UraniumSA unearths unusual uranium discovery

UraniumSA Limited has discovered a unique uranium deposit near Whyalla on....

  UraniumSA Limited has discovered a unique uranium deposit near Whyalla on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. The new discovery is favourable to in-situ leaching extraction of uranium and is in an area never previously explored for uranium.UraniumSA’s Managing Director, Russel Bluck said the sediment hosted uranium mineralisation is in a geological setting distinctly different to that of conventional sediment-hosted systems worldwide.“The discovery remains open across and along strike,” Mr Bluck said. “We are not aware of any similar in-situ leachable deposits in similar geological settings anywhere in the world.” Mr Bluck said the rock strata is in a marine setting and, significantly, is at shallow depth and in flat bed-style deposits.“This would make it ideally suited to a low-cost, in-situ leaching operation if developed into a mine,” he said.Located on the Mullaquana tenement, just south of the deep-water coastal port of Whyalla, the discovery hosts grades up to 0.015% equivalent uranium oxide (eU3O8) and has average grades of 0.010% – the cut-off grade for existing in-situ leach deposits in Australia and hard rock uranium mines in Namibia.Mr Bluck said early indications suggested the eventual boundaries of the discovery, which is at depths of only 45m to 60m, could be exceptionally large as the two main discovery holes are a kilometre apart.“Its potential size, its location, grade and/or anomalous indications in every hole and accessibility to infrastructure, are very favourable, and are extremely encouraging for further exploration,” Mr Bluck said.