Australia's Energy Commodity Resources 2026 Uranium and Thorium
Page last updated:10 August 2026
Uranium
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TDR 763,000 PJ (1.8%) | |
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EDR 718,700 PJ (1.9%) |
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Production 2,607 PJ (0.6%) | |
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Exports 2,600 PJ (2.5%) $1.2 b (25%) |
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Production World Ranking 4 (8%) | |
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Export World Ranking na |
Notes
Statistics are for 2024, percentage increases or decreases are in relation to 2023. World rankings are followed by percentage share in brackets. TDR = total demonstrated resources; EDR – economic demonstrated resources; PJ = petajoules; $b = billion dollars (Australian); na = not available.
Figure 6.1 Australia’s identified uranium resources by deposit (PJ), 2024.
Highlights
- Australia plays a significant role in the global uranium market despite the absence of domestic nuclear power. Australia contains the world’s largest resources of uranium and is the fourth largest producer despite mining of uranium currently only being permitted in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Australia’s uranium industry has seen further growth amid increasing global interest in nuclear energy as an alternative low-emission power source.
- In 2024, Australia had three producing uranium mines: Olympic Dam, Four Mile and Honeymoon, all in South Australia. The Olympic Dam Mine remains the world’s largest deposit of uranium. The Honeymoon Mine re-started mining in late 2024 after being in care and maintenance since 2013.
- Australia exports all its uranium production to countries which have signed bilateral safeguards agreements, ensuring that Australian uranium is only used for peaceful purposes and does not contribute to any military applications. Australia’s average annual export volume of uranium for the last 10 years is approximately 5,550 tonnes of uranium (tU).
- Uranium exploration spending has risen in recent years. From its low in 2019–2020, total exploration expenditure in 2024 was $71 million, the highest in over a decade (ABS, 2025).
- Australian commonwealth legislation does not permit the establishment of a nuclear power industry in Australia. Australian uranium production is not used for power generation in Australia.
- Thorium has been used previously in the nuclear generation process, but its use is still largely experimental and there is no current commercial market for thorium.
- Thorium is not produced in Australia and production on a large scale is unlikely in the immediate future.
Uranium
Uranium is a radioactive element that is widespread at levels of 1 to 4 parts per million (ppm) in the Earth’s crust. Concentrations of uranium-rich minerals, such as uraninite, carnotite and brannerite, can form economically recoverable deposits. The majority of Australia's uranium occurs in four main types of deposit: iron oxide breccia complexes, unconformity-related accumulations, sandstone-hosted resources and paleochannel/calcrete-style resources.
Once mined, uranium is processed into uranium oxide (U3O8), also referred to as uranium oxide concentrate and is exported in this form. Natural uranium (from mine production) contains approximately 0.7% of the uranium isotope U-235 and 99.3% U-238. To make nuclear fuel from uranium ore, the uranium is extracted from the host rock and then the U-235 isotope is progressively enriched for use in nuclear power reactors.
Uranium resources
Australia’s uranium resources are expressed as Economic Demonstrated Resources (EDR), Subeconomic Demonstrated Resources (SDR) and Inferred Resources. Refer to Appendix 4 for definitions of these terms and further information on the National Classification System for reporting of Identified Mineral Resources.
Accounting for more than one-third of the world’s known uranium resources, in 2024 Australia’s total Identified Resources (EDR plus SDR plus Inferred Resources) were 1,959 ktU (1,097,100 PJ)—comprising 1,280 ktU (718,700 PJ) of EDR, and 79 ktU (44,250 PJ) of SDR and 596 ktU (334,160 PJ) of Inferred Resources. Although most Australian states and territories host uranium deposits, EDR of uranium are concentrated in South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia (Figure 6.1). South Australia’s Olympic Dam is the world’s largest uranium deposit, with an EDR of 1026 ktU (574,414 PJ). Based on 2024 production rates, Australia’s uranium reserves have an estimated life of 71 years.
The recoverable volumes of World Reasonably Assured Resources (RAR) at less than US$130/kgU were estimated at approximately 3,869 million tonnes (Mt) in 2024 (OECD NEA and IAEA, 2024). Australia accounts for approximately 32% of this global inventory (Figure 6.2).
Figure 6.1 Global distribution of Reasonably Assured Resources of uranium (tonnes U <US$130/kgU).
Production and trade
Global uranium production is dominated by a few countries, with Australia, Kazakhstan, Canada, Namibia, South Africa and Niger accounting for most production. In 2024, Australia ranked as the 4th largest uranium producer (World Nuclear Association, 2026), contributing 8% of global production with 4,656 tU (2,607 PJ) produced from the Olympic Dam, Four Mile and Honeymoon mines (Figure 6.3), which represents a slight 0.6% decrease from 2023 (Figure 6.4).
The Honeymoon Mine in South Australia (Boss Energy), which had been in care and maintenance since 2013, re-commenced mining operations in the December quarter of 2023, with production starting in 2024 (Figure 6.3). In Western Australia, the Mulga Rock Project (Deep Yellow Ltd.) acquired environmental approval in 2017 and has recently commenced a revised Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) that is scheduled to be completed in Q3 of 2026.
Australian mining companies supply uranium under long-term contracts to electricity utilities in North America, Europe and Asia. In 2024, Australia exported 2,727 PJ (4,869 tU; Figure 6.4; DISR, 2025) to Canada (17%), Europe (16%) and the United States (67%; ASNO, 2025).
Figure 6.3 Australia’s uranium mines, 2024.
Figure 6.4 Historical trends in Australia’s uranium production and exports.
Thorium
Australia has a major share of the world’s thorium resources, which while not currently in use as an energy resource, could play a role as a nuclear energy source in the future.
Thorium is a naturally occurring radioactive element that is three to five times more abundant in the Earth’s crust than uranium. It is less conducive to nuclear weapons proliferation and due to its greater energy-producing efficiency, generates substantially less radioactive waste. The most common source of thorium is monazite, a rare earth phosphate mineral that is a minor constituent of heavy mineral sand (HMS) deposits. On average, monazite contains approximately 6% thorium and 60% rare earth elements.
Figure 6.5 Australia’s identified thorium resources in heavy mineral sand and ‘hard rock’ deposits, 2024.
In Australia, approximately 84% of thorium resources are contained in HMS deposits; the remaining 16% are contained in hard-rock rare earth element deposits (Figure 6.5). Monazite and thorium resources are typically not published publicly; however, Geoscience Australia estimates the monazite (and hence thorium) content in deposits and classifies these estimated resources as Inferred Resources. Using this approach, Geoscience Australia estimates that Australia’s total identified in situ thorium resources were approximately 1,391 kt as of 31 December 2024, including 216 kt of ‘hard rock’ resources and 1175 kt of HMS resources.
Although heavy mineral sand (HMS) deposits containing monazite are currently being mined in Australia, thorium is not recovered due to the absence of a commercial market for this element.
Commercial use of thorium as a nuclear reactor fuel is still some decades away, with only small scale and intermittent research into associated technologies. However, thorium-fuelled reactors have previously operated to generate electricity in Germany and the United States (World Nuclear Association, 2020) and India has an operational test facility with plans for a network of larger commercial facilities (World Nuclear Association, 2024; Power, 2019). Extracting the latent energy value of thorium in a cost-effective manner requires considerable investment in research and development (World Nuclear Association, 2020).
References
ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics), 2025. Mineral and Petroleum Exploration, Australia, Table 5. (last accessed February 2026). (Last accessed 6 May 2026).
ASNO (Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office), 2025. Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office Annual Report 2024-2025. (Last accessed May 2026).
DISR (Department of Industry, Science and Resources), 2025. Resources and Energy Quarterly: March 2025.
DCCEEW (Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water), 2024. Australian Energy Update 2024, Table S, August 2024. (Last accessed May 2026).
OECD, NEA and IAEA (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Nuclear Energy Agency, and International Atomic Energy Agency), 2025. Uranium 2024: Resources, Production and Demand. (Last accessed May 2026).
Power, 2019. Indian-designed nuclear reactor breaks record for continuous operation. (Last accessed May 2026).
World Nuclear Association, 2020. Thorium. (Last accessed May 2026).
World Nuclear Association, 2024. Nuclear Power in India. (Last accessed May 2026).
World Nuclear Association, 2026. Uranium production by Country. (Last accessed May 2026).
Data download
Data tables and full report are downloadable from the Geoscience Australia website.