Strategy of uranium exploration in Russia

Full text: At the beginning of the 21st century stable deficiency has been established between uranium production and consumption all over the world. The deficit reached more than 30ths.tU in 2003. It determined drastic increase of nuclear fuel prices in the world market - 52.6 $/kg of U at the state of November 2004. High price level and limited profitable reserves prepared for mining predetermined stirring up of geological exploration aimed on new uranium deposits revealing. Russia is one of the world leaders in uranium production and active member of the market of nuclear fuel and technologies. It provides only 20% of annual total domestic nuclear reactors and export supply demands by the natural uranium production. The rest is covered from the secondary sources. This large-scale problem of resources deficit claimed the cardinal revision of the strategy of uranium geological exploration in Russia. Four major directions of geological exploration have been determined for the period up to 2020. 1. Development and perfection of uranium resources related to uranium mines under operation and under construction; 2. Revaluation and additional geological investigation of stand by uranium deposits with selecting of reserves favorable for mining at the current market prices; 3. Exploration within determined perspective areas aimed on new high profitable deposits discovery favorable for news conventional and ISL uranium producing centers construction; 4. Specialized reconnaissance and metallogoenic study within new or poorly explored territories for new regions to select areas perspective for uranium exploration. The first direction: Geological exploration will be performed within Streltsovsky region which is the basic centre for uranium production and also in Zauralsky and Vitimsky regions where new enterprises for uranium production by in situ leach method are currently under construction. In the Streltsovsky region the primary tasks for geological exploration are the Streltsovsky caldera proper and also the Dasotuevskaya and Kulanzhinskaya volcanic-tectonic structures. In the Zauralsky region the geological exploration is oriented to complete exploration at Khokhlovskoe deposit and also to discover new deposits of sandstone basal channel type within Pyshminskaya and Yukonskaya areas. On the territory of Vitimsky region the basic exploration will be performed at the Khiagdinsky, Vershinsky and Tetrakhsky deposits and for evaluation of the uranium-bearing areas in the peripheral parts of the Amalatsy plateau. The second direction: The geological and economic evaluation will be performed to complete the feasibility study of the Elkonsky region deposits (the South Yakutia) and of Imskoye, Olovskoye, Gornoye, Bererzovskoye and other deposits in the Trans Baikal region. The third direction: Is oriented to discover unconformity and sandstone type deposits within the determined perspective Karelo-Kola, Central-European, Ural, West- and East- Siberian regions. The fourth direction: Complex of the small scale exploration and geological study for uranium within the insufficiently known territories of the Anabara shield, the Taimyr uplift, the Okhotsky and Omolonsky missives will be carried out. The realization of the above mentioned activities will provide sufficient uranium resources which will satisfy increasing requirements of Russian nuclear industry including export supply of nuclear fuel and low enriched uranium. (author)