Corporate Body

Mary Kathleen Uranium (1954 - 1980s)

From
1954
Mary Kathleen, Queensland, Australia
To
1980s
Functions
Metallurgy, Mineralogy or mining and Resources
Location
Mary Kathleen, Queensland

Summary

Mary Kathleen Uranium Ltd (MKU) was formed in 1954 as a joint venture between Rio Tinto Mining Company of Australia Limited (65%) and Australian Oil Exploration Ltd (35%). It operated the Mary Kathleen Uranium mine in northern Queensland, which commenced mining at the end of 1956. The company's only supply contract was with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and by October 1963 they had filled that contract. With no other customers to supply, the mine was forced to close down that same year. The Mary Kathleen Uranium mine didn't reopen until 1974 when new contracts in Japan, Germany and USA were obtained. At the end of 1982 the mine was depleted and forced to close down for good. During the 12 years of operations about 31 million tonnes of material, including uranium oxide concentrate, was mined from the site. Shortly after closing Mary Kathleen Uranium set about reclaiming the land. In 1985 the work was completed, making Mary Kathleen the site of Australia's first major rehabilitation project of a uranium mine.

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Archival resources

The University of Melbourne Archives

  • CRA Ltd - Records, 1905 - 1997; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Cuthbertson, Andrew, Mary Kathleen reflections: a loss on innocence working at a uranium mine in the Australian outback (Claremont, W.A.: The author, 2020), 80 pp. Details

Resources

See also

Annette Alafaci

Created: 13 August 2001, Last modified: 27 January 2011

EOAS ID: biogs/A001219b.htm

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"... the rengitj, as a visible mark or imprint on the land, is characterised as a place of origin, the repository of all names, as well as a kind of mapped visual expression of the connection between people and places which is to be carried out in the temporal sequence of the journey." Fanca Tamisari (1998) 'Body, Vision and Movement: In the footprints of the ancestors'. Oceania 68(4) p260