Uranium ores

Uranium ore differs little from the ores of other metal substances, in terms of extraction and concentration, although its grade is generally lower; on the other hand, the use of uranium as an energy source gives it a role in a country's economy equivalent to that of coal and hydrocarbons.For the geologist and prospector tasked with discovering deposits, uranium ore offers the interesting feature of being radioactive, and therefore detectable by physical means involving this property.Surface or subsurface detection therefore combines methods that directly use the radioactivity of the element or its natural descendants (radium, radon, etc.) with those normally used for mining or oil exploration.Over the last fifty years or so, uranium has been more or less actively prospected throughout the world. Rising commodity and energy prices in the 1970s and 1980s prompted many countries to develop vast nuclear power plant construction programs to improve their energy independence by diversifying their resources, with the result that demand for fuel for nuclear power plants increased significantly between 1980 and 1990.