Mary Kathleen was a mining settlement in the northwestern part of Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It is located in the Selwyn Range

Selwyn Range (Australia)

The Selwyn Range is a rugged mountain range near Mount Isa and Cloncurry in north-west Queensland, Australia, composed largely of Proterozoic metamorphic rocks...

 between Mount Isa and Cloncurry.

Mary Kathleen was first settled during the 1860s.

Uranium mine

In 1954, a significant uranium deposit was discovered at the site. Mary Kathleen Uranium Ltd. built a mine, with 4,500 tonnes of uranium oxide being extracted between 1958 and 1963. The mine then lay idle until 1974, when re-opening started. The second phase of production began in 1976. The mine was finally closed down in 1982 after a further production of 4,802 tonnes of uranium oxide. A total of 7 million tonnes of ore were extracted from the mine. Processing occurred on-site.

Mary Kathleen's uranium deposits originated from contact metasomatic

Metasomatism

Metasomatism is the chemical alteration of a rock by hydrothermal and other fluids.Metasomatism can occur via the action of hydrothermal fluids from an igneous or metamorphic source. In the igneous environment, metasomatism creates skarns, greisen, and may affect hornfels in the contact...

 processes. This type of occurrence is uncommon, with Mary Kathleen being the only commercial example. The uraninite

Uraninite

Uraninite is a radioactive, uranium-rich mineral and ore with a chemical composition that is largely UO2, but also contains UO3 and oxides of lead, thorium, and rare earth elements...

 here was conglomerated with garnet

Garnet

The garnet group includes a group of minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. The name "garnet" may come from either the Middle English word gernet meaning 'dark red', or the Latin granatus , possibly a reference to the Punica granatum , a plant with red seeds...

.

Closure

The town was emptied out during 1983. The site, now only roads and concrete pads, can be accessed, as an overnight camp, from the Barkly Highway

Barkly Highway

The Barkly Highway is a national highway of both Queensland and the Northern Territory.-Description:It runs westward from Cloncurry and the junctions of the Flinders and Landsborough highways to the junction with the Stuart Highway north of Tennant Creek...

at -20.780837,139.9734. The land has since been rehabilitated and is now suitable for grazing.

External links

• University of Queensland: Queensland Places: Mary Kathleen