uranium debate heats up..., page-22

Australia's position in the global uranium market


Australia is the second largest uranium producer in the world, with 22.3% (8,982 tonnes) of world mine supply in 2004. Canada is the largest producer with 28.8% (11,597 tonnes) of world mine supply. The next largest producers are Kazakhstan (9.2%), Niger (8.2%), Russia (8.0%) and Namibia (7.6%).

However, Australia has approximately 30% of the world's uranium resources. Other countries with large resources include Kazakhstan (17%), Canada (12%) and South Africa (8%).


Despite its large resource base, most of Australia's total uranium resources are held within only six deposits:

Olympic Dam in the Gawler Craton region of South Australia, the world's largest uranium deposit;
Ranger, Jabiluka and Koongarra in the Alligator Rivers region of the Northern Territory; and
Kintyre in the Rudall Province and Yeelirrie in the Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia.

Virtually all of Australia's significant uranium deposits were discovered between 1969 and 1980 during a period of high exploration expenditure for uranium by major companies with large budgets and using advanced exploration techniques and equipment.

This was followed by a long period of relative inactivity and low exploration expenditure for uranium-only mineralisation from 1982 onwards, during which only one deposit (Kintyre in Western Australia) was discovered. Australia increased its resource base since 1982 only because of the ongoing delineation of resources at the known deposits.

As a result, much of Australia, including the Gawler and Curnamona Cratons where Toro Energy will be initially focussed, has not been extensively explored for uranium-only mineralisation for over 20 years. The map on the following page highlights the main known uranium deposits and areas of prospectivity in Australia as well as current and former producing mines.