Beverley

The owner of the Beverley and Beverley North uranium mines in South Australia is a United States Company, Heathgate Resources Pty Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of General Atomics. Heathgate Resources was formed in 1990 and began producing uranium at the Beverley Mine in the second half of 2000. It has since become one of the largest ISR mines in the world.

Beverley Mine is the First in Australia to use the ISR Method of Mining

The Beverley uranium mine, that is located 550 kilometres north of Adelaide in the Frome River Basin, is the first mine in Australia to use the ISR method of mining. This is a method whereby the uranium is extracted from the ore body by means of passing a chemical solution containing hydrogen peroxide and sulphuric acid through it that dissolves the uranium. The solution is then pumped back to the surface and the dissolved uranium extracted from it by use of ion exchange technology. By mining uranium in this manner mine workers exposure to radio activity is limited, as they are never in contact with the actual ore body holding the uranium. The uranium concentrate that results is trucked to the port at Adelaide for export to the company's overseas customers.

The ISR method of mining is regarded as being the world's leading technology and is in accordance with the tight environmental and safety standards practised at the Beverley Mine that sells the uranium it mines to power station operators for the purposes of generating clean energy. The Beverley Mine is meeting the growing demand for electricity produced with low carbon emission such as that delivered by nuclear power plants, the only way of producing base load power of sufficient quantity other than that of coal, which is a heavy carbon pollutant.

Uranium Mined at the Beverley Mine is Strictly Controlled

Uranium mined in Australia is strictly controlled and can-not be used in the production of nuclear weapons of any description, therefore, all uranium mined in the country is only sold to countries that have agreements with the Australian government to only use the product for peaceful purposes. Uranium sales are also subjected to rigorous international auditing and supervision. Uranium currently accounts for 14 percent worldwide power generation and 24 percent of power generation in developed countries

Uranium at Beverley Discovered in 1969

The Beverley uranium mine is situated in the South Australian desert, an area noted for its low rainfall and little vegetation. The uranium ore body was discovered in 1969 and contains 21,000 tonnes of uranium oxide ore grading at 0.18 percent giving it a mine life of between 15 and 30 years. The deposit is half a kilometre wide and four kilometres long and exists in permeable sediments in the saline and aquifers 250 metres below the surface. The aquifer sediment is sitting above a 70 to 80 metres thick impermeable mudstone and below a cover of clay. The mineralisation is mainly made up of coffinite hosted in loose sand formed in an ancient river bed.

The Beverley uranium mine creates both direct employment and employment of many contractors. Workers at the mine work to a roster having been flown in and flown out when rostered on or off to and from either Port Augusta or Adelaide. While rostered on duty they are housed at a modern workers village.