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Minerals
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Towards Mineral Systems Models for Sediment-Hosted and Other Uranium Deposits
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Towards Mineral Systems Models for Sediment-Hosted and Other Uranium Deposits

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Deposits".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2023) | Viewed by 5099

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Andy Wilde

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Centre for Exploration Targeting (CET), The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
2. Wilde Geoscience Consulting, Perth, WA 6009, Australia
Interests: geochemistry; mineralogy; geometallurgy; uranium; gold; base-metals; lithium
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As the world moves inexorably towards sustainable and low-carbon energy sources, nuclear power is increasingly recognised as a key component to the energy mix of the future.  Declining uranium production and low discovery rates, however, indicate a pressing need for the discovery of new uranium resources to ensure a future fuel supply for this important source of green energy. 

The low rate of discovery reflects limited investment in exploration and in basic research into uranium mineral systems since they were first developed in the 1980s. It is the aim of this volume, therefore, to collect research on uranium deposits to develop a holistic understanding of various uranium mineral systems, particularly (but not exclusively) those systems involving uranium deposition in sedimentary rocks.  Authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts ranging from basic descriptions of deposits to advanced studies using contemporary technology.  Reviews of mineral systems will also be considered.

Dr. Andy Wilde
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • uranium and nuclear fuels
  • sediment-hosted deposits
  • other deposits
  • mineral systems models

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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19 pages, 20590 KiB  
Article
Effects of Paleoregolith and Fault Offset on the Formation of Unconformity-Type Uranium Deposits
by Hui Qiu, Hua Lin and Jianwen Yang
Minerals 2023, 13(11), 1381; https://doi.org/10.3390/min13111381 - 28 Oct 2023
Viewed by 1385
Abstract
Regional paleoregolith is found to exist immediately below unconformities separating basin fills from basement rocks in sedimentary basins. However, the controlling role of paleoregolith on unconformity-type uranium mineralization has not been quantitatively addressed before. Coupled hydrothermal fluid flow and reactive mass transport modeling [...] Read more.
Regional paleoregolith is found to exist immediately below unconformities separating basin fills from basement rocks in sedimentary basins. However, the controlling role of paleoregolith on unconformity-type uranium mineralization has not been quantitatively addressed before. Coupled hydrothermal fluid flow and reactive mass transport modeling are therefore performed in this study by using the software TOUGHREACT. The modeling results reveal that preferential flow occurs in the regolith due to its relatively high permeability in comparison with that of the host rocks. The thicker the regolith is, the more concentrated the fluids in the footwall of a fault zone are, leading to more compact and higher-grade deposits therein, and vice versa. Also, displacement of the regolith caused by fault offset plays an important role, as it appears to control the shape of uranium deposits. When the displacement is less than 30 m, the deposits are characterized by a more compact shape. When the displacement is over 60 m, the deposits extend more laterally and even exhibit a ‘discrete’ shape due to the expelling effect of downslope flow that occurs at the fault offset site. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Towards Mineral Systems Models for Sediment-Hosted and Other Uranium Deposits)
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Review

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20 pages, 11726 KiB  
Review
Towards a Mineral Systems Model for Surficial Uranium Mineralization Based on Deposits in the Erongo District of Namibia
by Andy Wilde
Minerals 2023, 13(2), 149; https://doi.org/10.3390/min13020149 - 19 Jan 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3142
Abstract
Surficial deposits in Namibia’s Erongo district contain substantial but low-grade resources of uranium and vanadium (nearly 500 Mlb U3O8), hosted in palaeochannels. This review attempts to develop a mineral systems model for the deposit type, but it is emphasised [...] Read more.
Surficial deposits in Namibia’s Erongo district contain substantial but low-grade resources of uranium and vanadium (nearly 500 Mlb U3O8), hosted in palaeochannels. This review attempts to develop a mineral systems model for the deposit type, but it is emphasised that research into this important class of deposit has been minimal since the nineteen eighties, largely as a result of a limited investment in uranium exploration. The deposits are the result of groundwater movement in aquifers developed within Cenozoic palaeochannels. The source of uranium was probably granitic rocks traversed by these palaeodrainages, particularly black-quartz rich pegmatites similar to those that make up the hard-rock alaskite deposits of the region. Transport of uranium is generally assumed to have occurred in aqueous uranium species after palaeochannels became filled with sediment. U-enriched clasts within the palaeochannels have yet to be investigated as a local source of uranium. The localised deposition of uranium occurred after regionally extensive carbonate cementation of the palaeochannel sediments, which was the result of climate change (aridification). Pre-uranium calcite may have acted as a chemical buffer (pH) and probably influenced palaeochannel hydrology, restricting groundwater flow to the deeper portions. Uranium is paragenetically related to Mg clays and dolomite, suggesting that the groundwater evolved to a more Mg-rich composition during uranium deposition, probably as a result of more extreme evaporation. The controls on the localisation of mineralisation remain unclear and unpredictable, as are the controls on uranium grade—the fundamental determinant of economic viability. There are few absolute age determinations for any of the deposits, but none occur in rocks likely to be older than the Miocene. This reflects low preservation potential. For example, the Langer Heinrich deposit is incised by active drainage with attendant erosion and probable removal of mineralised material. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Towards Mineral Systems Models for Sediment-Hosted and Other Uranium Deposits)
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