The next two years could be make or break for Energy Resources of Australia as it invests hundreds of millions of dollars into its uranium mine.

At the Ranger tenement near Jabiru, the company has begun construction on an underground exploration tunnel, as well as the building of a massive brine concentrator to treat contaminated water.

General manager of operations Dan Janey showed Carl Curtain around the mine site, beginning with how the uranium ore is processed.

He says rehabilitation on the open-cut mine will be begin in 2013, as the last ore from the site is processed.

"What you can see is various stockpiles with the majority of what you're looking at out here classified as waste rock.

"We will begin hauling that back into Pit 3 early next year.

"With the exploration decline being installed, the other big project is the brine concentrator and we will be investing $220 million into that technology.

"It will be up and running around the fourth quarter of next year and it will treat around 1.8 gigalitres per year of processed water."