The proponent of Beverley Uranium mine is Heathgate Resources, a subsidiary company of the US nuclear and military giant, General Atomics, whose founder was involved in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb construction. Despite Federal Government commitment that any new uranium mine required an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIS) before mining, Beverley has been active since 1988. With full approval of the State Government and the complicity of the Federal Government Heathgate set up the infrastructure and commenced mining 16 months prior to the completion of an EIS.

Beverley Uranium Mine uses the acid in situ leaching (ISL) method of mining. Commercially the acid leaching technique is no longer used in the US, as all previous operations in the US and Eastern Europe have led to significant ground contamination. Large quantities of sulphuric acid are pumped directly into the underground water aquifer to make the uranium soluble. The solution is returned to the surface, the uranium is removed for processing and the remains are pumped back into the water table. What is returned is often highly acidic and radioactive as radionucliedes and other heavy metals, once dormant in sand granules, are activated. As it is impossible to monitor the migration of water in the aquifer, the extent and degree of contamination from this practice is unknown. There is no guarantee that the aquifers are isolated and that water will not migrate out of the region or contaminate the Great Artesian Basin.