Australian sandstone-hosted uranium deposits

Abstract

Australia's sandstone-hosted uranium deposits occur in sedimentary basins of Carboniferous, Cretaceous and Tertiary age; these include some of Australia's largest and highest grade uranium deposits. The conventional model for sandstone-hosted uranium deposits has proved robust and a predictive model leading to the discovery of many deposits in Australia. The location of deposits is strongly influenced by the presence of Mesoproterozoic and Archaean age leachable uraniumrich source rocks in the headwaters of channels draining into basins developed in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia. Australia's production of uranium from sandstone-hosted deposits is limited to two in-situ leach operations and is relatively minor when compared to production from Kazakhstan and the USA. Nevertheless, Australia has a large inventory of uranium resources in 19 undeveloped sandstone-hosted deposits, amounting to 123 kt U 3 O 8 . The average grade of all 21 Australian deposits that have resources is 0?15% U 3 O 8 . Tertiary palaeochannels host the greatest number of deposits and include the largest and highest grade deposits. The Callabonna Sub-basin in South Australia is the most richly endowed basin, accounting for 62?4 kt U 3 O 8 , being 38% of Australia's sandstone-hosted resource inventory. Australia remains highly prospective for the discovery of new palaeochannel hosted uranium deposits, with regional airborne geophysical surveys likely to be of great assistance in continuing to define palaeochannel systems that may host uranium in basins draining uranium rich source rocks.

Paleovalley-related uranium: exploration criteria and case-studies from Australia and China

“…Several roll-front sandstone-hosted uranium deposits in Western Australia, such as Manyingee and Carley Bore, occur along the eastern margin of the Carnarvon Basin (Figure 1), preserved in a paleovalley of Cretaceous age between basement highs (Penney, 2012). Theseus deposit, discovered in 2009 in Western Australia close to the border Hou et al (2012).…”

“…continental basin, with resources in excess of 62.4 kt U 3 O 8 , being 38% of Australia's sandstone-hosted resource inventory (Penney, 2012).…”

“…of the Northern Territory, comprises roll-front uranium mineralisation hosted within an Eocene paleovalley that drained the region between the Ngalia Basin and crystalline basement of the Arunta Province (Penney, 2012). Another recent (2010) discovery of paleovalleyrelated uranium, Afghan Swan prospect in the Northern Territory, is in lower Cenozoic sands deposited near the base of paleovalleys developed in the central area of the Ngalia Basin (Fig.…”

“…7). The combined indicated and inferred resource at Four Mile West and Four Mile East deposits is 9.8 million tonnes at 0.33% U 3 O 8 , containing 32 000 tonnes U 3 O 8 which make this the largest and highest grade sandstone-hosted uranium field in Australia (Penney, 2012;Johnston, 2013).…”

Geologic and Metallogenic Framework of North Africa

“…Sandstone-hosted uranium deposits constitute a major contributor to global production of this metal accounting for about 18 % of world uranium resources, 41 % of known deposits, and 45 % of global uranium production in 2011 (Penney 2012). Major deposits occur in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, USA, and Niger.…”