Overview

Mine Type	Open Pit
Status	Closing / Closed
Commodities	Uranium
Mining Method	Truck & Shovel / Loader
Production Start	...
Snapshot	Ranger mine operated as a uranium mine for 40 years before closing in 2021. In 2023, a reforecast for the Ranger Uranium mine, operated by Energy Resources of Australia, led to an increase in the closure provision of US$850 million. The increase is primarily due to closures taking longer due to overestimation of the time required to achieve pit 3 consolidation, combined with a shift to a lower-risk approach that adversely affects the achievement of the final landform and the amount of water to be treated. When operations were suspended in late 2020, recovery was expected to be completed by 2026; final completion is now expected to be pushed back to 2034, subject to approval. Most of the increase in the reserve is related to rehabilitation measures after 2027 and is subject to further study, which may result in significant changes to the reserve. These activities remain the subject of a number of studies and are also potentially sensitive to external events such as precipitation.

Deposit type

• Sedimentary

Summary:

The Ranger No. 1 and No. 3 orebodies contain about 124,000 tonnes U3O8 in highly chloritized metasediments of the lower Proterozoic Cahill Formation within about 500 m of the projected sub-Kombolgie Formation unconformity. In both orebodies, oxidized and reduced uranium minerals occur chiefly in quartzose schists that have highly variable amounts of muscovite, sericite, and chlorite.

Below the oxidized zone, uranium occurs chiefly as uraninite and pitchblende disseminated through thick sections of quartz-chlorite-muscovite schist and has no apparent association with graphite or sulfides. In fact, graphite is rare and sulfides are generally low in abundance (<0.5 percent). Higher ore grades occur in disrupted zones a few centimeters thick and in some quartz chlorite vein-like zones of uncertain origin. Uranium correlates strongly with chlorite, but not all of the many ages of chlorite have associated uranium. At least five textural varieties of chlorite are present and represent at least 3 ages. Preliminary microprobe analyses suggest that Mg-Fe-Al contents are relatively uniform. Apatite commonly occurs with chlorite. Uranium is not common in carbonate rocks and seems to occur only in disrupted zones that have chlorite alteration.

The structure of the orebodies is outwardly simple, particularly in No. 3; dips are less than 40° on most lithologic contacts. The No. 1 orebody is in a basin-like structure about 400 m wide that probably formed in part by progressive removal of carbonate rocks that are as much as 200 m thick adjacent to the No. 1 orebody and below the No. 3 orebody. Quartz-chlorite breccias have formed in the zone of carbonate thinning; uranium is spotty and low grade in these breccias. Chloritized and uraniferous broken and sheared zones, a few centimeters to a few meters thick, have an unknown attitude but must have small displacement. Blocks of altered Kombolgie sandstone are downfaulted into the No. 3 orebody and locally contain reduced uranium minerals. One or more shear zones 5-30 m thick.

Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Processing

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Production

Operational metrics

Metrics	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015
Tonnes milled	....	2.5 Mt of ore	2.5 Mt of ore	2.6 Mt of ore	2.7 Mt of ore	2.5 Mt of ore

Personnel

Job Title	Name	Profile	Ref. Date
.......................	.......................		May 26, 2024
.......................	.......................		May 26, 2024

Total Workforce	Year
......	2020
......	2018
......	2017
......	2016