From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Radium Hill
Radium Hill
Radium Hill, South Australia Radium Hill is a former minesite in South Australia which
operated from 1906 until 1961.[1] It was Australia’s first
uranium mine,[2] years before the country’s next major
mines at Rum Jungle in the Northern Territory (opened
in 1950), and the Mary Kathleen mine in Queensland
(1958).[3] The associated settlement which once housed
up to 1,100 people is now largely demolished and aban-
doned and is a ghost town. During its main period of pro-
duction between 1954 and 1961 the mine produced near-
ly 1 million tonnes of davidite-bearing ore to produce
about 860 tons of U3O8.[4]
Radium Hill minesite c.1954
Location History
The site was first pegged for mining in 1906 after
prospector Arthur John Smith inadvertently discovered a
radioactive material at a location approximately 40 kilo-
metres (25 mi) East South East of Olary. Smith mistook
the dark coloured ore he found for tin oxide or wolfram
(tungsten).[5] His samples were sent to Adelaide Univer-
sity where young Sydney geologist and future Antarctic
explorer, Douglas Mawson found the ore to contain ra-
dium and uranium. It also had traces of ilmenite, rutile,
magnetite, hematite, pyrite, chalcopyrite intergrown
with quartz and biotite, chromium, vanadium, and
molybdenum.
Mawson named the ore davidite after geologist and
Antarctic explorer, Sir Edgeworth David. The mine was
Radium Hill initially called "Smith’s Carnotite Mine" (a similar
Location in Australia
uranium-bearing mineral) and in September 1906 Maw-
32°18′S 140°40′E / 32.3°S 140.66667°E / -32.3;
son proposed the name "Radium Hill".[6] Smith worked
140.66667Coordinates: 32°18′S 140°40′E / 32.3°S 140.66667°E
/ -32.3; 140.66667 the mine for the next two years before allowing the lease
to lapse. Adjoining leases stretched for 5 kilometres
Location 460 km North East of Adelaide and 110 km
South West of Broken Hill
(3.1 mi) along the lode, with one being half-owned by
Mawson.
State South Australia The Radium Hill Company took over the lease in 1908
Country Australia and more shafts were sunk.
Ore concentrate was transferred to refineries in New
Owner South Wales and Victoria.[2] Radium had reached a price
Company abandoned of ₤13,000 per gram in 1911,[7][A 1] and in the same year,
at a cost of ₤15,000 the company built a refinery at
Year of first pegged 1906
Hunter’s Hill in New South Wales to produce radium
acquisition
compounds.[2] 350 milligrams of radium bromide (RaBr2)
Production and 150 kg of uranium were produced.[1] The radium bro-
Products Davidite, Carnotite, Uranium mide was used for research in the emerging fields of radi-
ation and radioactivity and some of the Hunter’s Hill ra-
History dium was sold to pioneering nuclear researchers Ernest
Opened 1906 Rutherford and Marie Curie.[7]
Mining ceased in 1914 and the Hunters Hill refinery
Closed 1961
closed the following year.
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Radium Hill
Hill), south of Adelaide. The Port Pirie complex was also
operated by the state government.[8][9]
The mine output was 970,000 tonnes of 0.09-0.13% ore
and the ore concentrate produced a mix of about 150,000
tonnes of yellowcake which was then processed at Port
Pirie where it was subjected to hot acid leaching, produc-
ing about 860 tons of U3O8 worth more than ₤15 million.
After seven years of operations, the contract was filled
and the plant officially decommissioned on 21 December
1961.[1][3]
Site rehabilitation
Restoration works on the site were undertaken in 1962
Share certificate dated 1913 issued by the Radium Hill Compa- and again in 1981 when the tailings impoundment was
ny covered with about 75,000 m3 of material from four ad-
jacent borrow pits. Backfilling of old mine openings was
The mine’s second phase of operations started in 1923 also undertaken.[10]
when it was operated by the Radium and Rare Earth
Treatment Company N.L. which continued operations
there until 1931. The company also built a treatment
Radioactive waste repository
plant in 1923 at Dry Creek near Adelaide to produce ra- From 1981 an area of the site was gazetted as a low-level
dium bromide for medical applications from the Radium radioactive waste repository.[11] Approximately 16 sepa-
Hill ore, however this proved to be uneconomic and both rate consignments of waste, including contaminated soil
sites had ceased operations by 1932.[2] from Thebarton in the Adelaide metropolitan area was
Activity recommenced after World War II, with a deposited there. The last deposit was made in 1998.
Department of Mines geological survey in 1944 and ex- A New South Wales government study in 1979 found
ploration and drilling work done in 1946-1947. In March the incidence of cancer-related deaths by former Radium
1952 the Commonwealth and the South Australian gov- Hill workers to be four times the national average. Ac-
ernments signed a cost plus uranium supply contract cording to the report, 59% of underground miners who
with the UK-USA Combined Development Agency, initial- had worked there for a period of two years or more had
ly for defence purposes, for delivery over seven years.[3] died of cancer.[1][2]
A section of Maldorkey Station was annexed and pro- The site has been inactive since 1998. The Resources
claimed a "Uranium mining reserve" in 1954[5] and the Division of Minerals and Energy at the Department of Pri-
mine was officially opened by the Governor General of mary Industry and Resources maintains management re-
Australia, Field Marshal Sir William Slim on 10 November sponsibility including a radiological watch on the site.
the same year.
The state government operated the mine and in-
stalled various infrastructure to support the operations.
Quotes
An 18 kilometres (11 mi) spur line connecting the site to “ "one ounce of it would be sufficient to drive or ”
the main Broken Hill railway line at Cutana Siding was propel three of the largest battleships afloat
built in 1954.[1] An aerodrome was constructed and roads for a period of two thousand years. ...it will
improved in the same period. The town to house mine mean that foreign nations will be obliged to
workers and their families was built also. This included seek from us the power wherewith to heat and
145 houses: in 1961 a population of 867 was recorded. light their cities, and find means of defence
Other town facilities included a hospital, school, govern- and offence..."
ment retail store, canteens, swimming pool, a bus service —The Adelaide Register (on uranium), 1913.[5]
to Broken Hill and recreation and commercial facilities.
The main shaft of the mine was 420 metres (1,380 ft)
deep with a 40 metres (130 ft) headframe.[1] Ore was See also
crushed at a ball mill and treated on site at a surface con-
• Uranium mining in Australia
centrate mill using a heavy media separation and flota-
• Ghost Town
tion process.[2] It was then rail-freighted to the purpose-
• Boomtown
built Port Pirie Uranium Treatment Complex which
processed ore from Radium Hill and Myponga (Wild Dog
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Radium Hill
Notes 777a61455d514c0bca2574d400106f9e/$FILE/
GPSC%205%20Report%20No%2028.pdf. Retrieved
[1] Radium was discovered in 1898 by Marie Curie and 28 July 2009.
she extracted the first pure metallic form of the [8] "Uranium deposits in Australia". Government of
element in 1908. South Australia Primary Industries and Resources. 13
March 2009. http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/minerals/
References geology/mineral_resources/commodities/
uranium. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
[1] ^ "Welcome". Radium Hill Historical Association. [9] "Port Pirie Uranium Treatment Complex, SA".
http://www.radiumhill.org.au/wb/index.php. www.sea-us.org.au. http://www.sea-us.org.au/
Retrieved 27 July 2009. oldmines/portpirie.html. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
[2] ^ "Radium Hill, SA". www.sea-us.org.au. [10] "Radium Hill Mine". South Australia Department of
http://www.sea-us.org.au/oldmines/ Primary Industry and Resources.
radiumhill.html. Retrieved 27 July 2009. http://outernode.pir.sa.gov.au/minerals/
[3] ^ "Australia’s Uranium and Nuclear Power sa_mines/former_mines/radium_hill_mine.
Prospects". World Nuclear Association. April 2009. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
http://world-nuclear.org/info/inf48.html. [11] Mcleary, M. (2004). "Radium Hill Uranium Mine
Retrieved 24 July 2009. and Low level Radioactive Waste Repository
[4] "Radium Hill/Bonython Hill". Toro Energy Ltd. Management Plan Phase 1 - Preliminary
http://www.toroenergy.com.au/ Investigation 2004". South Australia Department of
CustomContentRetrieve.aspx?ID=37120. Retrieved Primary Industry and Resources.
27 July 2009. http://outernode.pir.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/
[5] ^ Kevin R. Kakoschke (10 August 2005). ""A Clouded pdf_file/0016/10825/rb2004_009_radium_hill.pdf.
History" Radium Hill Australia’s First Uranium
Mine". History Trust of South Australia.
http://www.history.sa.gov.au/history/ Further reading
conference/Kevin_Kakoschke.pdf. Retrieved 27 • Mudd, G M, ‘The Legacy of Early Uranium Efforts in
July 2009. Australia 1906 to 1945: From Radium Hill to the
[6] Transactions of the Royal Society of South Atomic Bomb and Today.’ Historical Records of
Australia, V.30 1906 Australian Science, 2005, 16 (2) doi:10.1071/HR05013
[7] ^ General Purpose Standing Committee No. 5. • Mining In South Australia, 1982, Compiled by J. F.
Chair: Ian Cohen (MLC) (September 2008). "The Drexel, Dept. of Mines & Energy South Australia,
former uranium smelter site at Hunter’s Hill". Special Publication No. 3.
Parliament of New South Wales. p. 16. • Mudd, G M, Compilation of Uranium Production
http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/ History and Uranium Deposit Data Across Australia
parlment/committee.nsf/0/
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Radium_Hill&oldid=442022179"
Categories:
• Ghost towns in South Australia
• Uranium mines in Australia
• Mines in South Australia
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