Uranium miner explores Ranger heap leaching
ABC NT Local News
Australia's largest uranium producer is working on completing the red tape needed for it to start heap leaching at the Ranger mine in Kakadu National Park.
Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) says it has been given guidelines by the Northern Territory Government to conduct an assessment of a heap leach facility.
ERA is spending $37 million on a feasibility study into the facility, which would see the extraction of uranium through acid filtration.
ERA spokesman David Paterson says a draft environmental impact statement should be finished early next year.
"There is a significant amount of low-grade uranium ore sitting at the surface and we are keen to treat that," Mr Paterson said.
"The application of this technology provides us a way of extracting that material. We believe it will produce over an eight-year period."
Meanwhile, ERA says an unstable pit caused a slight drop in production in the September quarter.
It recorded an 11 per cent increase in uranium production compared to the same time last year, but a decrease on its June quarterly results.
"We detected some instability in one of the pit walls, and so from a safety perspective we stopped production briefly," Mr Paterson said.
"We now have a plan to stabilise that area and that will take place as part of our normal operations over the rest of the year."
Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) says it has been given guidelines by the Northern Territory Government to conduct an assessment of a heap leach facility.
ERA is spending $37 million on a feasibility study into the facility, which would see the extraction of uranium through acid filtration.
ERA spokesman David Paterson says a draft environmental impact statement should be finished early next year.
"There is a significant amount of low-grade uranium ore sitting at the surface and we are keen to treat that," Mr Paterson said.
"The application of this technology provides us a way of extracting that material. We believe it will produce over an eight-year period."
Meanwhile, ERA says an unstable pit caused a slight drop in production in the September quarter.
It recorded an 11 per cent increase in uranium production compared to the same time last year, but a decrease on its June quarterly results.
"We detected some instability in one of the pit walls, and so from a safety perspective we stopped production briefly," Mr Paterson said.
"We now have a plan to stabilise that area and that will take place as part of our normal operations over the rest of the year."