Uranium resource of Europe: Development status, metallogenic provinces and geodynamic setting

Abstract

Since the 21st century, the closure of domestic uranium mines in Europe has made it one of the world's leading importers of uranium. In recent years, a series of policy adjustments have led to an improving situation for enriched uranium supply, yet the challenge of natural uranium supply remains unresolved. This work divides Europe into five uranium metallogenic provinces based on its geological background and the distribution characteristics of various types of uranium deposits. The intrusive type uranium deposits in Greenland U metallogenic province, the metasomatite type uranium deposits in Ukraine U metallogenic province, and the granite-related type uranium deposits in Central Europe U metallogenic province contain a considerable amount of uranium resources, but their mining activities are difficult to continue due to a series of reasons. Benefited from the unique advantages of in-site leaching and exploitation, sandstone type uranium deposit is the most promising targets for mining among conventional uranium resource types, contains significant uranium resources in the Central Europe U metallogenic province and the Alpine orogenic belt U metallogenic province (378 × 103 t). In terms of unconventional uranium resources, the black shale type uranium deposits and the phosphate type uranium deposits (resources) are equally high potential development targets. Estimates suggest that black shale in Sweden contains 6535 × 103 t of uranium resources, and uranium can be recovered as a by-product from millions of tonnes of phosphate imported annually by EU. Sandstone type, black shale type and phosphate type, these three types of uranium resources hold significant strategic importance for Europe in the coming years, as they can provide ''local solutions'' to the energy crisis.

Keywords

• Uranium deposit
• Spatiotemporal distribution
• Metallogenic province
• Geodynamic setting
• Europe