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Carl Zhang

A Chinese energy giant has claimed a new benchmark in exploration of uranium, a resource growing in demand and importance in the country’s quest for energy security.
State-owned China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said on Friday that it had detected a deposit of sandstone-type industrial uranium mineralisation at a record depth of 1,820 metres (5,971 feet) underground in the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
This type of uranium deposit is generally bigger and easier and cheaper to mine than other kinds of reserves, such as volcanic rock and granite uranium.
The discovery at the record depth reflects advances in Chinese resource exploration, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Uranium is a critical fuel for both nuclear power and nuclear weapons, but China is heavily reliant on imports.
China produced 1,700 tonnes of uranium last year and imported 13,000 tonnes, according to official data.
And demand is only rising. The International Atomic Energy Agency predicts that by 2040, China is expected to require over 40,000 tonnes a year to meet its needs.
In the past, China has focused on mining uranium from volcanic rock and granite in the south of the country.


But in recent years miners have turned to sandstone in the north, where deposits were once believed to be too low grade to extract.
Mineralisation is a reliable indicator of uranium deposits and CNNC said it used an innovative prediction model to find the reserve.
“Based on the prediction results, we carried out remote sensing, geophysical, geochemical and other measurements or explorations in key prospective areas,” state broadcaster CCTV quoted Qin Mingkuan, CNNC’s principal investigator, as saying.
“By implementing relatively deep drilling verification, we finally discovered thick industrial uranium mineralisation in the desert heart.”
Similar sandstone deposits are being unlocked to the east in the Ordos Basin in Inner Mongolia at CNNC’s “National No 1 Uranium” demonstration project.
Launched a year ago, the project is the biggest of its kind in the country and delivered its first barrel of uranium earlier this month.
The technology used at the site – called “in-situ leaching” – is significant for the amount of carbon dioxide it absorbs.
In the process, carbon dioxide and oxygen are dissolved in water, inject it into the mineral layer, which then reacts with the uranium in the mineral layer.
The uranium solution is then brought to the surface and transported to a plant to recover the uranium metal.
The technology is expected to be used in other projects to secure uranium supplies.
Progress also has been made in seawater uranium extraction, with Lanzhou University researchers announcing in April that they had developed technology that doubled adsorption of uranium from marine sources.


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China National Nuclear Corporation

Chinese nuclear giant CNNC sets new benchmark in uranium exploration

Uranium is growing in importance and demand as a fuel in China. Photo: Shutterstock

Will China’s ‘no tunnel, no toxic waste’ uranium mine be a nuclear energy game changer?

Breakthrough at Inner Mongolia’s  “National No 1 Uranium” demonstration project has been hailed as “a systematic technological leap” likely to reshape uranium mining and processing in China. Photo: Handout

Chinese scientists make seawater uranium extraction 40 times more efficient

The world’s oceans are estimated to contain 4.5 billion tonnes of uranium, 1,000 times the amount of uranium ore reserves in the ground, but at extremely low concentrations. Photo: Shutterstock 

Scientists in China use wax to make particles that can extract uranium from seawater

China is building more nuclear plants than any other country, but its uranium ore is low-grade and it relies on imports. Photo: Xinhua

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China

Science

Fuel is growing in importance as the country seeks to secure supplies used to power reactors and weapons


Fuel is growing in importance as the country seeks to secure supplies used to power reactors and weapons.


Xinjiang

Chinese nuclear giant CNNC sets new benchmark in uranium exploration

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Fuel is growing in importance as the country seeks to secure supplies used to power reactors and weapons

Fuel is growing in importance as the country seeks to secure supplies used to power reactors and weapons