U-V Deposits – Ngalia Basin, NT

This series of projects focussed on characterisation of the U-V mineralisation across the Ngalia Basin by a combination of sedimentology and petrography.

The sandstone-hosted uranium-vanadium deposits of Carboniferous age in the Ngalia Basin of central Australia form an important energy and critical metal source. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how they formed, their distribution and characterise their host mineralogically.

In a series of projects (2010-2019), working closely with mineral exploration companies, we used an integrated approach combining sedimentological facies interpretation and hyperspectral data interpretation across the northern Ngalia Basin. On an ore body scale, we used a range of micro-analytical tools, in order to study the paragenetic sequence of the U-V host sandstones in combination with mineralogy and geochemistry with the aim to establish timing and processes that lead to mineralisation.

The outcome reveals mineralisation is controlled by their depositional site, mechanisms of enrichment during transport of U, and lack of porosity prohibiting remobilisation. The study aided exploration companies for better targeting prospective units, geometallurgical testing, and exploration across the basin.

petrography

 

Publications/reports:

Schmid, S., Taylor, W.R., Jordan, D.P., 2020. The Bigrlyi tabular sandstone-hosted uranium-vanadium deposit, Ngalia Basin, Central Australia. Minerals 10, 10, 896.

Schmid, S., Laukamp, C., 2019. Ngalia Basin Vanadium‐Uranium deposits advanced research, Northern Territory. CSIRO EP192357, 36pp. (confidential)

Taylor, W.R., Schmid, S., 2017. Bigrlyi uranium-vanadium deposit. In: Phillips, N. (Ed). Australian Ore Deposits, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Melbourne, Monograph 32, 571-574.

Wilde, A., Hill, J., Schmid, S., Taylor, W., 2017. Wavelet Tessellation and its Application to Downhole Gamma Data from the Manyingee & Bigrlyi Sandstone-Hosted Uranium Deposits. AIG Journal Paper N2017-002, 1-11.

Schmid, S., 2015. Uranium occurrences characterisation in the Ngalia Basin, NT. CSIRO EP151655, 33pp. (confidential)

Schmid, S., Quigley, M.A., 2014. Fluvial architecture and diagenesis of the Mt Eclipse Sandstone, northern Ngalia Basin, Australia. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 61, 1081-1094.

Schmid, S., Foss. C., Hill, J., Quigley, M., Schaubs, P., Cleverley, J., Robinson, J., 2012. JSU Ngalia Basin Uranium Mineral System Project. (CSIRO EP114951) NTGS Record 2012-003.