of the GSC built a lighter weight, more practical unit in 1934. Subsequent models were the principal instruments used for uranium prospecting for many years, until geiger counters were replaced by
scintillation counters.
The use of
airborne detectors to prospect for radioactive minerals was first proposed by G.C. Ridland, a geophysicist working at
Port Radium in 1943. In 1947, the earliest recorded trial of airborne
radiation detectors (ionization chambers and Geiger counters) was conducted by
Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited. (a Canadian Crown Corporation since sold to become
Cameco Corporation). The first patent for a portable
gamma-ray spectrometer was filed by Professors Pringle, Roulston & Brownell of the
University of Manitoba in 1949, the same year as they tested the first portable
scintillation counter on the ground and in the air in northern
Saskatchewan.
Airborne gamma-ray spectrometry is now the accepted leading technique for uranium prospecting with worldwide applications for geological mapping, mineral exploration & environmental monitoring.
A deposit of uranium, discovered by geophysical techniques, is evaluated and sampled to determine the amounts of uranium materials that are extractable at specified costs from the deposit. Uranium reserves are the amounts of ore that are estimated to be recoverable at stated costs.
Types of uranium deposits
Many different types of uranium deposits have been discovered and mined.
Uranium deposits in sedimentary rock
Uranium deposits in sedimentary rocks include those in sandstone (in Canada and the
western US),
Precambrian unconformities (in Canada), Some anti-nuclear proponents claim this statistic is exaggerated. Although research and development for recovery of this low-concentration element by inorganic adsorbents such as
titanium oxide compounds, has occurred since the 1960s in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan, this research was halted due to low recovery efficiency.
At the Takasaki Radiation Chemistry Research Establishment of the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI Takasaki Research Establishment), research and development has continued culminating in the production of adsorbent by irradiation of polymer fiber. Adsorbents have been synthesized that have a functional group (
amidoxime group) that selectively adsorbs heavy metals, and the performance of such adsorbents has been improved. Uranium adsorption capacity of the
polymer fiber adsorbent is high, approximately tenfold greater in comparison to the conventional titanium oxide adsorbent.
One method of extracting uranium from seawater is using a uranium-specific nonwoven fabric as an absorbent. The total amount of uranium recovered from three collection boxes containing 350 kg of fabric was >1 kg of yellowcake after 240 days of submersion in the ocean. According to the OECD, uranium may be extracted from seawater using this method for about $300/kg-U. The experiment by Seko
et al. was repeated by Tamada et al in 2006. They found that the cost varied from ¥15,000 to ¥88,000 (Yen) depending on assumptions and "The lowest cost attainable now is ¥25,000 with 4g-U/kg-adsorbent used in the sea area of Okinawa, with 18 repetitionuses [sic]." With the May, 2008 exchange rate, this was about $240/kg-U.
Rise, stagnation, renaissance and opposition to uranium mining
In the beginning of the
Cold War, to ensure adequate supplies of uranium for national defense, the United States Congress passed the
U.S. Atomic Energy Act of 1946, creating the
Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) which had the power to withdraw prospective uranium mining land from public purchase, and also to manipulate the price of uranium to meet national needs. By setting a high price for uranium ore, the AEC created a uranium "boom" in the early 1950s, which attracted many prospectors to the
four corners region of the country.
Moab, Utah became known as the Uranium-capital of the world, when geologist
Charles Steen discovered such an ore in 1952, even though American ore sources were considerably less potent than those in the Belgian Congo or
South Africa.
At the height of the
nuclear energy in the 1950s methods for extracting diluted uranium and
thorium, found in abundance in
granite or
seawater, were pursued. Scientists promised that, used in a
breeder reactor, these materials would potentially provide limitless source of energy.
American military requirements declined in the 1960s, and the government completed its uranium procurement program by the end of 1970. Simultaneously, a new market emerged: commercial nuclear power plants. However, in the U.S. this market virtually collapsed by the end of the 1970s as a result of industrial strains caused by the
energy crisis, popular opposition, and finally the
Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979, all of which led to a
de facto moratorium on the development of new nuclear reactor power stations.
In
Europe a mixed situation exists. Considerable nuclear power capacities have been developed, notably in
Belgium,
France,
Germany,
Spain,
Sweden,
Switzerland and the
UK. In many countries development of
nuclear power has been stopped and phase out by legal actions. In
Italy the use of nuclear power was barred by a
referendum in 1987, however this now under revision.
Ireland also has no plans to change its non-nuclear stance and pursue nuclear power in the future.
Since 1981 uranium prices and quantities in the US are reported by the
Department of Energy.
The import price dropped from 32.90 US$/lb-U
3O
8 in 1981 down to 12.55 in 1990 and to below 10 US$/lb-U
3O
8 in the year 2000. Prices paid for uranium during the 1970s were higher, 43 US$/lb-U
3O
8 is reported as the selling price for
Australian uranium in 1978 by the
Nuclear Information Centre
.
Uranium prices reached an all-time low in 2001, costing US$7/lb, but has since rebounded strongly and in the last few months extremely so. In April 2007 the price of Uranium on the spot market rose to US$113.00/lb. This is very close to the all time high (adjusted for inflation) in 1977. The higher price has spurred expansion of current mines, construction of new mines and reopening of old mines as well as new prospecting.
Health risks of uranium mining
Because uranium ore emits
radon gas, uranium mining can be more dangerous than other underground mining, unless adequate ventilation systems are installed. During the 1950s, many
Navajos in the U.S. became uranium miners, as many uranium deposits were discovered on Navajo
reservations. A statistically significant subset of these early miners later developed
small cell carcinoma after exposure to uranium ore.
Radon-222, a natural
decay product of uranium, has been shown to be the cancer-causing agent. Some American survivors and their descendants received compensation under the
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in 1990.
In January 2008
Areva was nominated for an Anti Oscar Award. The French state-owned company mines uranium in northern Niger where mine workers are not informed about health risks, and analysis shows radioactive contamination of air, water and soil.The local organization that represents the mine workers, spoke of “suspicious deaths among the workers, caused by radioactive dust and contaminated groundwater.”
Further Information
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