China discovers world's deepest sandstone-type industrial uranium mineralization

A team of Chinese researchers has discovered the world's deepest sandstone-type industrial uranium mineralization at a depth of 1,820 meters in the Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, according to the China Atomic Energy Authority.

This breakthrough proves China's leading position in the exploration of deep-earth sandstone-type uranium resources and provides new theoretical support and innovative prospecting approaches for global uranium resource exploration, the authority said in a news release .

The project aims to discover and confirm deposits with industrial value while evaluating their resource potential and development prospects. Industrial uranium mineralization serves as a direct and reliable indicator for locating industrial-grade uranium deposits. This newly discovered industrial uranium mineralization is the first major thick-bedded mineralization found in the red variegated strata of the uninhabited hinterland of the Tarim Basin, filling a significant prospecting gap in China's largest desert-covered region.

It signifies that China has overcome the theoretical barriers of sandstone-type uranium metallogeny and has established an integrated green and efficient prospecting system for sandstone-type uranium deposits in desert areas.

Thanks to the guidance and support of the authority, the Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology under the China National Nuclear Corp worked with the 216th Nuclear Geologic Service, also a nuclear corp subsidiary, devised the "exfiltration-infiltration composite genetic regional prediction model", improved sandstone-type uranium metallogenic theory, and developed a high-efficient deep-drilling technology for complex strata in the Tarim Basin. Their work has laid a solid foundation for sandstone-type industrial uranium mineralization prospecting, according to the release.