Uranium deposits of the United States
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Date
1977-06
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Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
The world uranium demand by the year 2000 will be about 4 million short tons of U3O8. A great portion of the world's uranium supply is found in the sandstone-type deposits in the western United States. Continued exploration and mining in these large deposits is vital to supplying the project uranium needed by the year 2000. Many theories have been proposed concerning the origin of sandstone-type deposits. The popular theory for the source of most of the uranium in the western United States is weathering from tuffaceous rocks. The uranium is thought to be transported in very low concentrations, in weakly alkaline slightly reducing solutions, until geochemical and environmental conditions are right for deposition. The major deposits in sandstone are classifiable into peneconcordant and roll types on the basis of their shape or form; however, a further breakdown of deposits on the basis of the geochemical environment of deposition is more useful in determining where new occurrences might be found.