AREVA Australia: searching for uranium and gold

An open mine

AREVA Australia Pty Ltd is a holding company that operates through 3 wholly-owned subsidiaries: AFMEX, Koongarra and La Mancha Resources Inc. Its activities relate to the exploration and operation of uranium and gold mines. If uranium exploration is active, mining operations are ready to recommence.

Abundant uranium - reserved for exportation

  • Australia represents 23% of the world's uranium production. Production and exportation cover an average of 10,000 metric tons of uranium oxide per year. Australia also has the largest low-cost uranium resources  in the Reasonably Assured Resources category, with almost 40% of the world’s resources in this category*.
  • Australia has, however, made the political decision to act in the nuclear domain solely through operating mines and exporting the extracted uranium.

* Uranium 2003: Resources, Production and Demand, OECD 2004.

Ongoing exploration; operation temporarily suspended

Since 2004, AREVA Australia Pty Ltd has redeployed its uranium exploration in the Curnamona basin in Southern Australia through its subsidiaries.

  • AFMEX (Afmeco Mining and Exploration) works with other partners to carry out digs in uranium deposits in the southern part of the country, about 300 kilometers north of Adelaide.
    • AFMEX currently holds 7 exploration licenses in this State, in the Curnamona basin;
    • Work carried out to date has primarily consisted of aerial geophysical campaigns: around 10,000 meters of rotary drilling (using a rotary core bit) is ongoing in the western part of the basin. 
    • Exploration work is always the subject of close consultation with local aboriginal communities.
  • Koongarra owns the Koongarra uranium deposit, located some 250 kilometers east of Darwin. Discovered in 1971, there is currently a moratorium on the mining of this deposit.

Searching for gold

AREVA NC Australia Pty Ltd also prospects for gold resources in Western Australia through its subsidiary, La Mancha Resources Inc.

Among its discoveries, it counts the White Foil and Frog's Leg mines, near Kalgoorlie. These have been in operation since 2001 and 2004, respectively.

Contact

AREVA Australia Pty Ltd
AFMECO Mining and Exploration Pty Ltd
80 Leader Street
5035 Forestville SA, Australia
Tel: +61 8 8292 9300
Fax: +61 8 8351 4500