Manyingee

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

This deposit is located in the north-west of Western Australia in the shire of Ashburton, on the Minderoo station 75 km south of Onslow. The deposit has formed in an ancient paleo drainage channel close to the Ashburton River.

Paladin intends to commence the EIS process sometime in 2000/2001

History
Discovered in 1974, the deposit is located in an old dry bed of the Ashburton River.

Triako Resources (10%) together with Total Mining Australia (82%) and UG of West Germany (8%) carried out trial mining after its EPA assessment in 1983 had to be re-submitted to the licensing authority. Less than 500kg of uranium oxide was extracted during this trial period and stored on-site.

In the late 1980s, together with Total Mining Australia and Urangesellschaft, Elf Aquitaine Triako Mines (as a JV) opened up a trial uranium mine. The companies used in situ leaching techniques, with an alkali solution consisting of hydrogen peroxide, sodium bicarbonate and hypochlorite. Although claimed to be simply a test (since no mining licence had been granted) the experiment lasted 169 days, involving total injection into the orebody of 40.5 million litres of leaching solution.

This solution was injected into the ground through five bores drilled 75 meters deep in a circular pattern some 50 meters in radius, these surrounded a central extraction bore. The test site was located in the northern of the three ore bodies located at approximately latitude 22.24.45 and longitude 115.11.00

Environmental and pro-Aboriginal organisations were asking by 1986 where the one and a half tonnes of uranium produced at Manyingee had been sent (probably Ranger) and where the groundwater monitoring records were to be found (if indeed they were kept at all).

Enquiries at that time revealed nothing, except a wall of hostility by the companies (Total told one inquirer, when asked if the company had commenced Stage Two of its operations "that is none of your business") and bland assurances from the government.

Anti-uranium activists who visited the mine at this time were able to photograph containers on site, and reported large piles of waste with virtually no protection for the public and wildlife.

Technical problems with the pilot plant forced Total to abandon development of the site as a mine in December 1985.

According to investigators at Manyingee in 1986, assay workers for Minatome in 1980/81 had been issued with wire brushes and instructed to erase any Aboriginal paintings in the area. The site is the traditional Dreaming of the Talandji people of the Ashburton river, some of whom live in Onslow.

The deposit was previously owned 83.3% by Cogema Australia in joint venture with Urangesellschaft Australia Pty Ltd (7.7%) and Triako Resources Ltd (9.3%).

The Paladin Era
With Paladin's purchase of Manyingee in a series of staged payments starting in 1998, the Manyingee site took on new importance. Paladin considered this the most prospective of its uranium holdings, and undertook to have the mine up and running by 1999-2000. This has not happened owing to the great uncertainty in the nuclear industry worldwide, but Paladin is still insisting it will begin the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process some time in 2000-2001.

Paladin has not undertaken any further drilling of the site, but has concentrated on digitising and analysing data from the 400 drill holes left by the previous owners. In September 1999, Paladin upgraded the resource estimate to 12,078 tonnes U3O8 at an average grade of 0.08%. This is 53% higher than their earlier estimates.

Paladin are well behind on their estimation of how long it would take to bring the mine into production, but this proposal is still very much alive.

Manyingee Photo Gallery

Manyingee in Brief

THE REGION

THE LEASE AREA

Project Economics

Web Links

• Paladin Resources Reports
• 1999 Review of Operations
  
• SEA-US Page
  
• WISE Manyingee Notes

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