3 - Exploration for uranium

Abstract

The first step in the nuclear fuel cycle is exploration for deposits. Exploration for uranium is driven by demand and the price of uranium, the history of success and failure of both the exploration area and the companies, and expansion of the knowledge curve to include new technologies and ideas. As target selection in an area is a major goal in exploration, the property must be evaluated and those involved must be versed in the prospectivity, economics, risks, and explorability of an area. The exploration team must also be knowledgeable of the techniques that can be used, including geologic mapping, remote sensing, geophysics, and geochemistry, as well as the metallogeny of the area, historical exploration results, and deposit models so that effective exploration strategies can be developed. Currently, the location of deposits can only be surmised, not predicted, but new advances in technology and understanding the critical aspects of how the deposits form are leading to better predictive models.