The Manyingee Uranium 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. This is an advanced uranium project, which has already had a pre-feasibility study completed and is available for development consideration.
Total Mining Australia Pty Ltd explored the region from 1973 until 1984, drilling a total of 400 holes. Pre-feasibility studies including a six-month field test trial of the in-situ leaching method (ISL) carried out in 1985. Final stages of the rehabilitation took place in 1992, with all exploration and mining test wells sealed and surface restored. A total of A$16M was spent on this project by previous workers.
The six month, 5-spot trial leach test program conducted by Total Mining showed that the mineralisation at Manyingee is amenable to ISL. This trial did not achieve its economic objective due to poor site selection, leachant application and injection hole design. However, it did demonstrate amenability to in-situ leach techniques as indicated by the production of 1,200lb of yellowcake.
During the time of the pre-feasibility, a large quantity of baseline data was collected on the meteorological, hydrological, geotechnical and metallurgical aspects, both for the Environmental Impact Study and economic evaluation. This will enable fast track development of the project.
Paladin purchased the Manyingee Project in 1998 from Afmeco Mining and Exploration Pty Ltd (AFMEX), a subsidiary company of Cogema of France. Paladin’s 100% interest in Manyingee is held through its wholly owned subsidiary, Paladin Energy Minerals NL.