TITLE:
The Uranium Prospects in Mika Region, Northeastern Nigeria
AUTHORS:
Hinyuen Tsang, Shamim Akhtar, Saif-ur-Rehman, Qifan Wu, Insung Lee, Nosheen Sahir, Xiaoyong Yang
KEYWORDS:
Uranium Exploration, Uranium Mineralization, Radiometric Zone Mika Area, Nigeria
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Geology,
Vol.8 No.11,
October
10,
2018
ABSTRACT: Uranium exploration especially in currently non-producing countries like Nigeria possesses high economic prospect. This study investigates a new uranium prospect in Mika, Northeastern Nigeria. The Mika uranium mineralization is located in Mika, Taraba State. Two lodes were identified and additional nine (9) trenches were added. The main lode in the west extends about 10 m, ore vein strikes 348°, inclination 42° and the strike of the lode 306° with average uranium content of 18%. The eastern trench is about 8 × 4 × 6 m which exposes a veinlet of pitchblende. From the petrography, one can deduce that the granitic host rock has suffered deformation resulting in crushing of quartz crystals and stretching of plagioclase. The uraninite and chalcedony in the late phase filled up the fractures along the crystal grain boundaries as veinlets. The laboratory gamma ray analysis of the samples showed that the secondary uranium content is 0.1%, while the primary uranium ore grade is 1.5%. Radiometric in situ measurements showed that Th and K ranges from 47.3 - 3654 ppm and 4.26% - 6.26% respectively. From the survey, a strong radiometric zone extends 800 × 35 m in an NW-SE direction and has highest radiation content of 1200 cpm against the background count rate of 30 cpm. Generally, the uranium concentrations in the ores in Mika area range from 0.03% - 0.12%. Since only the surface occurrences have been explored, the study area is a good prospect for future development when properly explored. The North-eastern Nigeria has been roughly explored by Nigeria Uranium Mining Company (NUMCO) in 1980, but no formal exploration had been followed after that, especially near the site of this article. The company (ACE Mines, Ltd) of the first author was among the few uranium mining companies approved in the list of Nigerian Geological Survey agency of Abuja in Nigeria. The authors determined the coordinates of the site in their first survey which formed the prospect area in the licence.