>>8471971
>>8471954
>>8471877
>>8471941
>>8471913
>>8471921
Polar Prospects: A Minerals Treaty for Antarctica
Data on coal and uranium are from publications of the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developmentβs Nuclear Energy Agency.
The core areas of the continents are the old
Precambrian shields. In the reconstruction of Gondwana, the Brazilian shield, African shield, Indian
shield, Australian shield, and East Antarctic shield
are all brought into close juxtaposition like pieces of
a puzzle (figure 4-2). South America, though not contiguous with East Antarctica, was close to Africa. Numerous mineral occurrences are found in
the shield of East Antarctica. Many of these occurrences are similar to the mineralization of major economic deposits in comparable shield areas of the
adjacent continents, These major deposits iron-formations and bedded manganese in Australia, India, and Africa; conglomeratic placer gold-uranium deposits.
In the same general area is the
recently discovered ore body at Roxby Downs,
which is rich in copper, gold, silver, uranium, and
rare-earth minerals. Further to the east, a belt
referred to as the East Australian erogenic province
(also called the Tasman orogen) consists of progressively younger sediments, volcanic rocks, and intrusions extending into the Early Mesozoic. This
province, a portion of which geologically resembles
part of north Victoria Land (the Borchgrevink
orogen) in Antarctica, contains deposits of copper,
lead, and zinc associated with submarine volcanism
and tin, tungsten, molybdenum, bismuth, gold, and
other metals apparently associated with subsequent
granitic intrusions.
The extension of the Ross orogen toward Africa
is less clear, but radiometric dating suggests that
metamorphic activity occurred in eastern Africa at
roughly the same time as the Ross orogeny, but no
ore deposits have been found that can be associated
with this event. The younger Cape orogeny of
southernmost Africa strongly folded Late Paleozoic
rocks but did not produce any metamorphism,
intrusion, or ore mineralization.
Uranium
Prospects for Antarctica
Uranium occurs in many geologic settings. Among
the more important categories are quartz-pebble
conglomerate deposits, deposits related to erosional
surfaces in Precambrian rocks, disseminated and
contact deposits in igneous and metamorphic rocks,
vein deposits, and sandstone deposits of various
ages. Again, some insight can be gained by comparing Antarctica with the surrounding Gondwana
continents. South Africa contains an abundance of
uranium and is a major uranium producer. However,
most of the uranium produced in South Africa is a
byproduct of gold mining, principally from the
Precambrian quartz-pebble gold conglomerates of
the Witwatersrand region. Australia is also a major
uranium producer. In Australia, most of the known
uranium resources are contained in deposits spatially related to erosional surfaces in Precambrian
rocks. The South African and Australian deposits
suggest that uranium might be present in the
Precambrian rocks of East Antarctica.
Uranium minerals, or anomalous levels of radioactivity, have been found in several locations in
Antarctica, particularly in Enderby Land, the Adelie
Coast, and the Transantarctic Mountains of Victoria
Land in East Antarctica. No known occurrences of
radioactive minerals in Antarctica contain commercial quantities. However, larger deposits might
be present in sedimentary basins that existed prior to
the break up of Gondwana.
World Resources
Reported world uranium production in 1986
totaled 40,900 short tons. Reactor requirements were
43,200 short tons with the difference being made up
from stocks. Exclusive of China, Eastern Europe,
and the Soviet Union for which data are not
available, the four largest producers were Canada,
the United States, South Africa, and Australia
followed by Namibia, Niger, and France. Total
known resources, which include the reasonably
assured resources and the estimated additional
resources based on direct geological evidence, total
3.9 million tons. The ratio of known resources to
reactor requirements currently stands at 91 or nearly
a century of supply. In addition, undiscovered resources are estimated at over 1.8 million tons.
Even with the projected moderate growth in
nuclear power production, supplies of uranium
should be adequate for the foreseeable future. In
the long term, advances in nuclear power generation
and enrichment technologies are expected to reduce
the requirements for natural uranium. Even though
the cost of uranium in current prices may be higher
in the long term, the cost of finding and producing
uranium from Antarctica would likely be much
higher still.
https://www.princeton.edu/~ota/disk1/1989/8926/892606.PDF