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
Uranium metallurgy to any appreciable extent that is fissile, that is, fissionable by thermal neutrons. The isotope U is also important because it absorbs neutrons to produce a radioactive isotope that subsequently decays to the isotope 239Pu (plutonium), which also is fissile. Uranium in its natural state comprises just 0.71% U and 99.3% U, and the main focus of uranium metallurgy is the enrichment of uranium through isotope separation. Uranium metallurgy In materials science and materials engineering, uranium metallurgy is the study of the physical and chemical behavior of uranium and its alloys. Commercial-grade uranium can be produced through the reduction of