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%), Niger (5.8%), Russian Federation (4.9%), Uzbekistan (4.0%), China (3.2%), United States (1.6%), Ukraine (0.9%), India (0.7%), South Africa (0.5%) and Pakistan (0.1%). Since 2009 the
in-situ leach (ISL) mining operations in Kazakhstan have been producing the largest share of world uranium.
The largest conventional uranium mines are
Cigar Lake and
McArthur River
The McArthur River is a river in the Northern Territory of Australia which flows into the Gulf of Carpentaria at Port McArthur, opposite the Sir Edward Pellew Group of Islands. The river was named by Ludwig Leichhardt while he explored the a ...
(Canada); Ranger and Olympic Dam (Australia); Krasnokamensk (Russia) and Rossing (Namibia). The largest uranium producers are
Cameco,
Rio Tinto,
Areva
Areva S.A. was a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power, active between 2001 and 2018. It was headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through t ...
,
KazAtomProm and
ARMZ-TVEL.
The production methods employed are conventional underground and open cast (50%) and
in-situ leaching (50%). About 50 uranium production centers are operational.
[
]
Viable projects
Potentially viable projects
Non-viable projects
Prospective projects and decommissioned mines
See also
* List of countries by uranium reserves
* Uranium market
The uranium market, like all commodity markets, has a history of volatility, moving with the standard forces of supply and demand as well as geopolitical pressures. It has also evolved particularities of its own in response to the unique nature ...
* Uranium ore deposits
Uranium ore deposits are economically recoverable concentrations of uranium within Earth's crust. Uranium is one of the most common elements in Earth's crust, being 40 times more common than silver and 500 times more common than gold. It can be f ...
* Mining
Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...
* Uranium
Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...
* List of countries by uranium production
This contains lists of countries by uranium production. The first two lists are compiled by the World Nuclear Association, and measures uranium production by tonnes mined. The last list is compiled by TradeTech, a consulting company which specializ ...
* UraMin
Notes
References
Uranium 2007: Resources, Production and Demand
(Red Book) (2008) OECD-NEA and IAEA
External links
World Distribution of Uranium Deposits Database (UDEPO)-IAEA
World Nuclear Association > Public Information Service > country papers
Quellen radioaktiver Strahlung, weltweit - Google Maps
(deutsch)
{{Uranium mining
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