NON-TRADITIONAL URANIUM EXPLORATION TARGETS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA

摘要

South Australia hosts two of Australia’s three operating uranium mines with another two anticipated to begin production in the near future. Traditionally exploration has largely focused on Iron oxide copper gold + uranium (c.f. Olympic Dam style) or sandstone-hosted (c.f. Beverley style) uranium targets. However, due to the ubiquitous uranium anomalism through the Mesoproterozoic crystalline basement in eastern South Australia, process-driven target generation indicates high potential for contemporary hybrids of different types, as well as younger unconformity-related or calcrete-hosted deposits. Translation of key mineralising processes into mappable criteria allows innovative targeting strategies to be developed for explorers in Greenfield areas.