TYPES OF URANIUM

DEPOSITS

Virginia T. McLemore
New Mexico Bureau of
Geology and Mineral
Resources
New Mexico Institute of Mining
and Technology, Socorro,
NM
Safety moment
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/2005/17/
gip-17.pdf
MARCH 7 (no class Feb 22), class Feb
29)

SME—attend 2 talks and report back to

the class

Choose an article, read it, and report

the important points back to the class
• 10 min (NO LONGER)
• Purpose of paper
• Methods used
• Conclusion of paper
• Your evaluation
DEFINITIONS
• Uranium occurrence: A naturally occurring,
anomalous concentration of uranium
• Uranium deposit: A mass of naturally
occurring mineral from which uranium could
be exploited at present or in the future (under
given economic conditions)
• Uranium resources: Reasonable
expectation of recoverable quantities of
uranium
• 43 101 compliant
• Historic resources
Outline

• How do we classify mineral

deposits?
• Classification of uranium deposits
• What are the major types in North
America
HOW DO WE CLASSIFY
MINERAL DEPOSITS?
Why do we classify mineral
deposits?
Why do we classify mineral
deposits?
• Understand the geological conditions of
formation
• Understand how they formed
• Understand where they formed
• Key to exploration
• Provides for comparison between
deposits
Geology provides the
framework in which mineral
exploration
and the integrated procedures
of remote sensing,
geophysics,
and geochemistry are planned
and interpreted.
A mineral is where you find it.
It may not be the most
suitable place in the world,
because geologic processes
govern the locations of
mineral deposits.
Epigenetic mineral deposit

formed much later than the rocks which

enclose it
Syngenetic mineral deposits

formed at the same time as the rocks that

enclose it
HOW DO WE CLASSIFY
MINERAL DEPOSITS?
• Tectonics
• Mineralogy
• Chemistry
• Host rock
• Commodity
• Form
• Mining method
• Orogenesis
Simple classification

• Magmatic
• Sedimentary
• Supergene
• Metamorphic
Classifications
• Niggli (1929) (historic, considered deposits
related to magmatic process)
• Schneiderhohn (1941) (historic, considered
deposits related to magmatic process)
• Lindgren (1933, modified 1968) (all types)
• Bateman (1942, revised 1979) (all types)
• Stanton (1972)
• Guilbert and Park (1986)
• Cox and Singer (1986)
Niggli (1929)
Guilbert and
Park (1986)
Cox and Singer (1985)
Some deposits are formed by
more than one process (placers,
some nepheline syenites)
http://www-
pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications
/PDF/TE_1629_web.pdf
Based upon relating uranium
deposit types to specific
geologic environments and/or
lithologies
Formation of uranium deposits
• SOURCE • DEPOSITION
• ore-element source • Internal environment
• mineralizing fluid (ore)
source • external environment
• MOBILIZATION (rock character) at
deposition site
• migration
mechanism and form • CONCENTRATION
• regional migration • concentration
control mechanism
• local migration • fixation mechanism
control • PRESERVATION
• internal environment
(fluid character)
What important parameters to
characterize uranium
deposits?
• location
• shape
• size
• depth
• orientation
• geotectonics
• mineralogy
• hydrology
• boundary conditions
http://www-
pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications
/PDF/TE_1629_web.pdf
 TYPES OF DEPOSITS
• Unconformity-related • Collapse breccia pipe
deposits deposits
• Sandstone deposits • Surficial deposits
• Quartz-pebble
conglomerate • Metasomatic deposits
deposits • Metamorphic deposits
• Vein deposits • Black shale deposits
(granite-related)
• Hematite Breccia • Caldera-related volcanic
complex deposits • Other types of deposits
• Intrusive deposits • Lignite
• Phosphorite deposits • limestone
• placers
Hitzman and Valenta,
2005, Economic
Geology, v. 100, pp.
1657–1661
Unconformity-related
uranium deposits
 Unconformity-related
uranium deposits
• Massive pods, veins and/or disseminations of
uraninite spatially associated with major
unconformities that separate Paleoproterozoic
metamorphic basement from overlying
Paleoproterozoic-Mesoproterozoic siliciclastic
basins
• between Proterozoic siliciclastic red beds and
metamorphic basement that includes graphitic
metapelite and radiogenic granite
• Among the highest grade and largest uranium
deposits in the world
Types of Unconformity-
related
uranium deposits
• Fracture controlled
• Clay-bound Proterozoic unconformity
• Stratabound Proterozoic unconformity
• Stratabound proterozoic unconformity
• Phanerozoic unconformity-related
Unconformity-associated
uranium deposits
• Pitchblende fills extensional features in
reactivated fault zones and replaces matrix in
sandstone

• One mining district in Canada

– the Athabasca Basin
- >30 deposits /prospects
- most in eastern ¼ of basin
- produces 1/3 of world’s U
 World Unconformity-associated U Deposits

590 Economic / potential U deposits all types >500 Tonnes U @ >0.03% U (IAEA)
Distribution and value Commodities
of Unconformity U U >> Ni >>Au,Cu,PGE

deposits in Canada Resources,

Athabasca Basin (A):
553,778 Tonnes U
@ 1.922 % U (average)
Up to 25% U (P2)
H E $30,237,488,300
T ($30 billion)

A 18 deposits mined,
Hw all in Saskatchewan:
Cigar Lake (~2007)

S O Cluff Lake (7), Collins Bay

C (3), Eagle Pt., Key Lake (2)
McArthur R (P2), McClean
Lake (2), Rabbit Lake

Prospective basins
One deposit type, two end-member fluid flows
One deposit type, two extremes of alteration

Quartz dissolution, Early silicification,

e.g. Cigar Lake e.g. McArthur River
Temporal Distribution of U Deposits
 Summary:
Unconformity-associated U Deposit
Empirical Geological Model
W E
Quaternary
Athabasca
grow faults
Grow Group
hill alteration unconformity
regolith

t o ne i
g
na s s
old valley > 1750 Ma

me a- ps
me
me

lit i
intercalated
gr

c
ta - am
t
taq

ortho- and
ap

pe m
paragneiss
h
u

lite it e
iti
ar

c
tz

S.

+
ite

Z.

~ 100 m

Mono- -basement hosted -”sandstone” hosted

Poly- -U, Ni, Co, Cu, As
-uranium
metallic -Lower total REE metallic -high total REE
 Key Exploration Criteria for
Unconformity-Associated Uranium Deposits
 Tectonic settings: Intra-cratonic; late collisional far-field
stresses

 Basin Repeated fault reactivation, paleo-valleys, hills

Architecture: Fluvial systems, 1780-1540 Ma, sources <150
km

 Geophysics: EM - graphitic basement metapelite; need

deep systems
AMT new deep conductors, resistivity maps
alteration
Seismic maps unconformity and intersecting
structures
 Key Exploration Criteria for
Unconformity- Associated Uranium Deposits

 Paleo-Environment: Warm & humid, intense weathering,

red regolith

 Geology: Drilling, structural models: faults,

intersections

 Modeling: 1st hydrothermal fluids 1670, 2nd 1450 Ma,

remobilized
Hydrocarbons and pyrobitumens post-U
(controversy).
Major unconformity type
deposits in the world
• Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan,
Canada
• Pine Creek Geosyncline, Northern
Territory, Australia

• None known in New Mexico

SANDSTONE
Sandstone

• Carbon and/or pyrite-bearing fluvial

(less commonly marine), arkosic,
medium to coarse-grained sandstones
that contain, are interbedded with, and
are bounded by less permeable
horizons
• Uranium is precipitated under reducing
conditions
 CANA
DA Context of Uranium deposits
in Eocene sandstone
Highland
M ountains Bighorn
Basin
of Western USA
Powder (after Everhart (1985) and Finch (1967).
River
Basin

Brid ger and Green B Dominantly continental sedimentation

River basins D 3
Positive area
4
Area of volcanic activity
E 7 6 Dominantly lacustrine sedimentation
H
Postulated sediment transport
Uin ta and Gr een 9 G
River basins Uranium deposits
I South
10 J Park
b asin
M K
N Positive areas:
L G
A = Black Hills; B = Bighorn Mts., C = Owl Creek Mts,
O D = Wind River Range, E = Rock Springs Uplift, F =
Laramie Mts., G = Front Range, H = Uinta Range, I =
San Juan Sa Rafael Swell, J = Uncompaghre Up-warp, K = San
Black Mesa P b asin
b asin Juan Mts., L = Kaibab Up-warp, M = Circle Cliffs Up-
warp, N = Monument Up-warp, O = Defiance Upwarp,
P = Zuni Up-warp.

Basins:
200 km
3 = Wind River, 4 = Shirley, 6 = Hanna, 7 = Washakie,
9 = North Park, 10 = Green River.
Discuss
sandstone
deposits in
more detail
later—
world class
deposits in
New
Mexico
Quartz-pebble conglomerate
deposits
Quartz-pebble conglomerate
deposits
• restricted to early Proterozoic intracratonic basins
(older than 2.3–2.4 Ga) downwarped into Archean
basement assemblages that include granites
• consist of detrital ore minerals of uranium and other
metals, incl pyrite
• Interbedded within siliciclastic sequences containing
layers of quartzite and argillite
• mineralized conglomerates.
• Blind River, uranium and rare earth elements base of the
stratigraphic sequence above the unconformity.
• In the Witwatersrand, uranium in multiple beds dispersed
through a thick stratigraphic sequence and is recovered as a
by-product of gold production.
None in NM
Vein deposits (granite-related)
Veins
• Uranium-bearing veins occur in a broad
range of lithologies and geologic
environments
• lenses or sheets in joints, fractures, breccias
or stockworks
• pitchblende and/or coffinite
• size veins varies
• spatially related to granite
• transect metamorphic or sedimentary rocks
• brecciated uranium deposits
 200oC; pH 5.5; MSO4=0.01

-10 Schoeppite
Pitchblende
-15

-20

-25 3UDC+2H++2Fe2+
U3O8+6CO2+H2O+Fe2O3
-30
Log fO2
-35 Hematite Siderite
Pyrite
-40
Schwartzwalder uranium ore CO2 Graphite
of Laramide (70 Ma) age as -45 CH4
fracture fillings in hematite-
and carbonate-altered
Precambrian gneiss. -50
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2

Log fCO2
We have
many
small
deposits
in NM
Hematite breccia complex
deposits or Iron oxide-copper-
gold (IOCG) deposits
Hematite breccia complex
deposits or Iron oxide-copper-
gold (IOCG) deposits
• hematite-rich breccias and contain uranium in
association with copper, gold, silver and rare earths
• ranging in age from ~2.570 to 1.000 Ma
• wide spectrum of S-deficient low-Ti magnetite and/or
hematite ore bodies of hydrothermal origin where
breccias, veins, disseminations and massive lenses
with polymetallic enrichments (Cu, Au, Ag, U, REE,
Bi, Co, Nb, P) are genetically associated with, but
either proximal or distal to largescale continental, A-
to I-type magmatism, alkaline-carbonatite stocks, and
crustal-scale fault zones and splays (Corriveau)
Hematite breccia complex
deposits or Iron oxide-copper-
gold (IOCG) deposits
• Known as
 Olympic Dam deposit
 hematite-rich granite breccia
 Metasomatic skarns
 Magmatic magnetite-hematite bodies
 Magnetite ore bodies
• hematite-rich granite breccia
• iron, copper, uranium, gold, silver, rare earth
elements (mainly lanthanum and cerium) and
fluorine
• hydraulic fracturing, tectonic faulting, chemical
corrosion, and gravity collapse
Hitzman and Valenta, 2005, Economic Geology, v. 100, pp. 1657–1661
http://kenanaonline.com/files/0040/40858/deposit_synthesis.iocg.corriveau.pdf
http://www.sfu.ca/~dthor
kel/linked/hunt%20et%2
0al.,%20rev%20iocg_s
%202007.pdf
http://www.sfu.ca/~dthorkel/linked/hunt%20et%20al.,%20rev%20iocg_s%202007.p
df
Olympic Dam deposit in
Australia
 Discovered 1975
 production for Cu 1988

 Underground mine, BHP Billiton

 Measured resource of 650 million tons

(Mt) of 500 g/t U3O8 (425 ppm U), 1.5
percent Cu, and 0.5 g/t Au
 Total resource approximately 3.8 billion
tons of 400 g/t U3O8 (339 ppm U), 1.1
percent Cu, and 0.5 g/t Au.
Hitzman and Valenta, 2005, Economic Geology, v. 100, pp. 1657–1661
 Olympic Dam deposit in
Australia
• Measured resource of 650 million tons
(Mt) of 500 g/t U3O8 (425 ppm U), 1.5
percent Cu, and 0.5 g/t Au
• Total resource approximately 3.8 billion
tons of 400 g/t U3O8 (339 ppm U), 1.1
percent Cu, and 0.5 g/t Au.

Hitzman and Valenta, 2005, Economic Geology, v. 100, pp. 1657–1661

Barton et al, 2000
Maybe some in NM
Surficial deposits
Surficial deposits
• young (Tertiary to Recent) near-surface
uranium concentrations in sediments or
soils
• secondary cementing minerals including
calcite, gypsum, dolomite, ferric oxide,
and halite
• uranyl minerals or adsorbed on other
materials
Calcrete deposits
• Largest of the surficial deposits
• interbedded with Tertiary sand and clay,
which are usually cemented by calcium
and magnesium carbonates
• uranium-rich granites were deeply
weathered in a semi-arid to arid climate
• valley-fill sediments along Tertiary
drainage channels, and in playa lake
sediments
• Lake Raeside, Australia
 Lake Maitland, Western
Australia, showing calcrete
precipitates (white) around
Precipitates the edges from
groundwater discharge.
Age of precipitates are
assumed to be Holocene.

Hydrologic Model for the

formation of calcrete –
hosted carnotite deposits
Maybe some
in NM—
Ogallala
Formation in
eastern NM,
and Lordsburg
Mesa in
Hidalgo
County,
certainly
groundwater
is elevated in
U locally
Caldera-related volcanic
deposits
Caldera-related volcanic
deposits
• located within or in close proximity to volcanic
calderas that are filled by complex
assemblages of mafic to felsic volcanic rocks
and intercalated clastic sediments
• largely structure bound, occurring in intrusive
veins or stockworks within the volcanics
• commonly associated with molybdenum and
fluorine
• As, Bi, Hg, Li, Pb, Sb, Sn and W
Lakeview U District
225 t U3O8 production (1960s)
unknown resource remains

Now an EPA Superfund site

Withdrawn from mining til 2013

Lucky Lass Mine

White King open pit

White King Mine
Dump samples as much as
0.3% U3O8 1.8% Pb
1% As 0.4% Hg

also elevated Cs, Mo, & Sb

Steve Castor, 2007
 Basalt flows

1 cm 1.3% U3O8

Debris
U Silico- flows
phosphate

Peraluminous
flow-banded
rhyolite Breccia
Volcanic ore
sediment Clay
Galena Steve Castor, 2007 alteration
 Uranium Mineralogy
Autunite filled fractures within
volcanic ignimbrites, Macusani
Peru.

(Solex Resources Corp.)

(Strathmore Minerals Corp.)

Small
deposits
in NM
Intrusive deposits
Intrusive deposits

• disseminated primary, nonrefractory

uranium minerals dominantly uraninite,
uranothorianite and/or uranothorite
(refractory materials must be chemically
and physically stable at high
temperatures)
• low-grade (20–500 ppm) but large in
size
Intrusive deposits
• Alaskite
• Rössing, Namibia
• Granite, Monzonite
• Bingham Canyon, Utah, USA
• Pegmatite
• Bancroft area, Ontario, Canada
• Peralkaline syenite
• Kvanefjeld, Greenland
• Carbonatites
• Phalaborwa, South Africa
Magmatic mineral deposits concentrated in
igneous rocks (crystallization verses
segregation)
http://jove.geol.niu.edu/faculty/fischer/105_info/105_E_notes/lecture_notes/Mineral_
Resources/MR_images/pegmatite.jpeg
 Pegmatites
• “an essentially igneous rock, commonly of
granitic composition, that is distinguished
from other igneous rocks by its extremely
coarse but variable grain-size, or by an
abundance of crystals with skeletal, graphic,
or other strongly directional growth-habits.”
(London, 2008)
• Products of magmatic differentiation, residual
parts of the magma
• Increased volatiles and incompatible elements
(large ionic radii)
>551 pegmatites
 Pegmatites
• Dikes, sills, veins, irregular masses
• In part due to slow cooling
• Grade into aplites, which formed if the magma
losses suddenly the volatiles and only small
crystals grow
• mostly due to large volumes of gases (volatiles
=H2O, Cl, F)
• Make it difficult for crystals to form=fewer crystals
• Makes the normally sticky granitic magma more
viscous, which allows for elements to move around
• Volatiles separate as bubbles surrounded by normal
liquid magma and crystals can form from both
Pegmatites
coarse-grained igneous rocks, lenses, or veins with granitic
composition, contains essential quartz and feldspar, and
represent the last and most hydrous phase of crystallizing
magmas
USGS OF13-1008
http://www.nwopa.net/symposium/nwomms2010/05_PegmatitesRedLake.pdf
  Petaca

PEGMATITES  Burro
IN NM  Mountains
http://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/
m2016/pdf/pegmatites_strategi
c_metals.pdf
Sinclair, 1996
Bokan Mountain, Alaska
Mining Engineering, 2012, http://ucore.com/MiningEngineering%20Jan2012.pdf
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=12&ved=0CDg
QFjABOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.legis.state.ak.us%2Fbasis%2Fget_documen
ts.asp%3Fsession%3D26%26docid%3D7452&ei=sWM2UY7PMuLRyAGjh4Ao&usg
=AFQjCNHfwV6sj77hCvqlL07GZx_hg_KjTA&sig2=vaFBys12VGB2VfhEoUo3-A
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=12&ved=0CDg
QFjABOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.legis.state.ak.us%2Fbasis%2Fget_documen
ts.asp%3Fsession%3D26%26docid%3D7452&ei=sWM2UY7PMuLRyAGjh4Ao&usg
=AFQjCNHfwV6sj77hCvqlL07GZx_hg_KjTA&sig2=vaFBys12VGB2VfhEoUo3-A
Carbonatites
>330 Carbonatites
Carbonatites

• An igneous intrusive or extrusive

rock containing more than 50%
carbonate (calcite, dolomite,
ankerite) (Bell, 1989)
• intrusive igneous rocks rich in
carbonate minerals that form central
plugs within alkaline intrusive
complexes, or dykes, sills and veins
(Barker, 1989)
Molycorp Mountain Pass REE
mine
 Molycorp Mountain Pass REE mine
• Mojave
Desert
• Discovered
in 1949
during
exploration
for U
• 1.4 Ga

Birthday vein
Cambrian-
Ordovician
carbonatites,
alkali granites,
syenites
episyenites in
NM
Lemitar carbonatite
 Chupadera carbonatites (van Allen et al.,
1986)

Lemitar carbonatites (McLemore, 1983)

Phosphorite
Phosphorite

• fine-grained apatite in phosphorite

horizons within interbedded marine
muds, shales, carbonates and
sandstones
• primary bedded (Phosphoria Formation,
Utah–Idaho)
• sedimentologically reworked (Florida)
phosphorite
 Phosphorite deposits
• Florida, North Carolina
• Phosphoria Formation, Idaho, Montana
• High P2O5, 1-40%
• Sedimentary deposits (limestones, muds)
• Apatite, fluorapatite
http://www.ias.ac.in/meetings/annmeet/69am_talks/vprao/img10.html
None in NM
Collapse breccia
pipes
Collapse breccia pipes

• Circular, vertical (up to 1000 metres in

vertical extent) pipes filled with down-
dropped coarse and fine fragments
stopped from the overlying sediments
• Mineralized pipes range from 30 to 200
metres in diameter
• Orphan mine, Arizona, USA
http://www.libertystaruranium.com/wp-
content/uploads/2012/04/23AGS22WenrichandTitleyfinal-Protect.pdf
We have
some in NM
Metamorphic and
metasomatic
Metamorphic

• Metamorphic uranium deposits result

from regional metamorphism of
uraniferous sediments or volcanics
• Mary Kathleen deposit, Australia and
the Forstau deposit, Austria
Metasomatic
• alkaline metasomatites of sodium or
potassium
• Na metasomatites are predominantly
albite in composition, usually with minor
carbonate and alkaline amphiboles and
pyroxenes — albitites and eisites
• K metasomatites are essentially
potassium feldspar rocks with minor
carbonate (elkonites).
Metasomatic
• Kirovograd Ore District,
• Ukraine. Other regions with similar
deposits are Beaverlodge (Canada),
Itatiaia (Brazil),
• Jaduguda (India), and Kokchetav Massif
(Kazakhstan)
• Elkon Horst, the southern Yakutia
(Russian Federation)
Episyenites in
Longbottom Canyon,
Caballo Mountains, NM
Episyenites
in Caballo
Mountains
CHEMISTRY OF CABALLO
EPISYENITES
Other types of uranium
deposits
Black shale
Black shale

• syngenetic, uniformly disseminated

uranium adsorbed onto organic and/or
clay particles in organic-rich, pyritic
marine shale with thin coalified,
phosphatic and/or silty intercalations
Small
deposits
in NM
Paleoplacer/placer/ beach sands
Paleoplacer/placer/ beach
sands

• Monazite-bearing placers
• Heavy mineral placers
• Beach placers
• fluviatile placers
• eluvial or lag deposits
Heavy minerals sands
• accumulations of heavy, resistant minerals
(i.e. high specific gravity) that form on upper
regions of beaches or in long-shore bars in a
marginal-marine environment
• Currently mined in Virginia and Florida
• Ilmenite 20-70%
• Zirocn trace-20%
• Rutile, leucoxene trace-30%
• Garnet, starolite, kyanite trace-50%
• Monazite trace-15%
• Monazite not being produced because of
concerns about Th, U
• Central Idaho stream placers
• North and South Carolina stream
placers
• Virginia, Georgia, and Florida beach
placers
River placers
River placers
Paleobeach
placers in NM
Gray-shaded sandstone units are hosts of
known beach-placer sandstone deposits in the
San Juan Basin
Sanostee
deposit,
San Juan
County
Sanostee
Idealized cross-section of formation
Limestone deposits
Limestone deposits

We have some In New Mexico and will

discuss later
Other classifications
From M. Fayek, 2013 (MAC Short Course 43)
From M. Fayek, 2013 (MAC Short Course 43)
Time Restriction of
Uranium Deposits
(Modified from Marmont,1987)

0
Sandstone hosted
Sandstones and others
& Others ?
Shales
Millions of Years B.P.

1000
Unconformity Type

2000 In solution
Uranium In detritus
Conglomerates
3000

0 400 800 1200 1600 2000

Production & Reserves (lbs U3O8 x 106)

 Variation of CO2
content of the Earth’s
atmosphere through
Paleozoic and
Mesozoic time.

Uranium would be 20 times

more mobile under near
surface conditions as
carbonate complexes
during the Paleozoic.
What are the major uranium
deposit types in North America?
Major Uranium Deposit Types –
North America
• Unconformity
• Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan and Thelon Basin,
NWT
• Sandstone
• Intermountain basins of Wyoming; Colorado Plateau;
Gulf Coast Plain of Texas; Grants Mineral Belt, New
Mexico
• Breccia Pipes
• Northern Arizona
• Quartz-pebble conglomerate
• Elliot Lake
Summary

• 10-15 types of U deposits

• U is found on all continents in rocks of
all ages
• The IAEA classification scheme is easily
applied to beginning U exploration
programs and is field oriented