Hou, and 4 co-authors, reported in 2014 in the Acta Geologica Sinica version of the paper that paleovalley-related’ uranium deposits encompass three categories including variants of ‘sandstone-hosted’ deposits, as well as surficial deposits - referred to as ‘calcrete’-type, and lignite-type. Distribution of sandstone, lignite and calcrete-hosted uranium deposits in Australia and China through geological time Note: for these three deposit types the ages shown are those of the host rocks.
The term ‘paleovalley-related’ implies more than just uranium hosted within a paleovalley. This style of uranium mineralisation can be defined as any diagenetic/ epigenetic concentration of uranium minerals occurring in fluvial, alluvial, lacustrine, and estuarine sediments. Cenozoic paleovalleys of Australia, and Mesozoic paleovalleys of China host the greatest number of uranium deposits and include the largest and highest grade deposits of this type. Uranium exploration and mining in Australia and China are significant and increasingly important sectors of each country’s respective mineral industry. Here we focus on similarities in the geology of paleovalley related uranium mineralising systems, which can be used to refine common approaches to exploration. Paleovalley related uranium resources are developed as sandstone-hosted and surficial deposits within paleovalley-fills, either incised into crystalline bedrock, or into sedimentary cover that often is of similar age to strata that host the mineralisation.
With respect to Sino-Australian examples, paleovalley-related uranium occurs mostly around the margins of Mesozoic and Cenozoic basins; often the mineralisation is hosted within sands contained within paleovalleys developed upon, or proximal to, Precambrian crystalline rock that contains primary uranium mineralisation (Hou et al., 2007; Li et al., 2008).
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