Mary Kathleen remediation project
The Mary Kathleen uranium mine was commissioned in 1956. The first commercial shipment of concentrates was produced in 1963, when the contract for 4,082 tonnes of uranium oxide to the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority was fulfilled.
- View a glossary of mining terms used on this page.
The mine closed in 1963, only to reopen in 1974 when another 4,805 tonnes of uranium oxide was mined from the pit. The mine was considered 'mined out' after the second campaign which ceased in 1982. The site then entered rehabilitation.
The mine, processing plant, tailing storage facilities, evaporation ponds and the township were all decommissioned between 1982 and 1985 by the operator at a cost of $19 million. The mining leases were relinquished in late 1980s.
The site consists of an open cut pit, waste rock dumps, tailing storage facilities, evaporation ponds, remnants of the processing plant and township remnants.
Project snapshot
Region: North Queensland
Location: 60km east of Mount Isa, Latitude -20.730795, Longitude 140.004429
Commodity: Uranium
Mining type: Open cut
Date of abandonment: June 1990
Status: Remediation ongoing and re-commercialisation assessment
Native title interest: Kalkadoon People represented by Kalkadoon Native Tile Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC
Public land registers: Listed on the Environmental Management Register
Photo gallery
Key risks
Health and safety risks associated with:
- recreational access to the site due to naturally occurring and residual radioactivity
- open pit and waste rock stockpiles
- asbestos in building materials at the former township site.
Environmental risks associated with:
- accumulation of radioactive elements in vegetation
- ingestion of mineral precipitates (salts) and mine-affected water outside stock water guidelines by livestock
- poor-quality water associated with acid and metalliferous drainage from the pit and tailing storage facilities
- deterioration of tailing storage facilities cap and increased infiltration of rain
- groundwater contamination associated with acid and metalliferous drainage.
Completed works
- Review to understand environmental impact of site
- Care and maintenance of residual infrastructure
- Initiation of environmental monitoring survey
- Studies to determine resource development potential of rare earth elements in the mine tailings
- Assessment of seepage management options for the tailing storage facilities
Works to be investigated
- Tailing storage facilities seepage management
- Removal of building materials containing asbestos