The Manyingee Project is located in the north-west of Western Australia, 1,100km north of Perth and 85km inland from the coastal township of Onslow. The property is comprised of three mining leases covering 1,307 hectares. Paladin also holds one granted Exploration Licence (EPL 08/1496) totalling 89km² at Spinifex Well, 25km north-east of Manyingee. Access to the site is along station tracks, either from the Nanutarra Roadhouse on the North West Coastal Highway (39km) or from the Barradale-Onslow road to the west (22km). The Tubridgi Natural Gas Pipeline passes 500m east of the three mining leases covering the deposit.
Paladin purchased Manyingee in 1998 from Afmeco Mining and Exploration Pty Ltd (AFMEX), a subsidiary company of Cogema of France. Manyingee is an in-situ recovery amenable sandstone-type uranium deposit occurring in a palaeochannel of Cretaceous age in the West Pilbara region of Western Australia. The Inferred and Indicated Mineral Resource at Manyingee totals 10,890 tonnes (24Mlb) of U3O8 at 0.09% and Paladin’s geological analysis has identified an exploration target of at least another 5,030 tonnes (11Mlb) of U3O8 at 0.1%.
The mineralisation was first identified in 1974 and was followed by resource drilling to 1984 and a field leach trial in 1985 carried out by AFMEX. Although the field leach trial, at that time, did not prove economically successful, it did prove that the mineralisation is amenable to solution mining.
Paladin acquired the project in June 1998. The evaluation showed that new experience since the previous operator’s work could substantially improve on the existing results, making the project economically viable.
View the Manyingee Project Brochure