There is an 11 year expansion project of the Olympic Dam mine in Australia New capacity would come online in about 2017-2019 assuming a prompt approval and ontime project.
The Australian government decision is scheduled to be made July, 2010.
The project capacity of 750 tonnes of uranium per annum is expected to be reached within the next twelve months with plans this year for the extraction of 500 tonnes of natural uranium
Khorassan-1 Uranium Mine opening ceremoney April, 2009
Production throughput, on a year-by-year basis, is as follows:
2009: 180 tonnes
2010: 1,000 tonnes
2011: 1,500 tonnes
2012: 2,000 tonnes
2014: 3,000 tonnes.
The year 2008 saw the Republic of Kazakhstan produce a total of 8,521 tonnes of uranium. This is 28.5% up on 2007 levels, when production stood at 6,637 tonnes of U3O8. Last year’s production volume includes the aggregate output of the JSC National atomic company Kazatomprom, joint ventures in which it has stakes and the Stepnogorsk mining and chemical complex (under Kazatomprom’s trust management).
It is planned to produce up to 11,900 tonnes of uranium in 2009, though this index is, of course, subject to change as the actual output will depend on global market conditions
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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