Manyingee

The Manyingee uranium mining project in north west Western Australia, that is located about 85 kilometres inland from Onslow, is being developed by Paladin Energy. The project covers an area of 1,307 hectares under three mining leases. All the tenements are located on the Yanrey and Minderoo pastoral leases.

The Manyingee Uranium Project is Accessed Through Outback Tracks

The Manyingee uranium project is accessed along pastoral station tracks, 22 kilometres from the Barradale-Onslow Road ,or 39 kilometres from the Nanutarra Roadhouse on the North West Coastal Highway. The area can also be accessed by light aircraft as there has been a gravel airstrip constructed on the tenements. Two regional airports are located about 275 kilometres from the project site, one at Paraburdoo and the other at Karratha.

Paladin Energy also hold an exploration licence at Spinifex Well, about 25 kilometres north east of the Manyingee uranium site that covers an area of 89 square kilometres. The Tubridgi natural gas pipeline is situated just 500 metres east of the Manyingee tenements.

Manyingee Project to be Developed as an In-Situ Recovery Mining Operation

Paladin Energy is planning to develop the Manyingee project as an ISR (In-Situ Recovery) uranium mine over a four to five year period. The uranium deposit that is hosted in sandstone is regarded as being of a high grade as a result of the initial resource drilling and environmental baseline data that has been collected.

Manyingee to Have a Life of Mine of More Than 10 Years

When Paladin Energy receives governmental approval to do so, it will undertake a FLT (Field Leach Trial) along with more reserve drilling, The data obtained from this work will be used to piece together a Feasibility Study, which, if shown to be positive, will lead to wellfield and plant construction on the site. It is expected the project will be capable of producing from 15 to 20 million pounds of uranium oxide (yellowcake) over a minimum of 10 years. The Feasibility Study is planned to be finished within the next two or three years.

Uranium Discovered in the Manyingee Area in 1974

Uranium was found to exist in the northern section of the Carnarvon Basin, near Manyingee Hills, by Total Mining Australia (Afmeco Mining and Exploration) in 1974. This discovery was the result of a thorough regional study that began 12 months earlier. When a political change of government occurred in Western Australia in 2008, the previous restrictions that had been placed on uranium mining in the state were removed. Paladin Energy have taken advantage of this change of policy and in doing so started resource drilling of their own at Manyingee in August, 2012.

After the company completed heritage surveys and had their works program accepted, it set up two rotary mud drill rigs on the site and went about drilling up to 242 metres of PQ core and 96 holes for 9,036 metres of rotary mud. Paladin Energy also installed 35 water bores with first pump testing being undertaken in November, 2012. Strict monitoring of both chemical and physical properties are ongoing. These pump tests have shown permeabilities in the main mineralised aquifer that would support an ISR mining operation. Metallurgical tests carried out to date have indicated an alkaline leach solution of less than six bars of oxygen pressure (sufficient to match the depth of mineralisation below the water table) is capable of leaching between 65 percent and 90 percent of contained uranium.