1. Sandstone Uranium Deposits:
How much do we know?
Hari Tulsidas
IAEA
International Atomic Energy Agency

2. The "Atoms for Peace" Agency
• World centre of cooperation in
the nuclear field
• Promotes safe, secure and
peaceful nuclear technologies
• Three pillars (3S) of IAEA
• Safety and Security
• Science and Technology
• Safeguards and
Verification
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3. Organisation
Director General
Technical Nuclear Safety Nuclear Sciences
Nuclear Energy Management Safeguards
Cooperation and security and Applications
Programme Nuclear Concepts and
Nuclear Power Human Resources Human Health
support Installation Safety planning
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Information
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Technology
Technology Waste Safety
Asia Pacific General Services Laboratories Operations A
Food &
Latin America Conferences Operations B
Agriculture
Information
Europe Finance
Management
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4. Nuclear Fuel Cycle & Materials
1. Uranium Resources
2. Power Reactor Fuel Engineering
3. Spent Fuel Management
4. Advanced Fuel Cycles
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5. Uranium Resources (1)
• Assessment of uranium resources, production and
demand
• IAEA/NEA Red Book
• Uranium 2060
• Database of Uranium Deposits
• Standardization of resource classification
To collect and share
• Supporting good practices in the uranium
production cycle knowledge of uranium
• Uranium Production Site Assessment Team resources and support
• Optimization of mining technologies
• Development of low grade ores
the development of a
• Unconventional resources – Phosphates sustainable uranium
• Thorium resources (By-product of REE) production cycle in
• Support training activities
Member States.
• Technical Cooperation activities
• 18 national projects and 2 regional projects
• Inter-regional project – 2012-13
IAEA

6. Uranium resources (2)
Red Book 2009 tU iNFCIS - UDEPO
Australia 1 679 000 26.6%
Kazakhstan 832 000 13.2%
Russia 565 000 9.0%
Canada 544 000 8.6%
United States 472 100 7.5%
South Africa 295 600 4.6%
Namibia 284 200 4.5%
Data of 1 413
Brazil 278 700 4.4% uranium deposits
from 75 countries
Niger 275 500 4.3%
Others 1 079 000 17%
Total 6 306 000 100% Total 26 802 989 tU
Undiscovered Resources: 10 400 000 tU
IAEA /OECD NEA Uranium 2009: Resources, http://infcis.iaea.org
Production and Demand
IAEA

7. Supporting good practices
• Uranium exploration
• Uranium mining & milling technologies
• Uranium mining and milling products/wastes (with WTS)
• Remediation after uranium mining and milling and their closure (with WTS &
WES)
IAEA

8. Meetings and workshops
• Uranium Group Meeting, Vienna, June, 2011
• TM on Uranium Provinces and Minerals Potential Modeling, Vienna, June 2011
• TM on Uranium Production from Phosphate Rocks, September, Vienna, 2011
• TM on World Thorium Resources, India, October 2011
• Workshop on Uranium extraction from phosphoric acid, Morocco, November 2011
• Uranium Group Meeting, Paris, November, 2011
• Africa regional workshop on uranium exploration and mining, Madagascar, March, 2012
• TM on Origin of sandstone uranium deposits, Vienna, 2012
• Regional workshop on uranium extraction, Egypt June, 2012
• Co-ordination meeting for uranium priorities outlook, June, Finland, 2012
• Uranium group meeting, Ukraine, August, 2012
• Training / Workshop on uranium production cycle, Darwin, Australia, 13-17 August, 2012
• Africa regional workshop on Sustainable uranium production, Tanzania, September, 2012
• Inter-regional workshop on recent developments in evaluation of uranium and thorium resources
, Portugal, 15-18 October 2012
• Technical Meeting on optimization of ISL production, 21-23 November, 2012, Vienna
• Interregional workshop on uranium deposit models and resources evaluation, China, 12-16
November, 2012
• Africa regional workshop on uranium ore processing, Namibia, 26-30 November, 2012
• TM on Good Practices in Uranium Production Cycle, 11-14 December, 2012
• IAEA
International workshop on uranium production from phosphate rocks, Jordan, December, 2012

9. Training Events
• Geochemical prospecting for Uranium
• Uranium Exploration Methods
• Uranium Exploration and Evaluation
• Exploration Drilling and Ore reserves Estimation
• Uranium Deposit Evaluation
• Computerized databases in Mineral Exploration and Development
• Spatial Data Integration for Uranium Exploration, Resource
• Assessment and Environmental Studies
• Processing of Uranium – from Mining to Fuel Fabrication
• Uranium Mining: Its Operation, Safety and Environmental Aspects
• Uranium In Situ Leaching: Its Planning, Operation and Restoration
• Uranium Ore Analysis
• Uranium Ore Processing
• Uranium Geology, Exploration and Environment
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10. Historical publications
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11. Recent publications
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12. Publications in pipeline
• Best Practice in Environmental Management of Uranium Mining, 2010
• Radioelement Mapping, 2010
• Uranium 2009: Resources, production and demand (“Red Book 2009”) 2010
• Uranium 2011: Resources, production and demand (“Red Book 2011”) 2012
• Red Book Retrospective – Country Reports
• Uranium demand and supply to 2060, 2011
• Uranium production from Phosphate Rocks, 2012
• Classification of uranium deposits types, 2012
• Nuclear Fuel Cycle: Synergies and sustainability, 2012
• World Thorium resources and deposits, 2012
• ISL facilities of the world, 2012
• World uranium provinces, 2013
• World distribution of uranium deposits – Print edition, 2013
• Sandstone uranium deposits, 2013-14
IAEA

13. Previous IAEA publications
• 1983 - Age, sedimentary
environments, and other aspects of
sandstone and related host rocks
for uranium deposits - Technical
Reports Series #231
• 1985 - Geological environments of
sandstone-type uranium deposits
(TECDOC – 328)
IAEA

14. Publications online
http://www.iaea.org/OurWork/ST/NE/NEFW/nfcms_rawmaterials_publications.html
IAEA

15. Technical Cooperation
• 2009-2011: 12 national & 2 regional Technical Cooperation projects on
uranium exploration, mining and processing
• 2012-13: Inter-regional project on uranium resources and
production
• Meetings and workshops
• Expert missions
• Training events
• Fellowships
• Scientific Visits
• Equipment
IAEA

16. Technical Cooperation 2009-12
Strengthening Regional Capabilities for Uranium Mining, Milling and Regulation of Related
Regional Africa
Activities
Regional Upgrading of Uranium Exploration, Exploitation and Yellowcake Production
Regional Latin America
Techniques Taking Environmental Problems into Account
Algeria Supporting Uranium Ore Processing and Purification of Concentrates
Egypt Evaluating Selected Uranium Resources and Producing and Purifying Yellow Cake
Assessing the Geology Favourability, Production Feasibility and Environmental Impact of
Argentina
the Exploitation of Uranium Deposits Using In Situ Leaching Technology (Phase II)
Venuzela Estimating Available Uranium Resources
Jordan Launching Uranium Exploration
Jordan Assessing a Uranium Extraction Technique
China Enhancing the Capabilities of National Institutions Supporting Nuclear Power Development
IAEA

17. Technical Cooperation 2012-13
Argentina Developing and Strengthening Human Resources for the Uranium Mining Cycle
China Evaluating Uranium and Beryllium Resources to Support the Nuclear Power Development Programme
Interregional Supporting Uranium Exploration, Resource Augmentation and Production Using Advanced Techniques
Jordan Establishing a Uranium Extraction Laboratory and Quality System
Nepal Exploring and Evaluating Uranium and Thorium Deposits
Peru Evaluating the Uraniferous Potential in the Magmatic Environments in the Eastern Andes Region
Assessing Nuclear Raw Material (Uranium and Thorium) Potential and Identifying Geological Causes of
Sri Lanka
Radiogenically Hazardous Areas
Constructing a Pilot Plant for the Extraction of Uranium from Industrial Phosphoric Acid in Order to
Tunisia
Determine Optimum Operating Parameters
Uruguay Supporting Exploration and Exploitation of Uranium and Developing National Capacity for this Activity
Vietnam Enhancing the Capability of Uranium and Related Atomic Mineral Exploration for Nuclear Energy
IAEA

18. Sandstone – a formidable share
Type # of deposits tU*
Unconformity 84 1 235 381
39 23 25 4 Unconformity
Sandstone 566 3 872 095
6 Sandstone
17 42 84 Hematite Breccia Hematite Breccia 13 2 223 497
QPC
57 Volcanic
QPC 61 1 005 692
52 Intrusive Volcanic 107 549 658
Vein
Metasomtic Intrusive 77 1 077 134
Surficial Vein 240 845 620
240 566 CBP
Metamorphic Metasomtic 52 957 676
Phosphate Surficial 57 382 154
Lignite/Coal
Black Shale CBP 17 15 970
77
Other Metamorphic
107 6 21 439
61 Unknown
Phosphate 39 12 894 830
13
Lignite/Coal 23 305 285
Black Shale 42 1 199 086
Other 25 232 993
Unknown 4 6 658
Total 1413 26825168
*Total (geological) resources
IAEA Total 3 872 095 tU from 37 countries

19. Who need uranium?
IAEA Scenario September 2011
~ 215 000 tU/year by 2050 – high case
~98 000 tU/year by 2050 – low case
IAEA

20. Small … but often clustered
1,000 - 2,500 - 5,000 - 10,000 - 25,000 - 50,000 -
< 500 500 - 1,000 > 100,000 Unknown Total
2,500 5,000 10,000 25,000 50,000 100,000
Unconformity 0 0 13 10 13 15 5 0 4 5 84
Sandstone 0 1 116 95 76 77 24 4 3 11 566
Hematite Breccia
0 0 3 2 0 1 2 0 1 0 13
Complex
Quartz-pebble
0 0 6 12 16 8 7 3 1 6 61
Conglomerate
Volcanic 0 1 27 19 14 7 6 0 0 1 107
Intrusive 0 0 14 10 12 5 4 3 2 3 77
Vein 0 0 61 40 26 16 3 1 0 17 240
Metasomatite 0 1 11 9 4 4 5 5 3 1 52
Surficial 0 0 8 15 5 3 2 2 0 1 57
Collapse Breccia
0 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 17
Pipe
Metamorphic 0 0 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 6
Phosphorite 0 0 1 1 4 5 7 6 7 6 39
Lignite 0 0 6 6 3 2 2 1 1 0 23
Black Shales 0 0 9 4 5 8 2 1 3 3 42
Other 0 1 8 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 25
Unknown 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 4
Total 0 4 290 229 180 152 70 26 25 55 1,413
IAEA

21. U 2060 analysis
No tU %U
Sandstone 202 2 350 399 0.01 - 0.7
Vein 43 810 264 0.02 - 0.55
Volcanic 22 311 996 0.02 - 1.1
Unconformity 19 762 850 0.1 - 15
Metasomatic 18 837 991 0.03 - 0.26
Surficial 16 303 141 0.01 - 0.12
Phosphate 14 7 048 491 0.01 - 0.2
QPC 13 491 469 0.01 - 0.1
Intrusive 12 497 751 0.008 - 0.4
Black Shale 8 540 827 0.0017 - 0.2
Tailings 4 129 418 0.01-0.02
Collapse Breccia Pipe 3 9 154 0.5 - 0.6
Hematite Breccia
2 1 336 624 0.03 - 0.05
Complex
Others 2 86 000 0.05 - 0.1
IAEA Coal 1 40 000 0.05
381 15 556 375

22. U 2060 reference case
IAEA

23. Calibrated parameters …
• Geology and Formation: • Technology:
• Classification • Developing complex, stacked ores
• Tectonics bodies, in different paleo-channels
• Compressional Vs Rifting • Optimizing recovery
• Episodic basement uplift
• Processing difficult ores
• Sources of Uranium • Acid Vs alkaline ISL
• Basin evolution • Disequilibrium issues
• Depositional environment
• Hydraulic conductivity • Isotopic fractionation
• Basin slope • Conventional mining
•
•
Preservation of mineralization
Paleo-climate
• Socio-economics:
• Age and regional / global correlation • „Comprehensive extraction‟
• Reductants • Economics of grade and size
• Exploration criteria • Environmental management
• Radiometric logging – PFN • Closure and remediation
• Other geophysical
IAEA

24. Sandstone Uranium deposits
• PART I : An overview of the origin of sandstone • Regional descriptions and genetic models (~30 pages)
uranium deposits, exploration, resources and • Central Asia Mega Province
production • Australia
• Introduction (~2 pages) • USA
• Classification of Sandstone uranium deposits (~ 10 pages) • Gondwana – Karoo province
• Basal Channel • [Other]
• Tabular • Recent advances in exploration (~20 pages)
• Continental fluvial, U associated with intrinsic reductant
• Radiometric (PFN)
• Continental fluvial, U associated with extrinsic
humate/bitumen • Disequilibrium
• Continental fluvial vanadium-uranium • Geophysics
• Roll front • Resources and production (20 pages)
• Continental basin, U associated with intrinsic reductant • Resources(UDEPO)
• Continental to marginal marine, U associated with • Deposits
intrinsic reductant
• Resources and grades
• Marginal marine, U associated with extrinsic reductant
• Status
• Tectonic - lithologic
• Production history and outlook
• Mafic dikes / sills in Proterozoic sandstone
• Environment
• Geology, mineralogy, geochemistry and tectonics (~ 20
pages)
• Socio-economics
• Tectonic aspects • Summary and conclusions (~2 pages)
• Source rocks •
• Basin formation, evolution, paleoclimate • PART II: Selected papers - ~ 20 (8 – 12 pages each)
• Sediment and uranium transport
• Depositional environments
• Reducing mechanisms
• Geochemistry, Isotopic fractionation
IAEA

25. You can reach me at …
Harikrishnan Tulsidas
Nuclear Technology Specialist
Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Materials Section
International Atomic Energy Agency
Tel: (+431) 2600 22758
Fax: (+431) 26007 22758
Room A26 19
Email: T.Harikrishnan@iaea.org
IAEA