Keynote Address Lessons Learned from the Start-up and Operation of the World's Newest and Largest ISL Uranium Mine

摘要

The Beverley uranium mine - now in production in the remote north of South Australia at 1000 tonnes per annum - was established to meet a projected, but little-recognised shortfall in primary supply of uranium for the nuclear industry in the early part of the 21st century. In the context of Australia's lack of bi-partisan support for uranium mining and the nuclear industry, a four to five year window of opportunity existed from 1996 to establish the mine. During this period, Beverley achieved a number of firsts including: the first ISL mine in Australia; the largest ISL mine in the world and the first to produce more than 500 tonnes of uranium in its first year; the first to be established under a new Native Title regime in South Australia; and the first to be established under a revised South Australian Mining Act. Beverley was brought into production against the background of: hostile opposition from anti-nuclear activists; a suspicious and at-times hostile media; a regulatory and political community that was unfamiliar with ISL mining; commercially unsophisticated Aboriginal groups; an inexperienced engineering industry; and the vagaries of development in a remote, semi-arid location with neither population nor infrastructure. The lessons that can be learned from Beverley showed that - like much in life - flexibility and timing are crucial.