The Ranger mine's processing facilities.
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Uranium miner Energy Resources of Australia (ERA), which owns the Ranger mine in the Northern Territory, increased its uranium oxide production by 25% year-on-year to 489 t (1.08-million pounds) in the June quarter.
The Rio Tinto company’s second-quarter production, however, was 18% less than the first quarter’s production, owing to the impact of planned maintenance on the quantity of ore milled in the period under review.
All ore milled during the June quarter was taken from existing stockpiles, in line with a strategic review announced in May.
The company previously indicated that it had 10 383 t of uranium oxide stockpiled at Ranger at December 31, 2015.
ERA initiated a strategic review after it failed to gain approval for an extension of its Ranger authority. The current authority permitted mining and processing activities to continue until January 2021 and allowed access for rehabilitation activities until 2026.
Besides processing stockpiled ore, ERA would also continue with the rehabilitation of the project area, while preserving the option for the future development of the Ranger 3 Deeps mine through ongoing care and maintenance of the exploration decline and related infrastructure.
ERA suspended work on the feasibility study for the proposed Ranger 3 Deeps underground mine a year ago, owing to uncertain market conditions in the uranium sector.
The Ranger 3 Deeps project considered the development of an underground mine to recover uranium from the Ranger 3 Deeps mineral resource, with most of the mining expected to occur between 200 m and 500 m below surface.