Uranium Mine - Mary Kathleen.

Still camping at the old Mary Kathleen Townsite, my friend Graeme wanted to checkout the old Uranium Mine he has already been there before, but he decided to re check the old site out and invited me and jools along.

It is only 7klms down the road which is bitumen so far with lots of deep potholes, and gravel road to the entrance.

On entry you can see old concrete areas where boom gates for security would have been.  There is lots of concrete kerbing you can see, where old buildings once stood.

Driving around there is plenty of evidence of dump areas were big rocks being dump when the mine was operating. 

We found huge concrete stands where the rock  crushers would have stood.

Early pictures from a billboard  in the township area demonstrates what it is like.

The mine and mining  equipment  that was used, in the days of mining operations. 

Many tracks and the one that leads to the Uranium Mine. Driving up to the mine site.

The water is so blue from copper oxide and maybe it is also a radioactive  area, no swimming. There are plenty of ledges that go up and down the mountain. 

This information is an exert from the information board at the township. It is transcrbe for easier reading.

The Mary Kathleen uranium deposit was discovered by a syndicate of eight Mount Isa prospectors led by Clem Walton and Norm McConachy. The group had an advantage of local knowledge and the use of one the few 4WDs in the district. Informally it was agreed that they would go prospecting on their weekend daysoff in parties of two.

On Sunday 4 July 1954, Norm McConachy and John Walton were making their way along a dry creek bed when the truck broke down with a loose lead on a spark plug. McConachy is said to be the one who actually took the Geiger counter out of the truck and turned it on. 

As he continued walking up the dry creek bed, the instrument needle reportedly went off the scale. McConachy then called John Walton, who was coaxing their broken down vehicle back to life.

The ore body was then discovered by following a 1.5 kilometre trail of radioactive boulders along the drainage system. The claim was pegged and an application for a mining lease was lodged at the Mining Warden's office in Cloncurry. 

The deposit was named Mary Kathleen in honour of Norm McConachy's wife who had died shortly before the discovery.

Clem Walton was the chief negotiator for the syndicate and he lost no time in securing a deal with Australasian Oil Exploration Ltd for a yet to be proven deposit of uranium. 

This ensured immediate wealth for each of the syndicate members, with a continuing share in the profits should a mine be established. The company Mary Kathleen Uranium Ltd (MKU) was formed and the Rio Tinto group subsequently became the major shareholder and undertook development of the mine.

In the next two years the simultaneous construction of township, water supply, mine and plant complex occurred. This was a remarkable feat considering the short planning time frame and the distance from all major transport infrastructure. 

All levels of government gave their full assistance and some of the best talent in industry was put to the task. Mining commenced in October 1956 and the treatment plant was commissioned in June 1958.

In the first five years of its operation, MKU produced 4080 tonnes of uranium oxide, which was trucked in 44 gallon drums to Cloncurry, railed to Townsville and then shipped to England. 

By October 1963 the major supply contract had been satisfied ahead of schedule. The contract with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority was completed one year earlier than expected after the installation of ore sorting discriminators using Geiger counters to read the radioactive grade of each rock. 

Further sales contracts could not be obtained and the mine and treatment plant were placed on a care and maintenance basis.

The operation of the Mary Kathleen mine which was an  open-cut uranium mine operated from 1958-63 and reopened again in 1976-82. 

They processed 9,200,000 tonnes of ore, yielding a total of just under 8,900 tonnes 

Contracts with utilities in Japan, Germany and USA for 4,740 tonnes of uranium oxide had been negotiated early in the 1970s and reopening began in 1974. 

By 1982 the mine was depleted and the  finall closure, after 4,802 tonnes of uranium oxide concentrate in its second phase of operation.

Now all but a tourist attraction down a very bad road, the remenance of the past operations still stand making this generation aware of the mining feats of this area.