WNA updated its review of uranium supplies in the world. Uranium is a relatively common element in the crust of the Earth (very much more than in the mantle). It is a metal approximately as common as tin or zinc, and it is a constituent of most rocks and even of the sea.
- Uranium is a relatively common metal, found in rocks and seawater. Economic concentrations of it are not uncommon.
- Quantities of mineral resources are greater than commonly perceived, and are relative to both market prices and cost of extraction.
- The world's known uranium resources increased by at least one-quarter in the last decade due to increased mineral exploration.
Table 1: Typical natural uranium concentrations
Very high-grade ore (Canada) – 20% U 200,000 ppm U
High-grade ore – 2% U 20,000 ppm U
Low-grade ore – 0.1% U 1000 ppm U
Very low-grade ore* (Namibia) – 0.01% U 100 ppm U
Granite 3-5 ppm U
Sedimentary rock 2-3 ppm U
Earth's continental crust (av) 2.8 ppm U
Seawater 0.003 ppm U ppm = parts per million (aka 3 ppb)
* Where uranium is at low levels in rock or sands (certainly less than 1000 ppm) it needs to be in a form which is easily separated for those concentrations to be called 'ore' – that is, implying that the uranium can be recovered economically. This means that it needs to be in a mineral form that can easily be dissolved by sulfuric acid or sodium carbonate leaching.
Total world resources of uranium, as with any other mineral or metal, are not known exactly. The only meaningful measure of long-term security of supply is the known reserves in the ground capable of being mined. An orebody is, by definition, an occurrence of mineralisation from which the metal is economically recoverable. Orebodies, and thus measured resources – the amount known to be economically recoverable from orebodies – are therefore relative to both costs of extraction and market prices. For example, at present neither the oceans nor any granites are orebodies, but conceivably either could become so if prices were to rise sufficiently. At ten times the current price*, seawater, for example, might become a potential source of vast amounts of uranium. Thus, any predictions of the future availability of any mineral, including uranium, which are based on current cost and price data, as well as current geological knowledge, are likely to prove extremely conservative. Factors affecting the supply of resources are discussed further and illustrated in Appendix 2.
* US DOE-funded work using polymer absorbent strips suggest $610/kgU in 2014. Japanese (JAERI) research in 2002 using a polymeric absorbent in a nonwoven fabric containing an amidoxime group that was capable of forming a complex with uranyl tricarbonate ions, suggested about $300/kgU.
Uranium availability
Table 2: Uranium resources by country in 2021
Country tonnes U percentage of world
Australia 1,684,100 28%
Kazakhstan 815,200 13%
Canada 588,500 10%
Russia 480,900 8%
Namibia 470,100 8%
South Africa 320,900 5%
Niger 311,100 5%
Brazil 276,800 5%
China 223,900 4%
Mongolia 144,600 2%
Uzbekistan 131,300 2%
Ukraine 107,200 2%
Botswana 87,200 1%
USA* 59,400 1%
Tanzania 58,200 1%
Jordan 52,500 1%
Other 266,600 5%
World total 6,078,500
Identified resources recoverable (reasonably assured resources plus inferred resources), to $130/kg U, 1/1/21, from OECD NEA & IAEA, Uranium 2022: Resources, Production and Demand ('Red Book'). The total recoverable identified resources to $260/kg U is 7.918 million tonnes U.
* Actual available reserves in the USA are likely 10-30 times that "guessed" above, see example (here).
Read on .....
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
