Updated: 14 July 2008

Uranium Systems Project

Project description
Project technical notes
- Objectives
- Strategy
Project outcomes
Project outputs
Uranium-related maps
Publications
Presentations
Contact the project team
Onshore Energy Security Program links
Related links

Project description

The Onshore Energy Security Program will deliver a wide range of new geoscientific datasets which will underpin an improved knowledge of Australia’s onshore energy resources, including uranium, petroleum, geothermal and thorium. This will be achieved via a series of integrated national and regional projects targeted where the maximum impact can be achieved. The Uranium Systems Project is one of the national projects within the Onshore Energy Security Program.

The primary purpose of the Uranium Systems Project is to provide advice to the Australian Government on Australia's uranium resource potential as well as deliver new pre-competitive datasets and concepts to the minerals industry which will promote new search areas and reduce risk in the discovery of Australia's uranium resources.

As with other projects under the Onshore Energy Security Program, the Uranium Systems Project will work collaboratively with the State and the Northern Territory geological surveys under the auspices of the National Geoscience Agreement. Collaborative arrangements with universities, industry and other Australian Government agencies, including the CSIRO, are being developed.

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Project technical notes

Objectives

To develop a new understanding of processes which control where and how uranium mineral systems develop;
to map the distribution of known uranium enrichments and related rocks in Australia; and
to assess potential for undiscovered uranium deposits at regional to national scales.

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Strategy

The project is applying a holistic approach to its investigations of uranium mineral systems. This involves taking a multi-scale view from deposit, to district and crustal scales of the geological processes and spatial controls on uranium mineralisation. An understanding of the key geological factors necessary in the formation of major uranium deposits will enable more rigorous predictions of the potential of greenfield and brownfield terranes for uranium mineralisation. This is particularly important in Australia where uranium-prospective rock units may be concealed beneath extensive regolith or younger sedimentary rocks. The systems approach employed in this project will provide a new framework for interrelating apparently diverse styles of uranium mineralisation and for identifying the potential for hybrids of conventional deposit styles.

The Uranium Systems Project will focus initially on documenting the spatial distribution of known uranium-rich rocks and uranium occurrences in Australia. This will involve compilation of lithogeochemical data and integrating that information with new Onshore Energy Secturity Program datasets such as radiometric data re-levelled using results from the current Australia-wide geophysical survey (AWAGS2), the National Geochemical Survey, and the new 1:1,000,000 geological map of Australia. Aspects of the compilation will be done in collaboration with the Geothermal Energy Project. Results will be delivered as a series of digital map products.

The data compilation and synthesis will be complemented by studies aimed at better understanding the processes of uranium transport through the landscape, its deposition and spatial controls on mineralisation. These will include petrological and geochronological studies of selected uranium mineralised systems in Australia along with numerical modelling of uranium mineralising processes. A proposal in collaboration with the CSIRO, Primary Industry and Resources South Australia and the Northern Territory Geological Survey is under development for industry-sponsored modelling for exploration targeting of uranium mineralisation in South Australia and the Northern Territory.

In future years of the Onshore Energy Security Program, the Uranium Systems Project and regional projects will focus progressively on regional prospectivity analysis of uranium as new data are acquired in regional project areas. The data will include deep and shallow crustal seismic, airborne electromagnetics and geological and geochronological data. Such data will enable 3D models of crustal and basin architecture to be built, which is fundamental to assessments of the potential for uranium mineralisation in each region. The assessments will be delivered as a series of map-based 2D and 3D products, highlighting geological elements considered critical in formation of major uranium deposits. An example of a 2D mineral potential map is available showing iron oxide copper-gold-uranium mineral systems in the Gawler Craton.

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Project outcomes

Increased exploration for known and unrecognised styles of uranium deposits in Australia;
lower risk for the uranium exploration industry in area selection;
improved basis for estimation of Australia's uranium resource potential, thereby providing better advice to government;and
industry exploration strategies influenced by increasing the search area for undiscovered uranium resources.

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Project outputs

2007-08

Produce:

reports on processes of uranium mobilisation, transport in the landscape and deposition in near-surface to deeper crustal geological environments;
maps and report prepared in conjunction with the Geothermal Energy Project documenting the distribution of igneous rocks with high uranium content and the controls on that distribution; and
a report documenting potential sites of uranium deposition in selected areas of Australia using numerical simulation and other tools.

2008-09 onwards

Produce:

reports on re-assessments of genetic models of Australian uranium systems and their lithospheric to regional-scale settings;
maps of the distribution of high uranium content non-igneous rocks;
updated uranium occurrences database including exploration drillhole data; and
3D maps and models of prospective regions, highlighting areas of high potential and showing distribution of important attributes of uranium mineral systems. This will be done in conjunction with regional projects.

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Uranium-related maps

Proterozoic Uranium Mineralising events;
Mineral deposit and resource map of uranium; and
Australian Mines Atlas - Interactive mapping allows maps displaying uranium deposits, occurrences and potential to be viewed.

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Publications

Publication title	Authors	Document
Two Types of Sandstone Uranium Systems in the Frome Embayment? Preliminary Results of Fluid Flow and Chemical Modelling	Subhash Jaireth Presented at the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy’s International Uranium Conference, 18-19th June 2008, Adelaide.	Download the complete document [PDF 1.9MB]

Why Australia has so much uranium. Lambert, I., Jaireth, S., McKay, A.D. and Miezitis, Y., AusGeo News Dec 2005, Issue No. 80.
Australia's uranium resources, geology and development of deposits. McKay, A.D. and Miezitis, Y., 2001.

Presentations

Onshore Energy Security Program: Uranium project and regional projects by Andy Barnicoat and Roger Skirrow. Presented in Darwin at AusIMM - Australia's Uranium Conference, 17 May 2007. [PDF 11.6MB]
Unconformity-Related Uranium Systems: Regional Scale Constraints by Subhash Jaireth, Tony Meixner, Peter Milligan, Ian Lambert and Yanis Miezitis. Presented in Darwin at AusIMM - Australia's Uranium Conference, 17 May 2007. [PDF 3.5MB] A summary also is available. For further information on the presentation contact Subhash Jaireth. The multi-scale edge analysis (wroming) data, in ArcView shapefile format, is available on request.
Sandstone Uranium Deposits Associated with Hydrocarbon-Bearing Basins: Implications for Uranium Exploration in Australia by Subhash Jaireth, Aden McKay and Ian Lambert. Presented at the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy’s International Uranium Conference, 18-19 June 2008, Adelaide. [PDF 7.6MB]
Uranium Systems Project: new results from Geoscience Australia by Roger Skirrow. Presented at the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy’s International Uranium Conference, 18-19 June 2008, Adelaide. [PDF 3.8MB]

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