About Uranium

 
 
 Why Uranium?  Uranium Grades
 What is Uranium (U3O8)?  Uranium Supply and Demand
 Where is Uranium Found  Uranium and Energy
 Mining Uranium  Analysts Remain Bullish on Uranium


Why Uranium?

  • High demand as an energy source 
  • Significant Price increase 
  • Production shortfalls 
  • Diminished supply 
  • Growing cost of alternative fuels used to produce electricity 
  • More than 140 new reactors to be built over the next 10 years 
  • Uranium is more than 10,000 times the energy output than oil (megajoule/kg)



What is Uranium?

  • Discovered in 1789, Uranium is one of the most abundant elements found within the earth's crust. 
  • It is more abundant than gold, silver or mercury, about the same as tin and slightly less abundant than cobalt, lead or molybdenum. 
  • Uranium is a silvery white very dense metal (65% more dense than lead), with the potential to generate incredible amounts of energy. 
  • Radioactive metallic element of high specific gravity. 
  • Uranium averages about two parts per million of the earth's crust. 
  • Uranium is found as an oxide, uraninite, or mixed oxide, pitchblende or complex salt such as brannerite (oxide of uranium, rare earths, iron and titanium), coffinite (uranium silicate) and carnotite (hydrated potassium uranyl vanadate). 
  • Chemical symbol for uranium is "U" 



 


Where is Uranium Found? 

  • Uranium, known as the heaviest naturally occurring element, can be found in soil and rock, in rivers and oceans, in a variety of different geological environments. 
  • Concentrated uranium ores are commonly found in hard rock or sandstone and vary according to the substances mixed with and where it was originally found. 
  • Uranium deposits can be found all over the world. Larger areas include Australia and Canada. 
  • High-grade deposits are only found in Canada. 
  • Kazakhstan, Niger, Russia and Namibia follow close behind in production, and combined with Canada and Australia, they account for about 84% of production from mines. 
  • McArthur River in Canada (Cameco), Ranger in Australia (ERA) and Olympic Dam in Australia (BHP-Billiton) are the three largest operations in the world by annual uranium production. 



 


Mining Uranium 

Uranium is extracted from the ground using a variety of different mining techniques, depending on the depth of the mineralization and grade. 

  • Open Pit 
When found close to the surface, generally less than 100 metres deep, this method is most common. It begins by removing overburden soil and waste rock on top of the ore body to expose the hard rock, a pit is then excavated to access the ore. The pits walls are mined in a series of benches to prevent them from collapsing. To mine each bench, holes are drilled into the rock and loaded with explosives, which are detonated to break up the rock. 
  • Deeper deposits
Located more than 100 metres below the surface, underground mining methods are required. Entry into the ground in accessed by digging vertical shafts to the depth of the ore body, tunnels are then cut around the deposit. Horizontal tunnels (drifts) offer access directly to the ore and provide ventilation pathways. The mines underground are ventilated, but in the uranium mines, extra care is taken with ventilation to minimize the amount of radiation exposure and dust inhalation. 
  • In Situ Leaching 
In some cases when the ores are of lower-grade, the uranium is mined by in situ leaching; while still underground the process dissolves the uranium and then transports a uranium-bearing solution to the surface that extracts the dissolved uranium. With this process there is partial disturbance to the surfaces environment. Leaching is another word for dissolving and in situ means in the original place or position. 

Following the mining, the ore is crushed and ground, and the oxide ore is treated with sulphuric acid to produce uranium oxide or yellowcake. Yellowcake is uranium concentrate. It takes its name from the color and texture of the concentrates produced by early mining operations, despite the fact that modern mills using higher calcining temperatures produce "yellowcake" that is dull green to almost black. Yellowcake typically contains 70% to 90% uranium oxide (U3O8) by weight. (Other uranium oxides, such as UO2 and UO3, exist; the most stable oxide, U3O8, is actually considered to be a 2:3 molar mixture of these). 


 


Uranium Grades

Uranium concentrations vary from substance to substance and place to place. 
Uranium in phosphate rock, which is used to produce fertilizer, can range as high as 400 ppm (parts per million). 
Some coal deposits contain uranium concentration levels as high as 1000 ppm. 
Concentrations in excess of greater than 750 ppm are usually considered ore, or rock economical to mine. 
Ore-grade uranium ranges from .01% (1,000 ppm) up to several tens of percents found in high-grade deposits. 
High-grade ore-body -- 20% U 200,000 ppm U 
Low-grade orebody -- 0.01% U 1,000 ppm U 
Granite 4 ppm U 
Sedimentary rock 2 ppm U 
Average in Earth's continental crust 2.8 ppm U 
Seawater 0.03 ppm U 
 


 


Uranium Supply and Demand 

  • Demand is projected to increase at and annual rate of 2.8% to 2010 and double by 2020. 
  • Significant commercial use for uranium is to fuel nuclear power plants for the generation of electricity. 
  • At this time in the world, there are 441 operable commercial nuclear power plants generating capacity of 367,684 megawatts requiring 178 million pounds of U3O8 per year. These plants are supplying approximately 16% of the world's power requirements. 
  • Construction of 140 new reactors are underway or in the planning stages for completion within the next 10 years. 
  • Approximately 180 million pounds (81,600 tonnes) for all sources is the current demand for uranium fuels. This number will increase to more than 200 million pounds (90,700 tonnes) U3O8 by 2025. Around 100 million pounds (45,400 tonnes) U3O8, is produced from world mining at this present time (remaining demand is currently met from "secondary" sources) but to meet expected demand this number must increase by 60 per cent by the year 2018. 
  • Demand for uranium is linked to the level of electricity generated by nuclear power plants. 
  • The cost of producing conventional electricity is increasing due to escalating oil, coal and natural gas prices. In addition, global warming concerns are also increasing international interest in nuclear power and spurring new demand for uranium.

 


Uranium and Energy 

  • Nuclear reactors now generate more than 16% of the world's electricity. 
  • The uranium market depends a great deal on world demand for nuclear generated electricity. The selling price of uranium generally fluctuates according to supply and demand. 
  • The element that is found in nature is used as a nuclear fuel; it is a source of energy. 
  • Protecting the safety of the environment, uranium fuel is emissions-free and comparing to other fuels, it only requires a small quantity to generate an equivalent amount of electricity, something society depends on.