The Ultimate Origin of Uranium Provinces

The global distribution of mineral deposits on the Earth shows that some areas concentrate large resources (with high endowment), whereas others are almost devoid of any resource. This led de Launay to the introduction, for the first time, of the term 'metallogenic province'. The first definition of a uranium province was proposed by Keppler and Wyant: 'Economic uranium deposits resulted from original inhomogeneity's of uranium distribution in the Earth's crust that commonly persisted through long periods of time, and through a combination of orogenic, metamorphic, and sedimentary processes produced rocks with enriched uranium contents. The initial enriched uranium domain was successively remobilized and concentrated into new enrichments of one or more magnitudes above normal background forming uranium ore deposits'. The nature, origin, evolution, and distribution of U provinces and the characteristics of some of the major U provinces will be presented. The delineation of such provinces is of major importance for U exploration and the evaluation of the potential resources of such areas.