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Olary Creek
Township
Mine site
Main tailings Repository “TSF”
0.5 km
Radium HillAerial Photograph
N
Main tailings repository& tailings dispersal
0.2 km
Aerial PhotographMine Site
Waste rock dumps
Projected lineof lode & underground workings
Crushed wastedumps
Former workshops& processing plant
N
Remnants of shaft headframe and ore bins
High grade U ore samples from dump material (dark minerals and yellow coatings)
Exposure in prospecting pit
of U-mineralised
rock
Waste rock dump
Crushed rock dumps
Note: pepper tree (introduced) and various saltbush species that have taken up U on contaminated areas
Crushed rock
• Used for manufacture of concrete: buildings and other structures
• Road base and road surfacing, work area surfacing
• Bunding for some tailings dams• Railway ballast• Typically contains >250 ppm U
Effects of dispersion of crushed rock, resulting in large anthropogenic U radiometric anomaly
Crushed rock use in Radium Hill
townsite
Road surfacingMajor concrete constructions
Tailings storage facility
Main TSF is about 250 x 150 x 6 m, capped with 1 m soil and subject to rill erosion. It is not a stable landform.
Rill erosion of main TSF to expose mill tailings with >300 ppm U
Gully erosion of small TSF
Dispersal of fine tailings by wind and water erosion (physical, not chemical dispersion)
Dunes of wind-dispersed tailings developed prior to
capping of main TSF
Contaminated Topsoils – Radium Hill
Radiation levels (up to 10x background)Ce-La-Sc-Th-U-V-Y (up to 100x background)
Tailings dam
Wind dispersion, particularly to the SE
Soil contamination by windborne tailings, SE
of main TSF
Soil chemistry affected by addition of wind-borne tailings