Australia’s Ranger uranium mine ceases production
Energy Resources of Australia (ASX: ERA) in the country’s Northern Territory after 40 years of operations.
The company will now move to the rehabilitation phase of the area, which is expected to cost about A$808 million ($620m) and must be completed by January 2026.
ERA raised $476 million early last year to fund the process, with major shareholder Rio Tinto increasing its stake from 68.4% to 86.3% as part of an underwriting agreement.
Era operated the Ranger mine since 1980, producing about 132,000 tonnes of uranium oxide
The Ranger uranium orebody, , was discovered in late 1969 by geologists who were investigating radiometric anomalies detected by air surveys. Drilling over the next two years defined several orebodies and a proposal to mine the area was drafted.
Open cut mining started at Ranger in 1980, with the mine reaching full production of uranium oxide a year later. The mine led to the construction of the town of Jabiru in 1982, originally a closed community for mine employees.
A total of three pits were developed by 2012. During that time, there was talk of developing an underground resource discovered in 2009. After a prefeasibility study into the Ranger 3 Deeps resource and opposition from traditional land owners, ERA’s board chose not to proceed.
Both the operation and the mining town of Jabiru are surrounded by a World-Heritage-listed National Park — Kakadu. This makes ERA’s rehabilitation work and future monitoring of the project area an issue of federal significance.
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