Uranium
Uranium Mining
Uranium is found in small amounts in most rocks, and even in seawater. Uranium mines operate in many countries, but more than 85% of uranium is produced in six countries: Kazakhstan, Canada, Australia, Namibia, Niger, and Russia.
Historically, conventional mines (e.g. open pit or underground) were the main source of uranium. After mining, the ore is crushed in a mill, where water is added to produce a slurry of fine ore particles and other materials. The slurry is leached with sulfuric acid or an alkaline solution to dissolve the uranium, leaving the remaining rock and other minerals undissolved.
However, over half of the world’s uranium mines now use a method called in-situ leaching, where the mining is accomplished without any major ground disturbance. Water injected with oxygen (or an alkali, acid or other oxidizing solution) is circulated through the uranium ore, extracting the uranium. The uranium solution is then pumped to the surface.
The uranium solution from the mines is then separated, filtered and dried to produce uranium oxide concentrate, often referred to as ‘yellowcake’.
Global Uranium Resources
Uranium mining in Australia dates back to 1906, when radioactive ores were first extracted from Radium Hill in South Australia. Early uses of uranium ore was for the medical field before the mid 1950’s when ore was provided to the UK and USA for their nuclear weapons programs.
Presently, uranium is only mined in Australia for the use of electrical power generation and nuclear research. It is sold to selected countries that are signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and exported under guidelines stipulated by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Despite not using Nuclear Power Plants to generate electricity within Australia, we have the world’s largest reserves of Uranium totaling 28%.
Era of Scarcity
Uranium primary production (mining) has been consistently below global nuclear reactor demand since 1991. In 2024, production is expected to match only 89% of global reactor needs – once again missing market demand. This disparity between mined supply and fuel demand has been allowed to exist thanks to an overwhelming amount of secondary supply carried on from a production boom during the Cold War, as well as a short period of excess production post-Fukushima. Global dependence on secondary supply was most obvious throughout 1991 to 2013, where decommissioned weapons and tactical stockpiles supported as much as 50% of global demand. Over the past decade, utilities have continued to rely on secondary supply, albeit mostly in the form of commercial inventories as ex-weapons resources have slowly run dry. However, this plentiful supply environment may be changing.
Commercial inventories are set to fall below 7 million pounds or 3% of global supply and stay that low for the foreseeable future. With production slated to stay below global reactor requirements from now to 2030 and beyond, uranium markets may soon be entering a new era of scarcity
