What is uranium

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What is uranium?
Virginia T. McLemore New Mexico Bureau of Geology
and Mineral Resources New Mexico Institute of
Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM
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Outline

• Introduction
• Mine life cycle
• Safety
• Geology
• Economics
• Sustainable development

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Introduction
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Conversions

• An ore grade of 1 U3O8 is equivalent to 0.848 U
  
• 1 million lbs U3O8 are equivalent to 385 metric
  tonnes of U

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Uranium

• Hard, dense, metallic silver-gray, naturally
  occurring element
• Atomic number 92
• Atomic weight 238.02891
• Ductile, malleable, poor conductor of electricity
• Discovered in 1789 by Martin Klaproth in Germany
• Named after the planet Uranus

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• Uraniumthe highest atomic weight of the
  naturally occurring elements.
• Approximately 70 more dense than lead and is
  weakly radioactive.
• Uraninite, chief ore of uranium and radium, is a
  highly radioactive mineral.
• Helium was first discovered on the earth in
  samples of uraninite. Radium and helium are found
  in uraninite because they are the principle
  products of uranium's decay process.

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Radioactive isotopes

• Like other elements, uranium occurs in isotopes
  (16) differ from each other in the number of
  particles (neutrons) in the nucleus.
• Natural uranium as found in the Earth's crust is
  a mixture largely of two isotopes
• U-235 (0.7)
• U-238 (most abundant, 99.3)

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Uses

• Nuclear power plants to generate electricity
• Other applications
• Nuclear weapons
• X-ray targets for production of high-energy
  X-rays
• Photographic toner
• Analytical chemistry applications
• Yellow glass ware and ceramics (historical use)

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Uses for depleted uranium

• Yacht keels
• Counterweights
• Armor piercing ammunition
• Radiation shielding (1.7 denser than Pb)

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Most uranium today is used for nuclear power
generation
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NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS http//www.insc.anl.gov/pwrma
ps/map/world_map.php
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Why is uranium important for providing
electricity?
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Mine Life Cycle
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The Mine Life Cycle
Source John Gadsby, Vancouver BC, 2002
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Mining Life Cycle (Spiral?)
Closure
Ongoing Operations
Post-Closure
Temporary Closure
Exploration
Future Land Use
Mine Development
Operations
?????
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Nuclear Power Plant
Interim Storage
?
Fuel Fabrication
Long-term storage
Enrichment
Nuclear Fuel Production Process After Investing
in the Great Uranium Bull Market,
StockInterview.com, 2006
UF6 Conversion
Mining and Milling
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Legacy Issues
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3 Mile Island Facts (1979)

• No one died
• All litigation claims for physical harm were
  denied in court
• One reactor shut down
• 7 nuclear reactors in 4 locations in eastern
  Pennsylvania
• Pennsylvania 36 of its energy comes from nuclear
  power2nd behind Illinois

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Chernobyl Facts (1986)

• 100 people died
• 50 tons of radioactive dust and debris scattered
  around the nearby Ukrainian countryside
• 18 mile circle designated Chernobyl Exclusion
  Zone
• Pockets within this zone are at normal radiation
  levels
• At first cows were unable to produce offspring,
  but now are able tono mutilated cows

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Discovery to Development

• Typical Timeline
• gt10 years
• Recent Real Life Examples
• Langer Heinrich, Namibia (Paladin Resources)
• Discovery 1973
• Production 2007
• Cigar Lake, Canada (Cameco)
• Discovery 1981
• Production ?

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Uranium Exploration/Mining Company Risks

• Political
• Permitting
• NGOs
• Nationalization
• Technical
• Infrastructure
• Project Viability
• Equipment
• Labor

• Economic
• Uranium Price
• Financing

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Global Challenges
Production Source WNA.
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How does uranium exploration and mining differ
from other commodities?
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SAFETY
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Radon Problem

• 1 Working Level (WL) 100 pCi/L radon in air
• 1 Working Level Month (WLM) working 1 month at
  1 WL.
• Current MSHA exposure limit 0.3 WL or 4 WLM per
  year.
• EPAs household exposure limit 0.02 WL
• 1987 NIOSH proposed standard 1 WLM per year.

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Radon Problem

• If the International Commission on Radiation
  Protection standards were adopted by the US, it
  is estimated that 50 of coal and m/nm mines
  could be out of compliance.
• How do we measure and control radon in
  anticipation of lower standards in the future?
• Radon levels vary upon where in the mine you are
  working.

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Current International Standards
WLM Working Level Months
Working level (WL) is any combination of
short-lived radon daughters in 1 liter of air
that will result in the ultimate emission of
1.3x105 MeV of potential alpha particle
energy. Working level month (WLM) means an
exposure to 1 working level for 170 hours (2,000
working hours per year/12 months per
yearapproximately 170 hours per month).
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Gather the historic data on uranium miners
health Identify health and safety concerns
relevant to uranium mining employees.
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Penetration Abilities of Different Types of
Radiation
Alpha Particles Stopped by a sheet of paper but a
hazard in the lungs
Radiation Source
Beta Particles Stopped by a layer of clothing or
less than an inch of a substance (e.g. plastic)
Gamma Rays Stopped by inches to feet of
concrete or less than an inch of lead
Neutrons Stopped by a few feet of concrete
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Identify, evaluate and develop personal and area
radon progeny monitoring instrumentation
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Geology and mining of sandstone uranium deposits
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What did we do the last go-around?

• In the U.S. we followed the prospectors, then,
  using mostly empirical sandstone models with some
  assumptions we expanded exploration within the
  old districts and beyond.
• We argued about uranium source, transport,
  precipitation and other critical criteria but
  mainly we kept to the recipe.
• Can we keep playing in the sandbox and find
  enough U3O8 for a burgeoning power industry?

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Before you can explore for sandstone uranium
deposits, you must know what they are and
understand a conceptual model of their
distribution and formation!
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Sandstone uranium deposits

• Epigenetic concentrations of uranium minerals
  occurring as uneven impregnations and minor
  massive replacements in fluvial, lacustrine, and
  deltaic sandstones
• Low to medium grade (0.05 - 0.4 U3O8)
• Small to medium in size (ranging up to a maximum
  of 50,000 tons U3O8)

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Sandstone uranium deposits

• Medium to coarse grained sandstones
• Includes mudstones through conglomerates
• Well-sorted, permeable, unmetamorphosed clastic
  sediment
• Quartzose to feldspathic to arkosic compositions
• Some hosts have varying amounts of volcanic
  debris
• Humid, subtropical, tropical climates

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Sandstone host rocks

• Reduced hosts are light-gray to green to white
• Oxidized hosts are light brown to red (state of
  Fe oxidation)
• Good transmissivity
• Deposits are localized where sandstonemudstone
  ratios are 11

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Fluids

• Low temperature ground waters
• Although only a few fluid inclusion studies of
  sandstone deposits have been published, they
  indicate that the fluids were less than 100
  degrees C and low salinity (lt10 NaCl)(Poty and
  Pagel, 1988)

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Uranium precipitated under reducing conditions

• Carbonaceous materials
• Plant matter
• Humates
• Hydrocarbons
• Pyrite or other sulfides
• Interbedded basic volcanics with abundant
  ferro-magnesian and other minerals (eg chlorite,
  zeolites, clay, TiO2)

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Types

• Tabular
• Precipitated at chemical interfaces between a
  connate pore fluid (most likely a brine) and an
  infiltrating fluid (meteoric)
• remnant-primary deposits
• Roll front
• Precipitated at the redox interface of a single
  extrinsic solution passing through reduced
  pyrite-bearing sandstone
• Fault related

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Uranium ore

• Uraninite and coffinite are primary minerals
• Urano-organic complexes
• Secondary uranium minerals
• Fine-grained
• Occupy intergranular spaces
• Locally replace fossil wood and bones
• Typically follow bedding, but do cross cut
  bedding
• Well define boundaries, but gradations are common

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Geochemical signature

• U, V, Mo, Se, locally Cu, Ag, Cr, Ra.
• Anomalous radioactivity from daughter products of
  U.
• Low magnetic susceptibility in and near tabular
  ores.

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Sandstone U geochemistry
Western USA
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Tectonic setting

• Fluvial-lacastrine systems formed on foreland
  bordered by a magmatic-arc subduction zone on one
  side and intracratonic sea on the other
• Fluvial-lacustrine systems in intermontane basins
  formed by later tectonic adjustments in foreland
  regions
• Fluvial-shoreline systems of marginal marine
  plains

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Continental settings or marginal plains or marine
basins

• Channel
• Lagoonal
• Beach-bar

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Distribution

• Sandstone uranium deposits are found on every
  continent
• Silurian and younger
• Time of first development of vascular land plants
• Largest found in Permian, Jurassic, Tertiary, and
  Cretaceous rocks

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Source of uranium

• Internal and external sources
• Mostly igneous source (granite or volcanic ash)

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Sedimentation Provenance

• Granitic
• Felsic (acid) volcanic

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World class uranium deposits require

• Source of uranium
• Mineralizing process
• Favorable deposition
• Preservation of the deposits

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Mining methods

• Conventional open pit mines
• Conventional underground mines
• Room and pillar
• Stope
• In-situ leaching
• Acid solutions
• Carbonate solutions

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http//www.wma-minelife.com/uranium/insitu/insituf
r.htm
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Milling

• Acid leach for low lime ores
• Alkaline leach calcareous ores
• Ion-exchange
• Solvent extraction

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References

• IAEA-TECDOC-328, 1985, Geological Environments of
  sandstone uranium deposits
• AAPG Studies in Geology 22, 1986, A basin
  analysis case study The Morrison Formation
  Grants uranium region, New Mexico

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Present and future economics
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Uranium Outlook 2007-2008, StockInterview.com
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Three Uranium Price Booms
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Pelizza and McCarn (2002)
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Uranium Outlook 2007-2008, StockInterview.com
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Uranium Outlook 2007-2008, StockInterview.com
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Production Woes Continue

• Cigar Lake mine delayed until at least late 2011
• Sulfuric acid shortage in Kazakhstan will lead to
  production cutbacks in 2008 and 2009
• Kazatomprom, AREVA, Cameco and Uranium One
  impacted
• Rabbit Lake mining halted due to water inflow

Uranium Market Overview December 2007
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Production Woes Continue

• New projects experience ramp-up problems
• Paladins Langer Heinrich and Uranium Ones
  Dominion below production targets
• BHP Billiton expansion of Olympic Dam expected to
  cost more and potentially be delayed
• Political situation in Niger not positive for
  existing and new producers

Uranium Market Overview December 2007
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Growth in non-Western Demand
Russia
China
India
Uranium Market Overview December 2007
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MAJOR COMPANIES IN THE URANIUM INDUSTRY 2005
http//www.321gold.com/editorials/kettell/kettell
060104.html
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2006 World Production Shares by Production
Company
Uranium Market Overview December 2007
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Concentration of Primary Uranium Production

• Largest 5 mines supply 51 of global primary
  production.

Source WNA.
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Capital Markets Support A Necessary Requirement
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Access to Capital Key Factors

• Capital is most accessible in a stable and/or
  rising price environment.

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http//www.wise-uranium.org/umaps.html
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http//www.wise-uranium.org/umaps.html
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UNITED STATES URANIUM PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION
1980, 2005
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http//www.wise-uranium.org/umaps.html
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U.S. uranium exploration drilling
Total gt 500,000,000 Feet
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Sustainable Development
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What is sustainable development?

• Development that meets the needs of the present
  without compromising the ability of future
  generations to meet their own.
• Sustainable development is not about sustaining
  the life of a mine. Instead it is about
  sustaining the flow of materials.

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Continued supply of natural resources to
manufacture and produce products that society
demands

• Recycling
• Re-use
• Less use
• Materials replacement
• Alternative product design
• Mining of new resources

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It is not easy to meet societys needs without
changing the landscape somewhere and affecting
local communities.
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The challenge is provide society with its needs,
protect future resources, alter the landscape and
affect local communities as little as possible.
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Risk Hazard Outrage

• Terminology from Sandman, Peter M. (1993)
  Responding to Community Outrage Strategies for
  Effective Risk Communication, American Industrial
  Hygiene Association, Fairfax, VA. 142 pp
• In short
• Hazard is what risk assessors call Risk
• Outrage is all the things that people worry about
  and that the experts ignore
• Outrage suggests strong emotion and suggests that
  the emotion is justified

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The Disconnect

• Experts
• Risk focus on hazard and ignore outrage
• High hazard and low outrage overestimate the
  risk
• Low hazard and high outrage underestimate the
  risk

• Public
• Risk focus on outrage and ignore hazard
• High hazard and low outrage underestimate the
  risk
• Low hazard and high outrage overestimate the
  risk

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