Sandstone uranium deposits associated with hydrocarbon-bearing basins: implications for uranium exploration in Australia

Sandstone deposits are important sources of uranium, accounting for approximately 20 percent of global production, largely through in situ leach (ISL) mining. Most of this production has come from deposits in the western US, Niger and Kazakhstan. In Australia, sandstone-hosted uranium is being produced from the Beverley deposit in the Frome Embayment of South Australia, and a second ISL mine is under development at Honeymoon in the same region.


Such deposits form where uranium-bearing oxidised ground waters moving through sandstone aquifers react with reducing materials. The locations of ore zones and the sizes of mineral deposits depend, amongst other factors, on the abundance and the reactive nature of the reductant. Hence the nature and abundance of organic material in the ore-bearing sedimentary sequence may be of critical importance in the formation of sandstone uranium deposits.


In sandstones rich in organic material (containing debris of fossil plants or layers of authigenic organic material) the organic materials either reduce uranium directly with bacteria as a catalyst, or result in production of biogenic H2S. In sandstones relatively poor in organic material, that the reduction can be caused either by the introduction of hydrocarbons and/or H2S from oil/gas fields within underlying sediments; or by H2S produced from the interaction of oxidised ground water with pyrite in the sandstone aquifer.


This paper outlines the geology of the world-class sandstone uranium deposits in the Chu-Sarysu and Syr-Darya Basins in the south-central portion of Kazakhstan, which are hosted by sandstones relatively poor in organic matter. It highlights the crucial role of that hydrocarbons appear to have played in the formation of these and other large sandstone type uranium deposits. Based on the model developed, it is concluded that there is considerable potential in Australia for discovery of large sandstone hosted uranium mineralisation, including in little explored regions underlain by basins with known or potential hydrocarbons.

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Date (Publication)
2008-01-01T00:00:00
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Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/65652

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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
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Jaireth, S.

 1
Author

McKay, A.D.

 2
Author

Lambert, I.B.

 3
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MNHD
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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes

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  • economic geology

  • hydrocarbons

  • mineral exploration

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  • Earth Sciences

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2018-11-01T00:00:00
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English
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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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Uranium Systems Project

Uranium Systems Project

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Download the file (pdf)

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Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
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https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

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Unclassified

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English
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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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eCatId/65652

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2018-04-22T08:33:26
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2008-01-31T00:00:00

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AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014

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ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

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ISO 19115-3

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Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014

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Version 2.0, September 2018

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https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551

 
 

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economic geology hydrocarbons mineral exploration

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