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Environmental Research and Supervision of Uranium Mining
The Koongarra uranium deposit is next to the escarpment 30 km south of Ranger and 3 km east of Nourlangie Rock in a valley bounded by Mount Brockman outlier and the Arnhem Land plateau. The orebody lies entirely within the catchment of Koongarra Creek which feeds the Nourlangie Creek and into the South Alligator River. The estimated uranium (U308) yield from the two orebodies is estimated to be 14 540 tonnes containing an average grade of 0.8% of uranium. The poorly defined lower orebody is estimated to contain 2000 tonnes of uranium at a grade of 0.3% but does not form part of the estimated reserves.
The deposit was discovered in 1970 by Noranda Australia Ltd. The lease was taken over by Denison Australia Pty Ltd following which a draft EIS was submitted to the Australian Government. The final EIS was approved in 1981, although the mine was never developed. The final EIS was approved in 1981, although the mine was never developed. The project is currently being reassessed by Koongarra Pty Ltd who fully acquired interest in the project in 1995. If Koongarra Pty Ltd wished to develop the deposit, further environmental impact assessment would be required.
