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Jan Willem Storm van Leeuwen and Philip Smith predict that the energy const of mining Uranium is given by the formula:

Energy Cost = (Constant * Mass of Uranium)/(percentage Uranium concentration in Ore * yield of mine)

From a selection of analyses of Uranium mines employed in the 1970's they choose data that give this Constant = 0.654 GigaJoules per Kilogram produced.

Rossing produces around 3000 tonnes of Uranium in a year = 3.0x106 Kilograms

Uranium Concentration in Rossing Ore = 0.03%

SLS predict Yield = 0.8 for an Ore concentration of 0.03%

So they predict:

Energy Cost = (0.654 x 3x106)/(0.8*0.03) = 8.3x107 GigaJoules per year to mine 3000 tonnes of uranium.

Energy Produced by 1 GigaWatt Power plant for 1 year = 1 x 365 x 24 x 60 x 60 = 3.1x107 GigaJoules

So predicted energy cost = 8.3x107 / 3.1x107 = 2.6 GigaWatt - Years

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