IRAQ

Geography

Iraq is situated in western Asia and encompasses most of the north-western section of the Zagros
Mountains, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert. Iraq
borders the Syrian Arab Republic to the NW, Turkey to the north, the Islamic Republic of Iran to the
east, Jordan to the SW, and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south. Iraq has a narrow section of
coastline just 58 km long on the northern tip of the Persian Gulf. Two major rivers, the Tigris and the
Euphrates, flow through Iraq in a NW–SE direction. These rivers provide the country with significant
agricultural potential, which contrasts with the steppe and desert landscape characterizing most of
western Asia.

Northern Iraq is mostly mountainous, the highest point, Cheekah Dar, being 3611 m in elevation.

The local climate is mostly semi-arid, with mild to cool winters and dry, hot summers. Most of the
country has a hot arid climate with subtropical influence. Average summer temperatures exceed 40°C
for much of the country; winter temperatures frequently exceed 21°C. Precipitation is typically low;
most places receive less than 250 mm annually, with maximum rainfall occurring during the winter
months. Rainfall during the summer months is extremely rare, except in the far north of the country.

With its 143.1 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, Iraq ranks second only to Saudi Arabia in the size
of its oil resources [1].

Geology

Iraq is near the centre of the so-called ‘fertile crescent’, an area characterized by topographically low
relief, which extends from central part of the Syrian Arab Republic to the Arabian Gulf (Figure 1).
This NW–SE trending area contains the youngest sedimentary rocks in Iraq and is flanked by a
plateau to the west and SW, and by a series of ridges and depressions that grade into the mountainous
areas in the NE.

The geology of Iraq reflects its morphology whereby the youngest sedimentary rocks, Neogene and
Quaternary in age, lie within the central depression while the flanks expose older strata of
Palaeogene–Palaeozoic age.

The area to the SW of the Euphrates River is characterized by NE dipping strata. In western Iraq, near
the settlement of Rutba, the strata dip to the west away from the axis of a major ENE–WSW trending
anticlinorium in which rocks as old as Permian crop out.

The Jezira area in NW Iraq is dominated by a massive uplift. Middle Miocene deposits, exposed in the
core of this uplift, are flanked to the east, north and west by Upper Miocene clastics. To the south,
erosion by the Euphrates River has exposed Oligocene and Lower Miocene carbonates along tight
anticlinal structures controlled by east–west faults.

The foothills NE of the Mesopotamian depression comprise narrow anticlines. Upper Miocene–
Pleistocene molasse sedimentary rocks and Middle Miocene evaporites are exposed in their cores.
Some higher anticlines within the Sinjar and Qara Chanq areas have exposures of Palaeogene and,
locally, Upper Cretaceous formations.

The mountainous region to the NE of Kirkuk is characterized by harmonic folding, with Cretaceous or
older rocks exposed in the cores of the folds. Palaeogene and Neogene rocks form the adjacent
synclines. In northern Iraq, along the Turkish border, Palaeozoic–Cretaceous rocks crop out.
FIG. 1. Regional geological setting of Iraq showing the distribution of selected uranium deposits and
occurrences. For the general uranium deposit and uranium occurrence legend see World Uranium Geology,
Exploration, Resources and Production, IAEA, 2020. A general global geological legend is shown although not
all geological units necessarily occur on this particular map.

Along the border with the Islamic Republic of Iran, there are thrust sheets of sedimentary and igneous
rocks which were formed in the neo-Tethyan oceanic domain. The lowest of these comprise cherts
and volcanic rocks, intruded by large basic and ultrabasic plutons [2].

Uranium exploration

Iraq has never supplied information for inclusion in the Red Book and very little information is
available on uranium exploration in the country.

Reports on uranium exploration in Iraq cover wide areas, including field checking of all surface
anomalies identified by radiometric airborne survey. Some localities have received more attention
than others, such as the Al-Qaim area and Abu Skhair. Exploration work has also been conducted in
Taqtaqana, Shithatha and Hit areas.

In 1974, an airborne spectrometric survey revealed a consistent and semi-continuous belt of

radioactive anomalies along the Euphrates River basin but concentrated mostly along the southern and
western sides of the basin. These radioactive anomalies were attributed to uranium mineralization and
coincide with surface expressions of two geological features, namely, the exposures of the Euphrates
Formation and the Euphrates Fault Zone.

Geological investigations have shown that the upper parts of the Euphrates Formation are
characterized by generally higher than background uranium concentrations (>10 ppm) and by the
presence of thin horizons recording higher levels of radioactivity where uranium concentrations reach
300 ppm. These radioactive horizons were encountered in most of the exposures and near surface
sections of the Euphrates Formation, from Al-Qaim in the NW to Nassirriya in the SE.
The uranium concentrations in these horizons are generally in the range 10–300 ppm (averaging 70–
80 ppm U). The host rocks are mostly dolostones varying in colour from greyish-white to pale brown
and yellow. These strata are hard, occasionally fossiliferous and clayey, and commonly contain
organic or bituminous matter. The thickness of the uranium-bearing horizons averages 30 cm and the
seams persist and show regional extension along the western side of the Euphrates River. No definite
uranium minerals have been identified, but it is believed that uranium occurs in dolomite crystals in
unidentified form.

Secondary (epigenetic) uranium deposits are developed in certain localities, such as at Al-Qaim and
Abu Skhair. The uranium is oxidized and leached from the underlying syngenetic uranium-bearing
horizons and redeposited near the erosional contact of the Euphrates Formation with the overlying
units.

Unusual uranium mineralization, developed by the end of the Early Miocene, occurs in the carbonates
of the Euphrates Formation. Tectonism reactivated some of the old fault systems along the Euphrates
River, which allowed uranium-bearing solutions to percolate upwards, together with bitumen and
H2S. The shallow intertidal parts are enriched with uranium, which was precipitated in the interstices,
below the sediment–water interface, under reducing conditions. Epigenetic mobilization of uranium
resulted in the formation of new deposits.

The Abu Skhair area was subjected to systematic exploration in order to evaluate the uranium
mineralization discovered in the Hor Al-Jebssa area, close to the settlement of Al-Zejrey. The
uranium deposits of Abu Skhair consist of a non-uniform grey to dark grey marly limestone layer of
variable thickness (0.2–4.7 m) rich in organic materials and broken fossil shells. According to the
conclusion of this study, the uranium of the Abu Skhair deposit originated from a specific limestone
layer within the Euphrates Formation (Lower–Middle Miocene), which contains roughly70–80 ppm U
and is considered the source rock for the uranium mineralization in the area.

Uranium is also found in marine sedimentary phosphorites (Late Cretaceous–Early Tertiary) in

variable concentrations up to 100 ppm U [3].

Uranium resources

No uranium resources have been reported by Iraq.

Potential for new discoveries

Iraq possesses world class reserves of phosphate with the four largest deposits totalling 5.75 Bt
(representing 9% of global reserves) and giving Iraq the second largest phosphate reserves in the
world, after Morocco. Four phosphate deposits, Akashat, H3, Ethna and Swab, are the most promising
discoveries. The two largest, Akashat and Swab, are estimated to have reserves of 1.7 and 3.5 Bt of
phosphate, respectively. The phosphate rock deposits of western Iraq contain uranium levels in the
range 30–50 ppm [4]. At an average grade of 40 ppm U, the uranium resources contained in 7
phosphorite deposits are estimated in the order of 350 000 t. [5]

The country is predominantly covered by clastic calcareous and evaporitic sequences and the potential
source rocks are already known. On the basis of its unfavourable geology, the potential for the
discovery of conventional uranium deposit types is considered to be very limited.

Uranium production

The Akashat mine, located 420 km west of Baghdad, close to the border with the Syrian Arab
Republic, is a phosphate mine associated with the Al-Qaim site. In January 1976, Iraq contracted a
Belgian company to construct a chemical fertilizer complex at Al-Qaim. By the second half of 1982,
phosphate ore from the Akashat mine was being processed. In 1982, Iraq ordered the construction of a
uranium extraction facility at the Al-Qaim site, which was commissioned at the end of 1984. The unit
was designed to produce 54 tU/year (as UO4.2H2O), assuming continuous production of phosphoric
acid at 150 m3/h and a uranium content of 75 ppm in the phosphate.

The uranium extraction facility at the Al-Qaim complex never attained maximum production.
Through January 1991, total production at the site was 170 t of uranium peroxide containing 110 tU.
The relatively low output, combined with phosphate ore that yielded only 40 ppm uranium as opposed
to 75 ppm, was due to technical problems in the phosphoric acid unit. The production facility was
destroyed in 1991 during the Gulf War.

The Abu Skhair uranium mine was located 25 km SW of Najar. Production began in September 1988
and ended at the end of 1990 when the mine was flooded. Uranium ore (150 ppm) was associated with
marly limestone [6].

Comments

No facilities nor plans to develop nuclear generating capacity exist in Iraq. Therefore, it has no reactor
related uranium needs.

References
[1] CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, The World Factbook: Iraq, Washington, DC, https://www.cia.gov/library/
publications/the-world-factbook/index.html.
[2] SAAD, Z.J., GOLL, J.C. (Eds.), Geology of Iraq, Geological Society, Brno (2006).
[3] AL-BASSAM, K.S., MAHDI M.A., AL-DELAIMI, M.R., Contribution to the origin of the syngenetic uranium
enrichment in the early Miocene carbonates of the Euphrates Formation, Iraq, Iraqi Bull. Geol. Min. 2 2 (2006).
[4] BLAIR, D., US finds ‘world-class’ phosphate in Iraq, Financial Times (7 September 2011).
[5] AL-BASSAM, K.S., Development of the Phosphate Industry in Iraq: Resources, Requirements and Challenges.
Iraqui Bulletin of Geology and Mining, Special Issue, No 7, Baghdad (2017).
[6] ALBRIGHT, D., HINDERSTEIN, C., Is the activity at Al Qaim related to nuclear efforts?, http://isis-online.org (10
September 2002).

Updated from INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, World Uranium Geology, Exploration, Resources and Production, IAEA, Vienna (2020) by M. Fairclough (December 2020)