IAEA TECDOC SERIES Uranium Resources As Co- and By-Products of Polymetallic, Base, Rare Earth and Precious Metal Ore Deposits
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IAEA-TECDOC-1849 IAEA-TECDOC-1849 IAEA TECDOC SERIES Uranium Resources as Co- and By-products of Polymetallic, Base, Rare Earth and Precious Metal Ore Deposits Base, Uranium Resources as Co- and By-products of Polymetallic, IAEA-TECDOC-1849 Uranium Resources as Co- and By-products of Polymetallic, Base, Rare Earth and Precious Metal Ore Deposits International Atomic Energy Agency Vienna ISBN 978–92–0–103618–6 ISSN 1011–4289 @ URANIUM RESOURCES AS CO- AND BY-PRODUCTS OF POLYMETALLIC, BASE, RARE EARTH AND PRECIOUS METAL ORE DEPOSITS The following States are Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency: AFGHANISTAN GHANA PANAMA ALBANIA GREECE PAPUA NEW GUINEA ALGERIA GRENADA PARAGUAY ANGOLA GUATEMALA PERU ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA GUYANA PHILIPPINES ARGENTINA HAITI POLAND ARMENIA HOLY SEE PORTUGAL AUSTRALIA HONDURAS QATAR AUSTRIA HUNGARY REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA AZERBAIJAN ICELAND ROMANIA BAHAMAS INDIA RUSSIAN FEDERATION BAHRAIN INDONESIA BANGLADESH IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF RWANDA BARBADOS IRAQ SAINT VINCENT AND BELARUS IRELAND THE GRENADINES BELGIUM ISRAEL SAN MARINO BELIZE ITALY SAUDI ARABIA BENIN JAMAICA SENEGAL BOLIVIA, PLURINATIONAL JAPAN SERBIA STATE OF JORDAN SEYCHELLES BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA KAZAKHSTAN SIERRA LEONE BOTSWANA KENYA SINGAPORE BRAZIL KOREA, REPUBLIC OF SLOVAKIA BRUNEI DARUSSALAM KUWAIT SLOVENIA BULGARIA KYRGYZSTAN SOUTH AFRICA BURKINA FASO LAO PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC SPAIN BURUNDI REPUBLIC SRI LANKA CAMBODIA LATVIA SUDAN CAMEROON LEBANON SWAZILAND CANADA LESOTHO SWEDEN CENTRAL AFRICAN LIBERIA SWITZERLAND REPUBLIC LIBYA CHAD LIECHTENSTEIN SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC CHILE LITHUANIA TAJIKISTAN CHINA LUXEMBOURG THAILAND COLOMBIA MADAGASCAR THE FORMER YUGOSLAV CONGO MALAWI REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA COSTA RICA MALAYSIA TOGO CÔTE D’IVOIRE MALI TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO CROATIA MALTA TUNISIA CUBA MARSHALL ISLANDS TURKEY CYPRUS MAURITANIA TURKMENISTAN CZECH REPUBLIC MAURITIUS UGANDA DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC MEXICO UKRAINE OF THE CONGO MONACO UNITED ARAB EMIRATES DENMARK MONGOLIA UNITED KINGDOM OF DJIBOUTI MONTENEGRO GREAT BRITAIN AND DOMINICA MOROCCO NORTHERN IRELAND DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MOZAMBIQUE UNITED REPUBLIC ECUADOR MYANMAR OF TANZANIA EGYPT NAMIBIA UNITED STATES OF AMERICA EL SALVADOR NEPAL ERITREA NETHERLANDS URUGUAY ESTONIA NEW ZEALAND UZBEKISTAN ETHIOPIA NICARAGUA VANUATU FIJI NIGER VENEZUELA, BOLIVARIAN FINLAND NIGERIA REPUBLIC OF FRANCE NORWAY VIET NAM GABON OMAN YEMEN GEORGIA PAKISTAN ZAMBIA GERMANY PALAU ZIMBABWE The Agency’s Statute was approved on 23 October 1956 by the Conference on the Statute of the IAEA held at United Nations Headquarters, New York; it entered into force on 29 July 1957. The Headquarters of the Agency are situated in Vienna. Its principal objective is “to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world’’. IAEA-TECDOC-1849 URANIUM RESOURCES AS CO- AND BY-PRODUCTS OF POLYMETALLIC, BASE, RARE EARTH AND PRECIOUS METAL ORE DEPOSITS INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA, 2018 COPYRIGHT NOTICE All IAEA scientific and technical publications are protected by the terms of the Universal Copyright Convention as adopted in 1952 (Berne) and as revised in 1972 (Paris). The copyright has since been extended by the World Intellectual Property Organization (Geneva) to include electronic and virtual intellectual property. Permission to use whole or parts of texts contained in IAEA publications in printed or electronic form must be obtained and is usually subject to royalty agreements. Proposals for non-commercial reproductions and translations are welcomed and considered on a case-by-case basis. Enquiries should be addressed to the IAEA Publishing Section at: Marketing and Sales Unit, Publishing Section International Atomic Energy Agency Vienna International Centre PO Box 100 1400 Vienna, Austria fax: +43 1 2600 29302 tel.: +43 1 2600 22417 email: [email protected] http://www.iaea.org/books For further information on this publication, please contact: Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Materials Section International Atomic Energy Agency Vienna International Centre PO Box 100 1400 Vienna, Austria Email: [email protected] © IAEA, 2018 Printed by the IAEA in Austria June 2018 IAEA Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Names: International Atomic Energy Agency. Title: Uranium resources as co- and by-products of polymetallic, base, rare earth and precious metal ore deposits / International Atomic Energy Agency. Description: Vienna : International Atomic Energy Agency, 2018. | Series: IAEA TECDOC series, ISSN 1011–4289 ; no. 1849 | Includes bibliographical references. Identifiers: IAEAL 18-01168 | ISBN 978–92–0–103618–6 (paperback : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Uranium ores — Geology. | Mines and mineral resources. | Ore deposits. FOREWORD Uranium produced in conjunction with other metals has accounted for over 11% of historical world uranium production. Measured in tonnes of uranium (t U), gold, copper and uranium–vanadium deposits have provided the bulk of this production with 158 934 t U, 68 674 t U and 64 227 t U, respectively. Production of uranium as a co- or by-product of other metals has made an important contribution to overall uranium production in the past and is likely to continue to do so into the future. Quartz pebble conglomerates of the Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa have been the primary source of uranium as a by-product of gold. Acid leaching of ore and slimes for uranium recovery prior to treatment for gold recovery was shown to enhance subsequent gold recovery. In addition, redeposition of slimes into modern, engineered and controlled tailings management facilities have the potential to reduce long term environmental contamination. In the suburbs of Johannesburg, this has made available new land for expanding urban construction. Uranium and copper are closely associated in many deposits throughout the world, but particularly in Australia, South Africa, South America, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the United States of America. A significant portion of historical US uranium production derived from uranium–vanadium deposits in the Northern Colorado Plateau. By-products of uranium production include molybdenum, gold, yttrium, scandium and rare earths. Recovery of these minor by-products of uranium production may enhance the economics of uranium recovery. This publication will raise awareness of the presence of uranium in ore deposits that are not commonly thought of as containing uranium, as well as highlighting potential additional sources of uranium for uranium miners. It also provides examples of uranium deposits that host other metals of interest in order to maximize the commercial advantages. The relevance of this to the concept of comprehensive extraction, where miners are encouraged to ‘disturb’ the ground only once, and the additional benefits of reducing metals in mine wastes are also highlighted. Together, the commercial and environmental aspects combine to maximize the socioeconomic benefits of a broad range of metallic mining projects. The IAEA officer responsible for this publication was M. Fairclough of the Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology. EDITORIAL NOTE This publication has been prepared from the original material as submitted by the contributors and has not been edited by the editorial staff of the IAEA. The views expressed remain the responsibility of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of the IAEA or its Member States. Neither the IAEA nor its Member States assume any responsibility for consequences which may arise from the use of this publication. This publication does not address questions of responsibility, legal or otherwise, for acts or omissions on the part of any person. The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgement by the publisher, the IAEA, as to the legal status of such countries or territories, of their authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries. The mention of names of specific companies or products (whether or not indicated as registered) does not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be construed as an endorsement or recommendation on the part of the IAEA. The IAEA has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third party Internet web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Background ............................................................................................................................. 1 1.2. Objective ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.3. Scope ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.4. Structure .................................................................................................................................. 1 2. GEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND .................................................................................................. 2 2.1. IAEA geological classification of uranium deposits ............................................................... 2 2.2. The IAEA UDEPO database ..................................................................................................