Thursday 27 October 2005
ABC NT Local News

The Ranger uranium mine operators say the rising price of uranium will allow them to keep processing lower grade ore for another three years.

The Ranger mine in the Northern Territory is due to close in 2008 and the processing facility was meant to shut down in 2011.

Changes in the world uranium price have led ERA to reduce the grade of ore they will process.

In the past, the economic cut-off grade for uranium oxide was 0.12 per cent, but ERA says ore with a grade of just 0.08 per cent is now worth processing.

That has increased reserves at the mine by more than 6,000 tonnes, or just over 10 per cent.

ERA managing director Harry Kenyon-Slaney says that will keep the processing plant open until 2014, and up to 200 Jabiru residents in a job.

"What it will do is extend the life of the operation by a few years," he said.

"It will mean royalty payments will continue, albeit at a reduced rate, to traditional owners and it will ensure employment for quite a number of people in the town."