This brief looks at the location, environment, geology and mineral resource of the Yeelirrie deposit and summarises its political history since discovery in 1972.

The brief then examines some of the environmental, social and economic issues surrounding this project.

The Yeelirrie uranium deposit was discovered in 1972 by Western Mining Corporation Ltd (WMC) in remote and semi–arid central Western Australia (WA). WMC submitted a proposal which was the subject of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and assessment process. Whilst this assessment received approval, its development was denied by the Australian Labor Party’s (ALP) ‘Three Mines Policy’, and the anti–uranium mining stance of the WA Labor government from 1983 to 1993 and 2001 to 2008.1 An easing of the ALP’s uranium policy and the election in September 2008 of a WA Liberal–National State government has provided the opportunity for the present owners of the deposit, BHP Billiton, to lodge an application for development to proceed. 

BHP Billiton made an application to the Federal Minister for the Environment for a determination under the Environment Protection Biodiversity and Conservation Act (EPBC Act) on 22 May 2009. The proposal was determined to be of ‘national environmental significance’ on 19 June 2009, and therefore requires the full Environmental Impact Statement process to be carried out before it can proceed. 

The uranium mineralisation lies close to the surface in an ancient drainage channel. If the project is approved, the ore would be mined by shallow excavation and trucked to a nearby purpose–built plant for treatment. The deposit contains about 52 000 tonnes of uranium oxide (U3O8) and would sustain an annual production of 5000 tonnes U3O8 (‘yellow cake’) for at least 10 years. This is about the same as recent production levels from the Ranger mine in the Northern Territory.

Little has changed in the last 25 years in respect of the level of geological understanding, the nature of the Yeelirrie mining proposal, or the environmental or social issues relevant to mine development. Issues that were identified in the previous EIS process2 during the public consultation process will need to be addressed in a new EIS submitted to government, including such matters as safety, tailings disposal, rehabilitation and other environmental concerns.

If approved, Yeelirrie would bring the number of operational uranium mines in Australia to six.