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The amount of ultimately recoverable uranium depends strongly on what one would be willing to pay for it. Uranium is a widely distributed metal with large low-grade deposits that are not currently considered profitable. As of 2015, 646,900 tonnes of reserves are recoverable at US$40 per kilogram of uranium, while 7,641,600 tonnes of reserves ...
The Athabasca Basin is a region in the Canadian Shield of northern Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada. It is best known as the world's leading source of high-grade uranium and currently supplies about 20% of the world's uranium. [1] The basin is located just to the south of Lake Athabasca, west of Wollaston Lake, and encloses almost all of Cree ...
Uranium-235 (235 U or U-235) is an isotope of uranium making up about 0.72% of natural uranium. Unlike the predominant isotope uranium-238, it is fissile, i.e., it can sustain a nuclear chain reaction. It is the only fissile isotope that exists in nature as a primordial nuclide. Uranium-235 has a half-life of 703.8 million years.
The highest grade uranium deposits are found in the Athabasca Basin in Canada, including the two largest high grade uranium deposits in the world, Cigar Lake with 217 million pounds (99,000 t) U 3 O 8 at an average grade of 18% and McArthur River with 324 million pounds (147,000 t) U 3 O 8 at an average grade of 17%. These deposits occur below ...
The world's largest deposits of uranium are found in three countries. Australia has just over 30% of the world's reasonably assured resources and inferred resources of uranium – about 1.673 megatonnes (3.69 × 10 ^ 9 lb). [46] Kazakhstan has about 12% of the world's reserves, or about 651 kilotonnes (1.4 × 10 ^ 9 lb). [62]
Kazakhstan has the largest uranium reserves in the world, with the first commercial deposit in the country (Kordayskoye) discovered and explored in 1951. With continued exploration through the late 1960s, uranium discoveries in the Shu-Sarysu and Ili provinces in southern Kazakhstan became the world's largest reserves of uranium.
Uranium-235 was the first isotope that was found to be fissile. Other naturally occurring isotopes are fissionable, but not fissile. [citation needed] On bombardment with slow neutrons, uranium-235 most of the time splits into two smaller nuclei, releasing nuclear binding energy and more neutrons.
The world's largest producer of uranium is Kazakhstan, which in 2019 produced 43% of the world's mining output. Canada was the next largest producer with a 13% share, followed by Australia with 12%. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Uranium has been mined in every continent except Antarctica.