Uranium mineral systems: processes, exploration criteria, and a new deposit framework

Australia holds the world's largest resources of uranium recoverable at low cost, principally in the uranium-rich Olympic Dam iron oxide Cu-Au (IOCG) deposit together with the Ranger and Jabiluka unconformity-related deposits and Yeelirrie surface-related deposit. Despite this impressive inventory, resources of several other styles of uranium deposits appear to be under-represented in Australia relative to geologically similar regions elsewhere in the world. In particular, Australia has no known giant uranium deposits hosted by Mesozoic or younger sedimentary basins, although recent discoveries in the Frome Embayment have significantly increased total resources of `sandstone' uranium in the region. Major deposits directly related to magmatic processes also appear to be under-represented, given the abundance of unusually uranium-rich igneous rocks in Australia. The Australian Government's Onshore Energy Security Program (OESP 2006-2011) is providing pre-competitive geoscientific data and new area selection concepts to assist in reducing exploration risk and to support an assessment of onshore energy and uranium potential.


This report examines the key processes controlling where and how uranium mineralisation occurs in Australia and elsewhere. Based on this process understanding and on descriptions of well-documented systems, we develop generalised models of three distinct families of uranium mineral systems, including exploration criteria. The purpose of the report is to present a revised framework for a fresh assessment of Australia's uranium mineral potential. This systems-based approach, when combined with empirical data, provides a means of identifying previously unrecognised uranium provinces or districts.


The report has three parts. First, the fundamental chemical controls on uranium transport and deposition in aqueous geological systems are reviewed. Second, a new scheme of classification of uranium deposits is proposed (see below). Third, each of three families of uranium mineral systems, plus hybrid systems, is described in terms of ore-forming processes, essential components of the mineral system, and mappable criteria. Exploration models for key systems are presented in figures and tables.

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Date (Publication)
2009-01-01T00:00:00
Citation identifier
Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/69124

Cited responsible party
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Publisher

Geoscience Australia

 Canberra
Author

Skirrow, R.G.

 1
Author

Jaireth, S.

 2
Author

Huston, D.L.

 3
Author

Bastrakov, E.N.

 4
Author

Schofield, A.

 5
Author

van der Wielen, S.E.

 6
Author

Barnicoat, A.C.

 7
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Record

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2009/020

ISBN

9781921498817

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MNHD
Owner

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Custodian

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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  • Geoscientific information
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Unknown

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Title

Product data repository: Various Formats

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Data Store directory containing the digital product files

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

Keywords

  • GA Publication

  • Record

Theme

  • economic geology

Theme

  • metallogenesis

Theme

  • mineral exploration

Theme

  • commodities

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

  • Earth Sciences

Keywords

  • Published_External

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

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CC-BY

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4.0

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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

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License

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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
Language
English
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UTF8

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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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OnLine resource

Download the Record (pdf)

Download the Record (pdf)

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  • pdf

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Unknown

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Non geographic dataset
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GA Publication

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Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified

Metadata

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urn:uuid/a05f7892-ec01-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6

Title

GeoNetwork UUID

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8
Contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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Type of resource

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Document
Name

GA Record

Alternative metadata reference

Title

Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with

uuid

Citation identifier
eCatId/69124

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https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/a05f7892-ec01-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6

Date info (Revision)
2018-04-20T06:13:16
Date info (Creation)
2009-05-18T00:00:00

Metadata standard

Title

AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-3

Title

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

Edition

Version 2.0, September 2018

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

 
 

Keywords

commodities economic geology metallogenesis mineral exploration

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