Lake Maitland is a dry

salt lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per litre). ...

located approximately south east of Wiluna, in the

Mid West The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Mining project

The Lake Maitland project was being pursued by

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

company Mega Uranium. Mega teamed up with Australian company Toro Energy Pty Ltd in 2013, Toro Energy have an active proposal to mine uranium at Lake Way - incorporate two uranium deposits - Lake Way and Centipede. Toro Energy submitted a referral to the WA and Federal Government in 2014 to include the Lake Maitland and Millipede deposits to the existing proposal to mine Lake Way and Centipede. The proposal is to now to mine 4 deposits across 2 lake systems. It is one of four advanced uranium mining projects, the others being the

Lake Way uranium project Lake Way is a dry saline lake located in the Mid West region of Western Australia, approximately south of Wiluna. It also gives its name to a nearby cattle station, the Lake Way Station. Description The lake, dry except during exceptional ...

Yeelirrie uranium project The Yeelirrie uranium project is a uranium deposit located approximately 70 km southwest of Wiluna, in the Mid West region of Western Australia. The name Yeelirrie is taken from the local sheep station. There are proposals to mine other u ...

, and

Kintyre uranium deposit The Kintyre uranium project is located 60 km south of the Telfer gold mine and 260 km northeast of Newman at the western edge of the Great Sandy Desert in the East Pilbara region of Western Australia. History Uranium was discovered in ...

Uranium mining project

The U₃O₈ Lake Maitland project, pursued by Mega Uranium, and the 680 tonnes U₃O₈ Centipede–Lake Way project undertaken by Toro Energy, located at

Lake Way Lake Way is a dry saline lake located in the Mid West region of Western Australia, approximately south of Wiluna. It also gives its name to a nearby cattle station, the Lake Way Station. Description The lake, dry except during exceptional ...

. The uranium mining projects in Western Australia have attracted opposition from organisations like the Anti-Nuclear Alliance of Western Australia, which have attempted to put a hold on them before they reach active mining stage.Mining Projects
Anti-Nuclear Alliance of Western Australia website, accessed: 15 February 2011 The Lake Maitland uranium deposit was first discovered in 1972 by Asarco Australia.Lake Maitland
Mega Uranium website, accessed: 15 February 2011 The deposit saw limited exploration efforts in the 1980s, but progress was halted because of a dispute between the joint owners at the time, but also saw frequent changes in ownership.
The Sustainable Energy & Anti-Uranium Service website, accessed: 15 February 2011 After some more drilling in 2005 by Redport Ltd, the company was taken over by Mega Uranium in December 2006, who continued drilling and exploration efforts in 2007-08. The future mine, while remote, benefits from existing infrastructure in the region from other mines. It is located approximately 30 km north of the

Bronzewing Gold Mine The Bronzewing Gold Mine is a gold mine located approximately 83 km north-east of Leinster, Western Australia. The mine, owned by Navigator Resources Limited, has been in care and maintenance since March 2013, after its owner went into adm ...

. A 35 percent stake in the mine is held by

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese consortium Japan Australia Uranium Resources Development Co (JAURD). JAURD is jointly owned by

Kansai Electric Power , also known as , is an electric utility with its operational area of Kansai region, Japan (including the Keihanshin megalopolis). The Kansai region is Japan's second-largest industrial area, and in normal times, its most nuclear-reliant. Befo ...

Kyushu Electric Power (, OSE: 9508, ) is a Japanese energy company that provides power to 7 prefectures (Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Ōita, Saga, Miyazaki, Kumamoto, Kagoshima), and recently, to some parts of Hiroshima Prefecture. Its shortened name of is sometimes used ...

and

Shikoku Electric Power The is the electric provider for the 4 prefectures of the Shikoku island in Japan with few exceptions. Their image character is . On April 12, 1991 the company instituted Akari-chan as their image character and at the same time introduced th ...

, who, between them, operate nuclear power plants.Japan's nuclear sector takes uranium stake
''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', published: 2 March 2009, accessed: 15 February 2011 The mine, expected to have a mine live of ten years, is scheduled to produce 1.65 million pounds of uranium oxide a year.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Names Search Results - Lake Maitland

Geoscience Australia Geoscience Australia is an agency of the Australian Government. It carries out geoscientific research. The agency is the government's technical adviser on all aspects of geoscience, and custodian of the geographic and geological data and knowl ...

website
MINEDEX website
Database of the

Department of Mines and Petroleum The Department of Mines and Petroleum was a department of the Government of Western Australia until it was superseded by the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety on 1 July 2017.

Mega Uranium website

Lake Maitland project website
Maitland, Lake Uranium mining in Western Australia Maitland, Lake

Mining project

Uranium mining project

See also

References

External links