Uranium mining in Australia Uranium mining in Australia Radioactive ores were first extracted at Radium Hill in 1906, and Mount Painter in South Australia in the 1930s, to recover radium for medical use. Several hundred kilograms of uranium were also produced. Of the world's proven estimated uranium reserves (5,404,000 tonnes), 31% are held in Australia (1,673,000 tonnes), ahead of the second largest, Kazakhstan (12.1% or 651,800 tonnes). In terms of production, Canada is the largest supplier to export markets, followed by Kazakhstan and Australia. Uranium mined in Australia is mainly for export. Australia exported 50,235 tonnes of uranium oxide concentrate in the five years
Uraninite Uraninite Uraninite, formerly pitchblende, is a radioactive, uranium-rich mineral and ore with a chemical composition that is largely UO, but due to oxidation the mineral typically contains variable proportions of UO. Additionally, due to radioactive decay, the ore also contains oxides of lead and trace amounts of helium. It may also contain thorium and rare earth elements. Uraninite used to be known as pitchblende (from "pitch", because of its black color, and "blende", a term (otherwise meaning "shade" or "screen") used by German miners to denote minerals whose density suggested metal content, but whose exploitation, at the time they were