Bonhoure and three co-authors reported in 2007 that a methodology for the determination of the rare earth elements in uranium oxides by ion microprobe has been set up on a Cameca ims-3f instrument. An uranium oxide reference material from a synmetamorphic uranium deposit related to albitization has also been developed for this type of analysis.
Applications of the methodology are presented for a series of uranium oxides selected from some major uranium deposit types: from the world’s highest grade unconformity-related uranium deposit from the Athabasca Basin (Saskatchewan, Canada; the Shea Creek and the McArthur River examples), a perigranitic vein-type deposit (Pen Ar Ran, Vendée, France) and a volcanic caldera-related deposit (Streltsovkoye, Transbaikalia, Russia).
Each type of uranium deposit appears to have a specific REE signature. All REE patterns from the Shea Creek and the McArthur deposits are characterized by bell-shaped patterns centred on Tb-Dy and similar to those already published for uranium oxides from unconformity-related deposits from Australia. Such bell-shaped REE patterns centred on Tb-Dy may therefore be considered as a typical signature of uranium oxides from Mesoproterozoic unconformity-related deposits.
A smoother bell shape pattern centred on Eu characterizes the syn-metamorphic albitization related deposit of Mistamisk selected for the reference material. The REE patterns from the Pen Ar Ran deposit show a fractionation from LREE to HREE with anomalously high abundances of Sm, Eu and Gd with respect to the other REEs, similar to the REE patterns of uranium oxides from the volcanic-related deposits of Streltsovkoye.
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