Mary Kathleen, Queensland
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Mary Kathleen was a mining settlement in north-western
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. It is located in the Selwyn Range between
Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive mines in world history, based on co ...
and
Cloncurry Cloncurry is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. It is informally known by local people as The Curry. Cloncurry is the administrative centre of the Shire of Cloncurry. Cloncurry is known as the ''Friendl ...
.


History

Mary Kathleen was first settled during the 1860s.
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 ...
was first discovered at Mary Kathleen by Clem Walton and Norm McConachy in 1954: the deposit and the township was named after the late wife of McConachy. Prospecting and exploitation rights were subsequently on-sold, and in 1955 Rio Tinto Mining formed Mary Kathleen Uranium Ltd to develop a mine and service town. An architect-designed town grew during 1956-58, with reticulated water from a dam, Lake Corella. St Peter's Catholic Church was built in 1958. After the town closed, the church building was relocated to be a shelter shed at Saint Joseph’s Catholic School in
Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive mines in world history, based on co ...
.


Uranium mine

In 1954, a significant uranium deposit was discovered at the site (20.7470°S, 140.0123°E). A sales contract with the
United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of fusion energy. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). T ...
was signed in 1956. Mining commenced at the end of 1956 and the treatment plant was commissioned in June 1958. The project was developed by Mary Kathleen Uranium Limited (MKU) at a cost of A $24 million. MKU was formed to develop the uranium deposits and work was soon commenced constructing the township, mine, and dam on the nearby Corella River. The ore was mined by the open-cut method and processed on site. In the first phase of operation from 1958 to 1963 Mary Kathleen treated 2.9 million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 0.13% to yield 4082 t (4500 short tons or 9 million pounds weight of U3O8) of uranium concentrate (then actually yellowcake - ammonium diuranate) containing 3460 tonnes of uranium. By 1963 the major supply contract had been satisfied ahead of schedule, and large reserves of ore lay at grass. Consequently, the works were closed down. The mine then lay idle until 1974, when it was reopened. New supply contracts with Japanese, German and American power utilities prompted this re-opening, with Mary Kathleen's second life extended to 1982 when reserves were finally exhausted. The company made a share issue to raise capital, and the Commonwealth Government, through the Australian Atomic Energy Commission underwrote this, thereby obtaining a 42% holding in the company. Conzinc Riotinto of Australia Limited, a successor of Rio Tinto Mining, held 51%, and the public 7%. The second phase of production began in 1976 and the mine was finally closed down in 1982 after a further production of 4,802 tonnes of uranium oxide. A total of 31 million tonnes of ore were extracted from the mine until it was exhausted. Processing occurred on-site. Mary Kathleen's uranium deposits originated from contact
metasomatic Metasomatism (from the Greek μετά ''metá'' "change" and σῶμα ''sôma'' "body") is the chemical alteration of a rock by hydrothermal and other fluids. It is traditionally defined as metamorphism which involves a change in the chemical com ...
processes. This type of occurrence is uncommon, with Mary Kathleen being the only commercial example. The
uraninite Uraninite, also known as pitchblende, is a radioactive, uranium-rich mineral and ore with a chemical composition that is largely UO2 but because of oxidation typically contains variable proportions of U3O8. Radioactive decay of the uranium c ...
here was conglomerated with
garnet Garnets () are a group of silicate minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. Garnet minerals, while sharing similar physical and crystallographic properties, exhibit a wide range of chemical compositions, de ...
.


Town

The town, away from the mine, was built around a shallow valley with a post office, cinema, sports ovals, a school, banks and a community store. The state school was opened in July 1956; temporary hospital facilities and a community store in March 1957; and May 1957 saw the first water pumped from Lake Corella Dam. By 1961, approximately 1000 people lived at the new township. The
Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...
transmitted to Mary Kathleen via its relay station, ABMKQ, which was shut down when the town was abandoned in 1982. Mary Kathleen was very much a planned, "model" township, blending with its surrounding environment. Two years later, however, with contracts fulfilled, the mine and township temporarily closed. When the mine re-opened in mid-1974, the population at Mary Kathleen subsequently grew from 80 in August 1974 to 700 in August 1975 and peaked at approximately 1200 in 1981. During its "second life", existing private and community structures and services were revamped and augmented by new additions provided principally by Mary Kathleen Uranium Limited and the Cloncurry Shire Council.


Sport

The former town of Mary Kathleen has a unique feature in Australian sport history. The former Australian Rules club (Mary Kathleen) won three consecutive premierships from 1977 to 1979 in the Mount Isa
Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...
, and is one of the few clubs or towns for that matter to win Senior titles, and no longer be in existence as a club or any population in its locality.


Closure

With all contracts filled by late 1982, the township, mine and mill were dismantled and the tailings rehabilitated by the end of 1984. Mary Kathleen became the site of Australia's first major rehabilitation project of a uranium mine, which was completed at the end of 1985 at a cost of some A$19 million. In 1986, this work won an award from the Institution of
Engineers Australia Engineers Australia (EA), known formally as the Institution of Engineers, Australia, is an Australian professional body and Non-profit organization, not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to advance the science and practice of engineerin ...
for environmental excellence. The site became well known for fossicking and gem-stone collecting, and numerous relics are held in the Cloncurry/Mary Kathleen Memorial Park and Museum in Cloncurry. The site, now only roads and concrete pads, can be accessed, as an overnight camp, from the
Barkly Highway The Barkly Highway is a national highway in Queensland and the Northern Territory in Australia. It is the only sealed road between Queensland and the Northern Territory. The highway is named after the Barkly Tableland, which in turn was named b ...
at -20.780837,139.9734. The land has since been rehabilitated and is now suitable for grazing.


Tailings seepage

Since rehabilitation, it has been found that the tailings repository at the Mary Kathleen site has been subject to seepage of radioactive waters from both the toe of the dam and the surface at rates much higher than initially predicted.


See also

* List of ghost towns *
Uranium mining in Australia Radioactive ores were first extracted in South Australia at Radium Hill in 1906 and Mount Gee#History, Mount Painter in 1911. 2,000 tons of ore were treated to recover radium for medical use. Several hundred kilograms of uranium were also prod ...


References


External links


Mary Kathleen Deposit Summary Report

University of Queensland: Queensland Places: Mary Kathleen

7666 Mary Kathleen colour slides
State Library of Queensland State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...
{{coord, 20.777373, S, 139.980192, E, display=title, region:AU_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Mining towns in Queensland Ghost towns in Queensland North West Queensland Uranium mining in Queensland Mines in Queensland Populated places established in the 1860s 1860s establishments in Australia Populated places disestablished in 1982 Shire of Cloncurry