Yeelirrie Deposit, Yeelirrie Station, Wiluna Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Yeelirrie Deposit	Mine (Inactive)
Yeelirrie Station	- not defined -
Wiluna Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

A uranium deposit discovered in 1972 by WMC Resources, located about 70 km southwest of Wiluna, and 20 kilometres west-north-west of the Yeelirrie homestead. It remains unmined, although during the assessment phase trial mining was conducted at three test pits within the orebody, and the extracted ore used in metallurgical testwork. Reserves are 52,500 tons U3O8 at an average grade of 0.015% U3O8(1984).

The deposit is considered a type example of a calcrete-hosted uranium deposit, and the largest of its type in the world. The ore mineralogy is dominated by carnotite.

After exploration and trial mining was well advanced the project was abandoned in 1983, after a change of government which banned new uranium mines. From 1998 to 2004 the site was rehabilitated. BHP Billiton took over Western Mining in 2005. The company was planning to open a mine at the site in 2014 but instead sold the lease to Canadian Cameco Corporation in 2012.

The uranium ore is hosted in calcrete in ancient paleochannels which were ancient river systems. These dried up from increasing aridity and were covered with alluvium. They still show now as broad dry creek channels, and strings of salt-pans. The ore body is a horizontal sheet 9 kilometres by 1.5 kilometres, 4-8 metres below the surface.

The underlying basement shows Archaean granitic rocks with biotite, and adamellite of the Montague Range and Wiluna Greenstone Belts.

Within the channels is a monotonous infill 30 metres thick of Fe-stained kaolin and coarse detrital quartz, with minor localised thin kaolinised sand, narrow grit bands and 1-2 metres of overburden of loam, sand, powdery carbonated loam and saline clay. Within this near the surface is a pale brown calcrete horizon where kaolinite and quartz have been replaced by friable earthy calcrete, then displaced by nodular, hard, porcellain type calcrete. These continued to grow, displacing the channel sediments and sometimes breaching the surface forming mounds and ridges.

The only uranium ore at the deposit is carnotite, which forms bright greenish-yellow films and coatings in cavities and fractures, or disseminations through calcrete and clay-quartz alluvium. The ore is found between the calcrete and underlying clay-quartz.

Below the calcrete is reddish coloured clay-quartz alluvium which shows detrital quartz grains and quartz-rich bands in clay loam and thin seams of celestite.

The mine approval lapsed in 2022.

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Wikipedia:	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeelirrie_uranium_project

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References