Uranium Mining Review - 2016 by World Nuclear Organization

Uranium (Nuclear Minerals) / Exploration, Mining, Marketing, & Acquisitions

Date posted: 06/13/16

WNO reports that in the last 60 years uranium has become one of the most important energy minerals. It is mined and concentrated similarly to many other metals. While uranium is used almost entirely for making electricity, a small proportion is used for the important task of producing medical isotopes. Some is also used in marine propulsion, especially naval. Uranium is a naturally occurring element with an average concentration of 2.8 parts per million in the Earth crust. Traces of it occur almost everywhere. It is more abundant than gold, silver or mercury, about the same as tin and slightly less abundant than cobalt, lead or molybdenum. Vast amounts of uranium also occur in the world's oceans, but in very low concentrations. Uranium mines operate in some 20 countries, though in 2014 some 54% of world production came from just ten mines in six countries, these six countries providing 85% of the world mined uranium. Most of the uranium ore deposits at present supporting these mines have average grades in excess of 0.10% of uranium, that is, greater than 1,000 parts per million. In the first phase of uranium mining to the 1960s, this would have been seen as a respectable grade, but today some Canadian mines have high grades of ore of greater than 20% U. Other mines however can operate successfully with very low grade ores, down to about 0.02% U. Some uranium is also recovered as a by-product with copper, as at Olympic Dam mine in Australia, or as by-product from the treatment of other ores, such as the gold-bearing ores of South Africa, or from phosphate deposits such as Morocco and Florida. In these cases the concentration of uranium may be as low as a tenth of that in orebodies mined primarily for their uranium content. Nevertheless, an orebody is defined as a mineral deposit from which the mineral may be recovered at a cost that is economically viable given the current market conditions. Good read ....