The Petro-Find Geochem soil gas method, which is well proven for the exploration of oil and gas reservoirs using light hydrocarbons as pathfinders, has been adapted for uranium exploration. Helium concentrations in soil gas can be related to underlying uranium deposits, which generates alpha particles during the radioactive decay process. Alpha particles pick up two electrons to form helium. Hydrogen, produced by the radiolysis of water by uranium, is also a useful pathfinder. It is becoming clearer that neon, an indirect product of uranium decay, can be used as a pathfinder for uranium mineralization.
Helium, hydrogen and neon migrate by diffusion and mass flow vertically to the surface unless short-circuited by fractures or faults. Industry attempts to develop an alternative geochemical exploration system using helium as a pathfinder to reduce costs and accelerate exploration of uranium in the Athabasca Basin in Canada and elsewhere have been unsuccessful. Any lack of success is attributed to poor sampling equipment and methods, inability to sample wet sediments and muskeg, leakage problems with long distance transport in containers or vials from field to laboratory, and inappropriate analyzers for helium.
The measurement of helium and hydrogen in soils requires special care because of their volatility. Previous researchers have used hydrogen in soils for earthquake prediction along major faulting as well as groundwater tracing, but have never employed this gas as a pathfinder for uranium exploration. Neon has been used mainly by other researchers to monitor the accuracy of helium surveys, but the premise of this approach is considered to be inaccurate. A new cost-effective geochemical exploration system for uranium is considered highly desirable by industry to reduce ... the heavy costs of exploration and the unusually large lag-time between discovery and production.
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