Radium Hill
Radium Hill minesite c.1954 | |
Radium Hill Location in Australia | |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Location | 460 km North East of Adelaide and 110 km South West of Broken Hill |
| State | South Australia |
| Country | Australia |
| Coordinates | 32°20′45.97″S 140°38′11.64″E / 32.3461028°S 140.6365667°E |
| Production | |
| Products | Davidite, carnotite, uranium |
| History | |
| Opened | 1906 |
| Closed | 1961 |
| Owner | |
| Company | abandoned |
| Year of acquisition | first pegged 1906 |
Radium Hill is a former mine site in South Australia which operated from 1906 until 1961. Named by Sir Douglas Mawson, it was Australia's first uranium mine, years before the country's next major mines at Rum Jungle in the Northern Territory (opened 1950), and the Mary Kathleen mine in Queensland (1958). During its main period of production between 1954 and 1961, the mine produced nearly 1 million tonnes of davidite-bearing ore, to produce about 860 tons of U3O8.
The associated settlement which once housed up to 1,100 people is now a ghost town, largely abandoned and demolished.