The forecast cost of rehabilitating Rio Tinto’s former NT uranium mine has increased.

Rio Tinto subsidiary Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) ceased operations at the Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu National Park in January 2021, entering a rehabilitation phase.

The rehabilitation is legally required to be completed by 2026. When the company made its first estimates for the cost in 2017, it predicted it would cost $526 million. By 2019, the estimated cost was up to $973 million.

Revised estimates were released last Wednesday, with the ERA now expecting the cost to be between $1.6 billion and $2.2 billion.

It also updated its forecast completion date for the works, placing it as late as the December quarter of 2028.

The company says the new timetable will require Commonwealth government approval and legislative changes. 

“A key constraint for ERA is the Atomic Energy Act 1953, which currently requires completion of rehabilitation activities by January 2026,” it said. 

“ERA has been engaging with government and key stakeholders to amend the [relevant act] and extend the expiry date of ERA’s tenure on the Ranger Project Area.”