Location: Akwaibom, Bayelsa, crossriver, plateau, bauchi, Taraba, Adamawa.
Uranium is a naturally-occurring radioactive element that is used mainly to generate nuclear power to produce relatively cheap electricity. Several developing countries have strived to acquire and utilize nuclear technology, as well as own the needed uranium raw materials.
Although uranium can be found in trace amounts almost everywhere on the Earth’s surface, economically recoverable concentrations as ore deposits are limited to a few geological environments. Out of more than 20 countries that mine uranium ore worldwide, only five countries account for over half of world’s annual production, and 75% of such production is derived from sediment hosted and unconformity related deposits.
Since the 1970s, Nigeria has aspired to find viable uranium deposits within its borders, particularly after vast deposits of uranium were discovered in the neighbouring country of Niger Republic in the 1960s. Despite Nigeria’s supposed uranium mineralization potential, only a few occurrences have been discovered, none of which are economically viable.
The known uranium occurrences are classified into four types based on their geological setting and mode of occurrence: (i) magmatic dissemination in peralkaline granites; (ii) epigenetic fissure-filling veins in granites/rhyolites; (iii) sandstone hosted; and (iv) phosphorite uranium.
Fortunately, the country is endowed with several Cretaceous riftogenic sedimentary basins, such as the Gongola Basin, Yola Basin, Borno Basin, Lower Benue Trough and Mamfe Embayment that contain several hundred meters thick basal arkosic sandstones and conglomerates of fluvial to deltaic origin and formed in rapidly subsiding depocenters overlying crystalline basement rocks.
The formation of sandstone uranium deposits is often dependent, among other factors, on the nature, abundance and the reactivity of the uranium reducing agents which include organic materials, biogenic H2S and hydrocarbons. Several areas that have potential sources for uranium and the conducive environment to precipitate and preserve uranium within the stratigraphic sequence are proposed as potential exploration targets.
Uranium is a hard, dense, malleable, ductile, silver-white, radioactive metal. Uranium metal has very high density. When finely divided, it can react with cold water. In air it is coated by uranium oxide, tarnishing rapidly. It is attacked by steam and acids. Uranium can form solids solutions and intermetallic compounds with many of the metals.
For many years, uranium was used primarily as a colorant for ceramic glazes and for tinting in early photography. Its radioactive properties were not recognized until 1866, and its potential for use as an energy source was not manifested until the mid-20th century. Uranium is now used to power commercial nuclear reactors that produce electricity and to produce isotopes used for medical, industrial, and defense purposes around the world.
