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Rare earth elements in Australian uranium deposits

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Uranium - Past and Future Challenges

Abstract

Rare earth elements (REE: La to Lu) are critical for high-technology applications. In Australia, undeveloped REE resources are associated with several deposit types including uranium ores. These include the Olympic Dam Cu–U–Au–Ag deposit and uranium mineralisations in the Yilgarn, Mount Painter, Olary and Mount Isa regions. At the Mary Kathleen uranium mine site, tailings are stored in a purpose-built tailings dam structure, with an estimated 7 Mt of mill tailings carrying approximately 3 wt% total REE oxides. This makes it one of the largest undeveloped REE resources in Australia.

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Lottermoser, B.G. (2015). Rare earth elements in Australian uranium deposits. In: Merkel, B., Arab, A. (eds) Uranium - Past and Future Challenges. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11059-2_2

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