The Beverley Mine is
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
's third
uranium mine
Uranium mining is the process of extraction of uranium ore from the ground. Over 50 thousand tons of uranium were produced in 2019. Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia were the top three uranium producers, respectively, and together account f ...
and Australia's first operating
in-situ recovery mine. It is located in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
in the gazetted locality of
Wooltana about 35 km from
Lake Frome
Lake Frome / Munda is a large endorheic lake in the Australian state of South Australia to the east of the Northern Flinders Ranges. It is a large, shallow, unvegetated salt pan, long and wide, lying mostly below sea level and having a total s ...
at the northern end of the
Flinders Ranges
The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna.
The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhabi ...
.
It officially opened in 2001.
The original Beverley uranium deposit was discovered by one of Bill Siller's companies in 1969 and was named after his wife—Beverley Siller.
The mine is owned and operated by Adelaide-based company
Heathgate Resources Pty Ltd. Heathgate Resources is a wholly owned subsidiary of
General Atomics
General Atomics is an American energy and defense corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, specializing in research and technology development. This includes physics research in support of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion energy. The ...
.
Beverley is a
palaeochannel
A palaeochannel, also spelt paleochannel and also known as palaeovalley or palaeoriver, is a geological term describing a remnant of an inactive river or stream channel that has been filled or buried by younger sediment. The sediments that the ...
uranium deposit. The uranium mineralisation (mainly
coffinite
Coffinite is a uranium-bearing silicate mineral with formula: U(SiO4)1−x(OH)4x.
It occurs as black incrustations, dark to pale-brown in thin section. It has a grayish-black streak. It has a brittle to conchoidal fracture. The hardness of coffini ...
) is hosted by loose sands in the channel of a former river. The ore bearing horizon is now at a depth of about 100 to 150m. The deposit is estimated to contain 21,000 tonnes of
uranium oxide
Uranium oxide is an oxide of the element uranium.
The metal uranium forms several oxides:
* Uranium dioxide or uranium(IV) oxide (UO2, the mineral uraninite or pitchblende)
* Diuranium pentoxide or uranium(V) oxide (U2O5)
* Uranium trioxide or u ...
for a mine life of 15 to 30 years.
Uranium is extracted by in-situ leaching, involving the injection of a fluid containing sulphuric acid and hydrogen peroxide into the ore-bearing permeable horizon to mobilise the uranium. The fluid is then recovered and uranium is extracted at a central plant using
ion-exchange
Ion exchange is a reversible interchange of one kind of ion present in an insoluble solid with another of like charge present in a solution surrounding the solid with the reaction being used especially for softening or making water demineralised, ...
. The final concentrate is trucked to
Port Adelaide
Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...
and then shipped to international customers.
In August 2008, Federal approval was given to
Heathgate for a greater area to be accessed for mining in order for the pre-approved volume of material to be extracted from the mine.
Between 1998 and 2007, Heathgate reported 57 spill incidents to
Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia (PIRSA).
[Beverley Uranium Mine Spill Incident summary as reported by Heathgate Resources 1998-2003](_blank)
, pir.sa.gov.au[Beverley Uranium Mine Spill Incident summary as reported by Heathgate Resources 2004-2007](_blank)
, pir.sa.gov.au
Protesters awarded in Supreme Court
The project was protested against by the
Australian anti-nuclear movement. A protest which occurred in May 2000 became the subject of public controversy and a protracted legal battle. The case was decided in the Supreme Court in 2010, after the
Government of South Australia
The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government, SA Government or more formally, His Majesty’s Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of South Australia. It is modelled o ...
refused to settle on the matter. Ultimately, ten protesters were found to have been subjected to unnecessary force, including the use of
baton
Baton may refer to:
Stick-like objects
*Baton, a type of club
*Baton (law enforcement)
*Baston (weapon), a type of baton used in Arnis and Filipino Martial Arts
*Baton charge, a coordinated tactic for dispersing crowds of people
*Baton (conductin ...
s and
capsicum spray and nine adults were locked in a
shipping container
A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes. In the context of ...
. Among the detainees was a cameraman, who claimed he was detained in the container for three hours. Multiple charges of assault and false imprisonment were laid against the
South Australian Police
South Australia Police (SAPOL) is the police force of the Australian state of South Australia. SAPOL is an independent statutory agency of the Government of South Australia directed by the Commissioner of Police, who reports to the Minister for ...
, and $724,550 was awarded to the plaintiffs by Supreme Court Justice Timothy Anderson in April 2010. The judge also criticised Treasurer
Kevin Foley and Police Minister
Michael Wright Michael Wright may refer to:
Sportspeople
*Michael Wright (Australian footballer) (born 1959), former VFL footballer for South Melbourne
*Michael Wright (basketball) (1980–2015), murdered American–Turkish basketball player
* Michael Wright (cyc ...
for making antagonistic comments about the case, including Foley referring to the plaintiffs as "a bunch of feral protesters." The judge also referred to the protesters' false imprisonment as "degrading" and a breach of human rights. One of the plaintiffs, Lucinda White told ''
The Advertiser'' after the trial:
"People have a right not to be bashed, beaten and falsely imprisoned by police. We have a right to protest. I am absolutely stunned this sort of thing can happen in South Australia.”
Four Mile and Beverley North
In 2005, the
Four Mile uranium deposit was discovered a few kilometres north-west of Beverley. The deposit is owned by Quasar Resources, (a 100% subsidiary of Heathgate), and Alliance Resources. Development of the deposit was approved in 2009. It is planned to do the final uranium extraction and concentrate production for Four Mile at the Beverley Plant.
The mine borders on the protected
Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary that has previously been subjected to uranium mining. Following unprecedented public pressure, the South Australian government announced on 22 July 2011 that steps would be taken to ban mining and exploration in Arkaroola.
In 2009, additional deposits were discovered at Beverley North. Approval was granted to mine at Beverley North in 2011.
[Marsland-Smith, Dr A]
"Heathgate Resources update"
''Slideshare.net'' 2013-11-26.
See also
*
List of uranium mines
Uranium production is carried out in about 13 countries around the world, in 2017 producing a cumulative total of 59,462 tonnes of uranium (tU). The international producers were Kazakhstan (39%), Canada (22%), Australia (10%), Namibia (7.1%), Nig ...
*
Sandstone uranium deposits
*
Uranium mining in Australia
Radioactive ores were first extracted in South Australia at Radium Hill in 1906 and Mount Painter in 1911. 2,000 tons of ore were treated to recover radium for medical use. Several hundred kilograms of uranium were also produced for use in ce ...
References
{{reflist
External links
Primary Industries and Resources South Australia - Beverley
Solution mines in Australia
Mining in South Australia
Far North (South Australia)
Uranium mines in South Australia