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Uranium Mining
China is estimated to mine 1,200 tons of uranium annually and is expected to stay at this level of production for the near future. China's first eight uranium mines were fully operational beginning in 1962-1965. Over the years, China has established a total of about 26 major uranium mines. Since the beginning of the opening and reform process, China's uranium mining industry has undergone extensive reorganization. China has reduced output and closed inefficient mines resulting in a reduction of personnel from 45,000 in 1984 to 8,500 in 1999. As part of its efforts to improve efficiency, China is focusing on in-situ and heap leach technologies. Improvements in management and technology have led to uranium mining facilities becoming three to four times more efficient.
China has traditionally located uranium processing facilities at or near uranium mines. China's "backbone" of uranium mining and metallurgy has traditionally been located in Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Hunan Provinces. However, in recent years uranium exploration has been focused on northwest and north China. There is potential for expanding the uranium mining facility at Yili Basin, Xinjiang where in-situ leach capacity is expected to reach approximately 400 tU/year. New production centers have been opened at the the Yining in-situ leaching facility, the Lantian heap leaching facility and the Benxi mine.
The China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) reported that since 1954, China has located uranium deposits in more than 200 mining sites. China has an estimated 57,000 tons of uranium resources in the south and is exploring in the northwestern regions for further deposits. New uranium deposits have recently been discovered in Inner Mongolia and in Xinjiang Province.
Mr. Lu Youlin is director of the bureau of mining and metallurgy for CNNC.
The OECD and IAEA estimate China's uranium resources at 64,000 tons:
| Chanziping uranium deposit, Guangxi Province | 5,000 tons |
| Chengxian uranium deposit, Hunan Province | 5,000 tons |
| Lantian uranium deposit, Guangxi Province | 2,000 tons |
| Qinglong uranium field, Liaoning Province | 8,000 tons |
| Tengchong uranium deposit, Yunnan Province | 6,000 tons |
| Xiangshan uranium field, Jiangxi Province | 26,000 tons |
| Xiazhuang uranium field, Guangdong Province | 12,000 tons |
URANIUM MINES
| NAME | LOCATION | COMMENTS |
| Anshun | Guizhou Province | |
| Baimadong | Guizhou Province | Closed uranium mining and ore processing facility; 40 tons per year capacity; start up: 1965; closed: 1989 |
| Benxi | Plans to use "trackless mining" and heap leaching following acid curing. | |
| Chanziping | Guangxi Province | |
| Chenxian | Hunan Province | China's first uranium mine; Soviet-designed; partially operational in September 1960; began full production in September 1962; uses shrinkage stopping mining technique; Soviet-designed and equipped magnetic separator facility was built near the mine |
| Chenzhou | Hunan Province | |
| Chongyi | ||
| Daladi | Xinjiang Province | |
| Dapu | Hengshan County, Hunan Province | One of China's first uranium mines; Soviet-designed |
| Dianxi | Yunnan Province | |
| Dongkeng | Hunan/Jiangxi Provinces | |
| Fuzhou | Fuzhou (Hengjian), Jiangxi Province | One of China's two significant mining and metallurgical sites; also the site of the Hengjian uranium ore processing facility; used radiometric sorting starting in the 1980s |
| Guidong | Guangdong Province | |
| Hengshan | Hunan Province | |
| Hengyang | Hunan Province | Uranium mining and ore processing facility |
| Jianchang | Liaoning Province | |
| Kaiyang | Guizhou Province | |
| Kashi | Xinjiang Province | |
| Lanhe | Hunan/Jiangxi Provinces | |
| Lantian | Shaanxi Province | One of China's main uranium production centers; estimated capacity of 100 tons of U per year, but currently operating at about 30 tons per year; uses heap leaching |
| Lianxian | Lianxian, Guangdong Province | Opened in 1963 |
| Linxian | Linxian, Hunan Province | Began trial extraction in April 1962 |
| Menqikuer | Xinjiang Province | |
| Quzhou | Zhejiang Province | Has used "trackless mining" since the 1980s |
| Renhua | Plans to use "trackless mining" | |
| Shangrao | Shangrao, Jiangxi Province | Soviet-designed; also location of hydrometallurgical plant for uranium extraction similar to the plant at Hengyang |
| Tenchong | ||
| Xiangshan | Zhejiang Province | |
| Xunwu | Jiangxi Province | |
| Yili Basin | Xinjiang | Uranium reserve base |
| Yining | Xinjiang Province | In-situ leaching facility; closed uranium mining and ore processing facility |
| Zolge | Sichuan Province |
NAMES IN ITALICS ARE FACILITIES NOT IN OPERATION
[Sources: Nuclear Weapons Databook, Volume 5, pp. 338-340, 344, 344; Yan Kong, "China's Nuclear Bureaucracy," Jane's Intelligence Review, July 1993, pp. 320-321, 326; IAEA, The Nuclear Fuel Cycle Information System: A Directory of Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities, 1995 Edition, pp. 108-109; Lewis, John and Xue Litai, China Builds the Bomb, pp. 78, 80, 81; Risk Report, November 1995, pp. 3, 4; "World Nuclear Industry Handbook 1995," Nuclear Engineering International, p. 119; Zhongguo Tongxun She (Hong Kong), 16 April 1995, in FBIS-CHI-95-102, 16 April 1995; Simon Rippon, "China: Ready For More Nuclear Power," Nuclear News, June 1995, p. 33; Marko Milivojevic, "China Wants More Power For The People," Atom, January-February 1995, pp. 15-16; Allan S. Krass, Peter Boskma, Boelie Elzen, and Wim A. Smit, Uranium Enrichment and Nuclear Weapon Proliferation (London: Taylor & Francis, Ltd., 1983), pp. 224, 228; Lu Youlin, "China's Uranium Mining," Nuclear Europe Worldscan, November-December, 1999, p. 44; "China, France and Other Uranium Production, Nukem, January 2000, p. 60.]
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