• Over half of the world's production of uranium from mines is from Canada, Australia and Kazakhstan.
• An increasing proportion is produced by in situ leaching.
• After a decade of falling mine production to 1993, output has generally risen since then and now comprises 61% of demand for power generation. 

Canada produces the largest share of uranium from mines (25% of world supply from mines), followed by Australia (19%) and Kazakhstan (13%). Australian and Canadian production was depressed in 2006 due to particular problems.

Production from mines (tonnes U)

Country	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Canada	11604	10457	11597	11628	9862
Australia	6854	7572	8982	9516	7593
Kazakhstan	2800	3300	3719	4357	5279
Niger	3075	3143	3282	3093	3434
Russia (est)	2900	3150	3200	3431	3262
Namibia	2333	2036	3038	3147	3067
Uzbekistan	1860	1598	2016	2300	2260
USA	919	779	878	1039	1672
Ukraine (est)	800	800	800	800	800
China (est)	730	750	750	750	750
South Africa	824	758	755	674	534
Czech Repub.	465	452	412	408	359
India (est)	230	230	230	230	177
Brazil	270	310	300	110	190
Romania (est)	90	90	90	90	90
Germany	212	150	150	77	50
Pakistan (est)	38	45	45	45	45
France	20	0	7	7	5
Total world	36 063	35 613	40 251	41 702	39 429
tonnes U3O8	42 529	41 998	47 468	49 179	46 499

Mining methods have been changing. In 1990, 55% of world production came from underground mines, but this shrunk dramatically to 1999, with 33% then. From 2000 the new Canadian mines increase it again, and with Olympic Dam it is now 50%.

In 2006 production was as follows:

underground	41%
open pit	24%
in situ leach (ISL)	26%
by-product	9%

(considering Olympic Dam as by-product rather than in underground category)

In the 1990s the uranium production industry was consolidated by takeovers, mergers and closures. In 2006, the eight companies marketing most of the world's uranium mine production were:

Company	tonnes U	%
Cameco	8249	20.9
Rio Tinto	7094	18.0
Areva	5272	13.4
KazAtomProm	3699	9.4
TVEL	3262	8.3
BHP Billiton	2868	7.3
Navoi	2260	5.7
Uranium One	1000	2.5
Total top 8	33,704	85.5%

The largest-producing uranium mines in 2006 were:

Mine	Country	Main owner	Type	Production (tU)	% of world
McArthur River	Canada	Cameco	underground	7200	18.3
Ranger	Australia	ERA (Rio Tinto 68%)	open pit	4026	10.2
Rossing	Namibia	Rio Tinto (69%)	open pit	3067	7.8
Krazbokamensk	Russia	TVEL	underground	2900	7.4
Olympic Dam	Australia	BHP Billiton	by-product/ underground	2868	7.3
Rabbit Lake	Canada	Cameco	underground	1972	5.0
Akouta	Niger	Areva/Onarem	underground	1869	4.7
Arlit	Niger	Areva/Onarem	open pit	1565	4.0
Akdala	Kazakhstan	Uranium One	ISL	1000	2.5
Highland - Smith Ranch	USA	Cameco	ISL	786	2.0
Beverley	Australia	Heathgate	ISL	699	1.7
McClean Lake	Canada	Cogema	open pit	690	1.7
Top 12 total				28,642	72.6%

New Mines

Canada has two major mines which came into production in 1999: Cameco's McArthur River deposit has enormous high-grade reserves and supplies ore from its underground mine to the Key Lake mill, to produce some 7200 tU/yr. Areva's McClean Lake mine can produce over 2000 tU/yr.

Cameco's Cigar Lake underground mine is being developed for 2010 or 2011 start-up. It will truck ore for treatment at McClean Lake and Rabbit Lake mills, 70 km away, to produce 7000 tU/yr. Areva's Midwest mine is ready to develop, with ore milled at McClean Lake nearby, to produce 2200 tU/yr.

With all these operating, Canadian output could be substantially be concentrated at two mills: McClean Lake producing about 7800 tU and Key Lake 10,700 tU per year, with about 2300 t/yr coming from Rabbit Lake. All this will be about half of projected world mine production. (See also Information Paper on Canada).

In Australia there are plans to triple the uranium output of Olympic Dam, to about 12,700 tonnes U per year. Meanwhile the three Australian mines produce some 8000 tonnes U per year, bout 20% of world mine production. (See also Information Paper on Australia).