LAKE WAY | WESTERN AUSTRALIA

The Lake Way site is located in Western Australia, 17 km south east of Wiluna, and 600 km north of Kalgoorlie. It was discovered in 1972, and the deposit is situated on a channel on the northern edge of the Lake Way salt lake. The site is on the Millbillillie Station in the shire of Wiluna.

Lake Way was first put together as a proposed mine in 1978, headed by Wyoming Mineral Corporation (51%) and Delhi International Oil and Vam. In 1982, however, Wyoming Mineral Corp. sold it's share of the joint venture to it's Australian subsidiaries. Early in 1982, the Australian government gave permission for Delhi (with 53.5%) to develop a uranium mine at the Lake Way property together with Vam (46.5%).

The EPA assessed the project in 1981; prior to this in 1978, bulk samples were taken and were used for a wide range of process developments including a pilot plant project for uranium extraction.

In the early 1980s production commencement was planned for 1984, involving the processing of 1,500 - 2000t of ore daily. Markets of the day and political circumstances have caused the project to be stalled since 1982

The mine would be close to Wiluna townsite, where a large proportion of residents (out of 1500 people) are Aboriginal. The Environmental Impact Statement for the project has admitted that vegetables grown in the area may become radioactively contaminated, that citrus farms may be drained of water, and kangaroo and sheep meat become unfit for consumption.

In 1983-1984 furore arose in the media with the Daily News, Sunday Times and the West Australian carrying stories about the radioactive ore being left lying around the old minesite.

In October 1984 the WA health Department asked the then owner of the tenements CSR (CSR took the tenements over from Delhi) to fence or bury the uranium bearing ore littering the site. A partial cleanup was undertaken and the name of Lake Way slipped from the minds of most West Australians.

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