Uranium roll front deposits, Wyoming Bill Boberg, Ur-Energy Inc.

Roll front uranium deposits of the Wyoming region have produced approximately 91,000 tonnes (t) of U3O8 since the early 1950s, and approximately 165,000 t U3O8 forward-cost reserves are recognized in the region, mostly contained in roll front deposits. Significant uranium has been mined from geologic units of various ages from Cretaceous to Oligocene. The formation of the Wyoming uranium province most likely started during the Archean with the formation of granitic and metamorphic rocks of the Granite Mountains of central Wyoming, and many of the major uranium deposits within Cenozoic sedimentary rocks are generally in clusters that surround the Precambrian core complexes of central Wyoming. A span of more than 45 million years of volcanism in the Western US resulted in extensive deposition of thick rhyolitic tuff sequences throughout the region. The uranium ore-forming fluid was enriched by uranium leached from both the deeply weathered Precambrian rocks and by the dissolution of glassy ash in the thick tuffaceous sequences. Given the huge volumes of ash deposited across the region, additional uranium resources likely remain to be discovered. The major deposits in the Wyoming uranium province occur in fluvial sedimentary units of both Paleocene and Eocene age, whereas other economic deposits in the province occur in Cretaceous sedimentary rocks and brecciated rocks of Precambrian age. Regardless of the age or type of host rock, it is likely that many of the deposits have a common genesis. The ore-forming fluid for the roll fronts and related deposits was uranium-enriched surficial water leaching ash fall tuffs and deeply weathered Precambrian rocks. Paleodrainage systems that shifted across the landscape in response to various regional and local tectonic events transported the uranium in surficial waters which, in turn, recharged the ground water below the paleodrainage systems. Permeable rock, capable of transmitting significant quantities of the ground water, were favorable locations for the deposition of uranium deposits. Precipitation of the uranium in sandstone host rocks was primarily due to reducing conditions caused by organic carbon buried with the original sediments or by the leakage of hydrocarbons into the sediments. Precipitation in karst regions in carbonate rocks was the result of acid neutralization. Roll front deposits are characterized by a large, pervasive, oxidized-altered zone, commonly referred to as the altered tongue, which extends from outcrop to the downdip, or down paleodip, transition to reduced sediments. The uranium deposits occur at or near the transition between oxidized and reduced sedimentary rocks. These redox boundaries can be sharp or diffuse, and are laterally extensive with discontinuous uranium concentrations. This redox transition zone is commonly roughly C-shaped, with the mineralized part of the sandstone rolling across the bedding and thus giving rise to the term roll front. A number of other terms have been commonly used for this deposit type, including redox front, solution front, or geochemical cell. A characteristic of the larger, better mineralized, roll front deposits is that the host strata locally have good permeability, which allows for ground water flow through the deposit. Within the roll front, permeability will be reduced as a result of pore space being filled with precipitated uranium and accessory minerals. The geologic characteristics of roll front deposits have been well proven by extensive drill testing over the years and provide a solid and valuable tool to uranium explorationists.