Uranium

Prospectivity

Exploration for uranium made a strong recovery in 2023-2024. Most uranium production in the Northern Territory (NT) has been from the Alligator Rivers Uranium Field in the eastern Pine Creek Orogen.   Uranium mining in the NT commenced in 1953 in the Rum Jungle and South Alligator fields, and a second phase of mining in the Alligator Rivers uranium field near Jabiru commenced in 1980 and ended with the closure of the Ranger uranium mine in January 2021.   Energy Resources of Australia Ltd ceased production at the Ranger uranium mine after a 40 year mine life that produced over 132,000 tonnes of U₃O₈. The mine is now undergoing rehabilitation that is due to be completed in 2026.

The Alligator Rivers field contains unconformity-related uranium deposits that locally contain more than 100,000 tonnes contained U₃O₈, with grades generally in the range 0.2-2% U₃O₈. These deposits, which include Ranger, Jabiluka, Koongarra and Nabarlek, are typically hosted within the Palaeoproterozoic basement of the Cahill Formation (Pine Creek Orogen), close to the unconformity with the basal MacArthur Basin.

Current exploration in the Alligator Rivers field is focussed in western Arnhem Land, where a maiden resource was announced at the Angularli deposit in 2018. Elsewhere in the Pine Creek Orogen, smaller but locally high-grade vein-style and other basement-hosted uranium deposits occur in the South Alligator, Rum Jungle and Hayes Creek uranium fields.

Sandstone-type deposits occur in Palaeozoic sediments in the Ngalia and Amadeus basins in central Australia. The largest of these deposits are the Angela deposit in the Amadeus Basin and the Bigrlyi deposit in the Ngalia Basin. Cenozoic palaeochannel-hosted uranium has also been identified in the Ngalia Basin area, and has the potential to become an important exploration target in Central Australia.

There are also significant uranium occurrences in the basal southern McArthur Basin and underlying basement of the Murphy Province, close to the Westmoreland uranium deposit which occurs in adjacent regions of Queensland.

The Aileron Province, Warramunga Province and Tanami Region contain known uranium prospects and locally uranium-enriched granites. These provinces and overlying basins and palaeochannels represent greenfields uranium exploration targets.

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