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Several countries do not report non-domestic expenditures or have not reported these expenditures recently, and thus the data are incomplete. Canada reported expenditures of USD 139 million in 2007, and it is likely that Canada continues to be a leading investor in foreign exploration and development, but no information was reported for this edition. Australia is also known to make non-domestic investments, but figures have not been reported since 2006.

Table 1.16. Non-domestic uranium exploration and mine development expenditures

(USD thousands in year of expenditures)

Note: Domestic exploration and development expenditures represent the total expenditure from domestic and foreign sources within each country. Expenditures abroad are thus a subset of domestic expenditures.

NA = Data not available. 1. Industry expenditures only. 2. Government expenditures only.

Domestic

Twenty-three countries reported domestic exploration and development expenditures in this edition. The totals reported are on a country-by-country basis and represent the total expenditures from domestic and foreign sources within each country. There is a notable decline in total expenditures compared to the last report (Table 1.17). Since 2011, the expenditures have decreased, except for 2014 where an increase is noted, mainly in relation to expenditures reported by Namibia (i.e. >USD 1 billion), which reflects development of the Husab mine. From 2014 to 2015, total expenditures dropped from over USD 2 billion in 2014 to USD 877 876 million and continued to decline to USD 663 678 million in 2016. From 2014 to 2016, expenditures decreased in most countries, mainly because of the declining uranium price, which slowed down many exploration and mine development projects. Significant decreases were reported for Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, China, Namibia, Russia and the United States. In contrast, India and Argentina reported increases from 2014 to 2016, and while India indicated that expenditures continued to rise in 2017, Argentina reported a decline. Kazahkstan, the world’s largest uranium producer, reported an increase in expenditures from USD 34.7 million to USD 60.9 million from 2014 to 2015, followed by a sharp decline to USD 23.9 million in 2016. Finland reported exploration expenditures for 2014; however, from 2015 onwards, there is no data for Finland as it wasn’t possible to separate out the uranium exploration expenditures from the total for gold exploration for which uranium could be a potential coor by-product. Spain, Turkey and Viet Nam reported an increase in expenditures from 2014 to 2015, followed by a decline for 2016.

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Table 1.17. Industry and government uranium exploration and mine development expenditures – domestic (in countries listed)

(USD thousands in year of expenditures)

See notes on page 41.

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Table 1.17. Industry and government uranium exploration and mine development expenditures – domestic (in countries listed) (cont’d)

(USD thousands in year of expenditures)

Note: Domestic exploration and development expenditures represent the total expenditure from both domestic and foreign sources in each country for the year.

NA = Data not available. * Secretariat estimate. (a) Includes USD 312 560 expended in Czechoslovakia (pre-1996). (b) Government exploration expenditures only. (c) Includes USD 1 905 920, spent in German Democratic Republic between 1946 and 1990. (d) Includes expenditures in other parts of the former Yugoslavia. (e) Includes expenditures for both uranium and gold in the Witwatersrand Basin until 2012. (f) Includes reclamation and restoration expenditures from 2004 to 2012. Reclamation expenditures amounted to USD 49.1 million, 62.4 million, 41.7 million, 46.3 million in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, respectively. (g) Non-government industry expenditures between 2011 and 2013

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Expenditures continued to decrease in 2017 by 15% to USD 562 448 000. Furthermore, declining expenditures are expected in the majority of the major uranium-producing countries including Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan and Namibia. There are no expenditure data available for Niger, but presumably the trend in declining expenditures mimic those of the other major aforementioned producing countries. For 2014 to 2016, of the countries that reported exploration and development expenditures separately, China, Kazakhstan and Russia, reported more exploration than development expenditures (90-92%, 74-95%, 78-93%, of total exploration and development expenditures, respectively). Canada reported mainly higher percentages of development expenditures (55-68%). In Namibia, development expenditures were 55-58% of the total, which is in contrast to the last reporting period when exploration expenditures were reportedly higher. The United States reported an increasing proportion of expenditures as related to development with the proportion ranging from 90-96% from 2014 to 2016. In Iran and Ukraine, expenditures have been more evenly balanced between exploration and development. Turkey reported a higher proportion of exploration expenditures in 2014 and 2016, but in 2015 about 82% of total expenditures were reported as development expenditures, primarily due to work on the Temrezli uranium deposit. The Czech Republic and Denmark/Greenland reported both exploration and development expenditures only for 2014. For the Czech Republic this reflects the closing of the Dolní Rozínka mine and only a small amount of exploration activity continued in relation to identification of further resources for the Rozná deposit.

Sixteen countries reported drilling activities. In terms of exploration drilling from 2014 to 2015, India, Kazakhstan, Namibia and Spain reported an increase followed by a decline in 2016. Canada also reported an increase from 2014 to 2015 and no data were made available for 2015 and 2016. Brazil reported no drilling activity for 2014, but a huge increase was reported for the period 2015 to 2016 as exploration drilling focused on the Lago Real Province. Iran reported an increase over the entire period, from 2014 to 2017. Ukraine’s activities remained relatively consistent, although the length drilled dropped somewhat from 2014 to 2015, increasing again in 2016, and it dropped slightly in 2017, based on preliminary data. Argentina, China, Russia and Turkey all reported a decline in drilling efforts from 2014 to 2016, and while China and Russia continued this decline from 2016 to 2017, Argentina and Turkey are more optimistic, with reports for increased efforts. India and Namibia reported increased exploration drilling efforts for 2017 and, on the contrary, Brazil and Spain reported decreased drilling efforts for 2017. Finland and Viet Nam only reported exploration drilling for 2014 and 2015, respectively. Hungary reported exploration drilling in 2016 and 2017, but no information was provided on total expenditures. Globally, the overall trend since 2015 is a decline in exploration drilling.

Eight countries reported development drilling: Canada, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Namibia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United States. Iran and Kazakhstan reported an increase in development drilling from 2014 to 2017. Namibia and Turkey reported an increase only from 2014 to 2015 and in Namibia a sharp decline in expenditures is reported for 2015 to 2017. Ukraine reported almost the same levels for drilling for 2014 and 2015, with a moderate decrease in 2016, but drilling activity is increased again to 2014 levels in 2017 (preliminary data). Canada reported a decrease from 2014 to 2015 and unfortunately, no data was available for 2016 and 2017, but given market conditions it is likely that drilling activity continued to decrease. China reported a decline in development drilling over the reporting period from 2014 to 2017.

The United States did not specify type of drilling (i.e. exploration or development) in their latest report, but they have reported that total drilling efforts have decreased from 2014 to 2016. It can be surmised that most of the drilling during this reporting period is related to development, as 90-95% of the total exploration and development expenditures for the United States are reported as development. For comparison and reference, in 2013, when the type of drilling was specified, exploration drilling accounted for about 24% of the total drilling.

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Countries that reported only government expenditures include Argentina, Brazil, India, Iran, Jordan, Mexico, Ukraine and Viet Nam. Those reporting non-governmental (industry) expenditures include Australia, Canada, Finland, Kazakhstan, Mali, Namibia, Spain and the United States. Note that this is what is reported; there can be industry expenditures in countries reporting only government expenditures and vice versa. In some cases, it is a matter of the availability of data (e.g. industry expenditures in Argentina) or the amount has already been included as part of the industry total (i.e. state shares in projects, e.g. Kazakhstan). China and Russia reported both industry and government expenditures. In China, the government exploration expenditures ranged from 70% to 89% of the total from 2014 to 2017, with the percentage increasing over the reporting period.

The Czech Republic and Denmark/Greenland reported expenditures from both industry and government in 2014, but for 2015 and 2016 they reported only industry expenditures and for Denmark/Greenland this includes all industry expenditures for the exploration of all commodities, not just uranium. Turkey has reported government and industry expenditures for 2014 and 2015 and only government expenditures for 2016.

For the 15 countries reporting in this edition, total drilling in 2014 amounted to 2 730 317 m (1 817 671 m exploration; 516 711 m development), 3 154 644 m (2 258 207 m exploration; 628 823 m development) in 2015 and 1 867 511 m (1 384 556 m exploration; 252 221 m development) in 2016. Note that the separate totals for exploration and development do not add up to the total metres drilled as the United States does not report this information separately. A large decrease in drilling effort is noted in comparison to the last reporting period. It should be noted that Canada did not report data for 2015 and 2016 and both Canada and the United States did not provide data for 2017.

Iran and Jordan are the only countries that report trenching data. From 2014 to 2016, Iran reported an increase in trenching with the amount to increase substantially to a total of 9 680 m in 2017. Jordan reported a sharp decrease from 10 008 m in 2014 to 4 964 m in 2015 and the amount was slightly higher in 2017 with 5 600 m estimated as total trenching.

Domestic and non-domestic uranium exploration and development expenditures since 2004 are depicted in Figure 1.4.

Figure 1.4. Trends in exploration and development expenditures*

* 2017 values are estimates.

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Current activities and recent developments

North America

In Canada, overall uranium exploration and development expenditures in 2015 amounted to USD 397 million (CAD 491 million), a 25% decrease from 2014. Expenditures have been steadily declining since 2011 when the total was USD 948 million. Provisional data suggests a continued decrease in expenditures to approximately USD 297 million and USD 282 million in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Uranium development expenditures alone were CAD 321 million in 2015, down 16% from 2014 development expenditures of CAD 384 million. Preliminary data for total expenditures of CAD 387 million and CAD 382 million for 2016 and 2017, respectively, indicate that development expenditures will increase slightly and that the decline in total exploration and development expenditures from 2016 to 2017 will mainly be a result of decreases in exploration expenditures.

Despite overall declining expenditures, globally Canada has maintained higher than average expenditures and in 2016 this accounted for 45% of the world total, for countries reporting this data. This sustained commitment to exploration activity has led to new uranium discoveries in the Athabasca Basin. Recently discovered large high-grade uranium deposits include Phoenix/Gryphon (Denison Mines Inc.), Triple R (Fission Uranium Corp.), Arrow (Next-Gen Energy Corp.) and Fox Lake (Cameco Corp.).

In the United States, total exploration and development expenditures have declined from USD 140.5 million in 2013 to USD 102.1 million and USD 102.1 million in 2014. There was a slight increase in 2015 to USD 105 million, which was followed by a sharp decline to USD 71 900 in 2016. This overall decrease in expenditures is primarily the result of the current depressed uranium market and concomitant global oversupply of uranium.

Central and South America

Note that expenditures are compared in Argentine pesos (ARS) for Argentina due to the extreme currency fluctuations in recent years, making it difficult to make reasonable comparisons in USD. Argentina reported domestic exploration expenditures in 2014 of ARS 34.5 million, a 34% decrease over 2013 expenditures of ARS 52.7 million. This increased to ARS 53.3 million in 2015 and to ARS 60.2 million in 2016, but decreased to ARS 43.9 million in 2017. However, it is worth noting that exploration and development expenditures and drilling totals, as reported by the government, are likely to not reflect all activity within the private sector as there is no requirement for private industry to report these expenditures.

The most significant uranium ore deposit in the assessment/exploration stage in Argentina is Cerro Solo, located in Chubut Province. Also under study within the Chubut Province is the Cuadrada Hill Uranium District. Exploration is relatively active, and there are several other areas where exploration is taking place including shallow low-grade, calcrete-type deposits within the Santa Cruz province; uranium mineralisation associated with either limestone deposits or granites, Province of La Rioja; the Mina Franca deposit, classified as granite-related type, Province of Catamarca; five exploration areas near Catriel town, Province of Río Negro; Don Otto sandstone-type deposit, Province of Salta; and reconnaissance-type studies in Gobernador Ayala, Province of La Pampa.

Of six private companies who have had projects in recent years, only Meseta Exploraciones S.A. (MEXSA), Sophia Energy S.A. and UrAmerica Ltd were working continuously during the past few years. The first two companies mentioned undertook uranium exploration in the south of the Chubut Province and in the north sector of Santa Cruz province, where exploration was focused on shallow low-grade uranium anomalies defined as a calcrete-type deposit. UrAmerica Ltd has undertaken an exploration programme supported by the drilling of 250 holes, for a total of approximately 24 000 m, on neighbouring areas of the Cerro Solo ore deposit in the Chubut Province.

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The IAEA has provided support to many uranium production cycle activities in Argentina over the last several years. One of the recent IAEA Technical Cooperation projects was implemented from 2014 to 2015, “Improving and Strengthening Human Resources in the Areas of Environment, Mining, Nuclear Reactors, Nuclear Fuel, Human Health and Agriculture”.

In Brazil, expenditures increased from USD 224 000 in 2015 to USD 1.3 million in 2016. This increase will primarily result from drilling of about 16 800 m in the Lagoa Real province. Expenditures decreased to USD 613 000 in 2017 (preliminary data).

Chile did not report exploration and development expenditures for this edition. Alliance Chile Pty Ltd has two projects in northern Chile’s iron-oxide copper-gold belt with potential for copper, gold, silver and uranium. In 2015, Alliance Resources completed an airborne magnetic and radiometric survey over the eastern limb on the Monardes Basin in Chile and identified two sub-parallel uranium anomalous units with a combined strike length of 9 km. In 2016, Alliance Resources reported that ten reverse circulation drill holes totalling between 1 500 m and 2 000 m were drilled within the eastern anomalous unit at Monardes with some anomalous Cu and U values recorded. Follow-up on the sampling and analytical results indicated that Cu values were anomalous but U values were not significant.

The government of Paraguay reported domestic exploration and expenditures only for 2014 and this amounted to USD 690 000. In 2015, Uranium Energy Corporation (UEC) was granted regulatory approval to advance its Yuty in situ leach project from the exploration phase to the exploitation phase. However, in September 2015 the company requested a two-year suspension of the project due to low uranium prices. Due to depressed uranium market prices, the only other company that has been recently working on uranium projects in Paraguay is Transandes Paraguay S.A.

Peru does not report exploration and development expenditures, and the industry is not required to report expenditures to the government. Currently, there are a few active exploration companies in Peru including Plateau Energy (formerly Plateau Uranium Inc.) and Fission 3.0 Corp. Both companies have been advancing their uranium and lithium prospects through drilling on their Macusani district projects.

European Union

In the Czech Republic, exploration and development expenditures decreased from USD 1 327 000 in 2014 to USD 633 000 in 2015 and further decreased to USD 514 000 in 2016. In this reporting period, the most significant exploration activities were the identification of uranium resources in the deep parts of the Rozná deposit in 2016. In 2017, a total expenditure of only USD 27 000 was reported as preliminary data, reflecting decreased activities due to closing of the mine and depressed market prices.

Greenland reported government exploration expenditures of USD 2.2 million only for 2014. Total industry expenditures were reported for 2014 to 2016. However, the industry expenditure data is not available exclusively for uranium as it is not possible to separate out the different exploration expenditures by commodity. Since 2007, Greenland Minerals and Energy Ltd (GMEL) has conducted REE (U-Zn) exploration activities in the Kvanefjeld area, South Greenland, including drilling of 57 710 m of core. The Kvanefjeld Feasibility Study, as well as the environmental and social impact assessments (EIA and SIA), were carried out in 2014-2015 and were submitted together with the exploitation licence application in December 2015. The application is currently being evaluated by the Greenland government.

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There is currently no actual uranium exploration in Finland. However, uranium is included as a so-called mining mineral in some exploration permits and exploration permit applications. Finland only reported expenditures in 2014 of USD 1.7 million and since that time no expenditures have been reported even though, as previously stated, uranium may be part of some of the exploration permits (e.g. gold projects).

The government of Hungary did not report any exploration or development expenditures. However, they do report exploration drilling in 2016 of 1 867 m and 1 050 m in 2017 in association with the Mecsek deposit.

In 2009, the government of Poland decided to consider introducing nuclear energy, and, as a result, the possibility of mining domestic uranium resources has been studied and exploration expenditures were reported for the first time in 2010. However, in recent years these expenditures have declined and no expenditures were reported for this edition as there was no country report.

The Slovak Republic did not provide any data during this reporting period. However, early in 2018 it was announced that the Economy Ministry has withdrawn from a memorandum of understanding in the energy sector with the Canadian company European Uranium Resources regarding energy, particularly uranium mining, dating from late 2012. This action implies that the planned uranium mining project near Košice has lost state support.

Spain reported an increase in domestic expenditures from USD 5.4 million in 2014 to USD 9.1 million in 2015, but this amount decreased back to 2014 levels, to USD 5.7 million in 2016, and to USD 4.2 million in 2017.

Work continues by Berkeley Energia Ltd, which has been actively exploring for uranium for several years, focusing on a number of historically known uranium projects located within their tenements. Due to these sustained efforts there is a reported increase in resources as the company works towards open-pit mining of four deposits.

The government of Sweden did not report exploration and development expenditures, but a few exploration programmes have been ongoing in the country since 2007. Most activity during 2013 and 2014 has been related to the potential of alum (black) shale, where uranium can be recovered as a by-product along with other co-products such as molybdenum, vanadium, nickel, zinc and petroleum products. Exploration expense figures for the course of these two years are, however, not available. During 2015-2017, Aura Energy Ltd. reported continued progress on the Häggån Project including commencement of a programme of community engagement and continuation of drilling to further define the mineralisation. Most recently, the company decided to focus on valuation of the Häggån Project for vanadium.

Although no domestic uranium activities have been carried out in France since 1999, Orano (formerly Areva) and its subsidiaries have been active abroad. During 2014-2016, Orano and its subsidiaries worked outside France focusing on targets aimed at the discovery of exploitable resources in Canada, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Namibia and Niger. Total non-domestic exploration expenditures reported by the government have remained relatively steady over this reporting period with an increase from USD 27.6 million in 2014 to USD 34.8 million in 2015 and a decrease to USD 30.7 million in 2016. Expenditures remained at similar levels at around USD 33.4 million in 2017 (preliminary data). No development expenditures were reported.

Europe (non-EU)

Russia reported a steady decline in domestic exploration and development expenditures from USD 39.9 million in 2014 to USD 17.6 million in 2015, and a further decline to 10.8 million in 2016 and USD 5.8 million in 2017 shown as preliminary data.

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There are two types of uranium exploration activities in Russia, one aimed at new deposit discovery and the second directed at exploration of earlier discovered deposits with a view to developing resource estimates and deposit delineation.

During this reporting period, the Republic of Buryatia, the Trans-Baikal and the Irkutsk regions were the main areas for prospecting, followed by the Republic of Kalmykia. For exploration around existing deposits “Atomredmetzoloto” (ARMZ), which is incorporated within the Russian State Corporation Rosatom continued exploration and resource estimation of uranium deposits, which are being prepared for development. ARMZ’s uranium exploration budget was RUB 75 million in 2015 and decreased to RUB 52 million in 2016.

During 2015-2016, Dalur mining company continued exploration and pilot mining at Khokhlovskoe deposit in the Kurgan region.

The Priargunsky Mining-Chemical Production Association (PMCPA) focused exploration activities on additional resources identification on the flanks and at deep levels of operating deposits and on new high-grade deposits discovery within the Streltsovsk uranium district.

Overseas expenditures, made through the State Corporation Rosatom subsidiaries Uranium One Group and its Canadian branch Uranium One Inc., included expenditures for geologic exploration and research studies in Kazakhstan and Tanzania. Nondomestic exploration expenditures increased from USD 4.9 million reported for 2014 to USD 17.1 million in 2015, but expenditures declined again in 2016 to USD 6.1 million and dropped even further to USD 3.1 million in 2017. There were no overseas development expenditures reported from 2015 to 2017.

Exploration and development expenditures in Turkey increased from USD 4.8 million in 2014 to USD 6.8 million in 2015, which was followed by a sharp decline to USD 223 000 in 2016, and recovered somewhat to around USD 1.6 million in 2017. Public sector activities were focused on granitic, acidic igneous and sedimentary rocks in several areas. Private sector activities included work by Adur, a wholly owned subsidiary of Uranium Resources Inc., which conducted exploration and resource evaluation drilling at the Temrezli and Sefaatli uranium sites. In 2015 and 2016, an additional 592 tU were identified and added into the Manisa-Köprüba original estimates.

Exploration and development expenditures in Ukraine show a steady decline from 2014 expenditures of USD 1.3 million to USD 689 000 in 2015 and USD 484 000 in 2016. Preliminary data indicate an increase in 2017 to USD 529 000. During 2014, 2015 and 2016, SE Kirovgeology completed geological survey mapping at the scale 1:10 000 and 1:25 000 on all regions mentioned in the previous report. Starting in 2017, all exploration will be carried out around existing uranium mines.

Africa

In 2014, an IAEA Technical Cooperation project for the African region, “Supporting Sustainable Development of Uranium Resources”, was initiated and the project continued through 2017. The main objective of the project was to increase and improve the current capacity in the member states for optimising production, implementation of good practices and overall effective management of the region’s natural uranium endowment. Following up on this is a new IAEA Technical Cooperation project entitled, “Enhancing Regional Capabilities for a Sustainable Uranium Mining Industry (AFRA)”, which began in 2018 and will continue into 2021.

In Algeria, no uranium prospecting or mine development work was carried out between January 2007 and January 2017.

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Although the government of Botswana has not reported exploration expenditures, some activities have occurred in the country over the past several years. Exploration has focused on uranium occurrences in the Karoo Group, targeting similar deposits as those mined by Paladin Energy in Malawi (i.e. the sandstone-type Kayelekera deposit). Surficial calcrete-type mineralisation is a secondary target.

The Letlhakane uranium deposit has been the focus of detailed evaluation and technical work by A-Cap Resources Ltd. since 2006. A-Cap submitted a mining licence application on 18 August 2015, which was subsequently granted by the Botswana Department of Mines on 12 September 2016, and is valid for 22 years.

The Bakouma deposit in the Central African Republic was discovered in the 1960s. Areva suspended investment in the development of the Bakouma mine in 2011 because of current market conditions, even though inferred resources at Bakouma had been raised from 32 224 tU to 36 475 tU. There have been no reported activities involving uranium exploration since 2011.

The last time the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) reported exploration activities to the Red Book was in 1988 (at that time DRC was known as Zaire). Recently the IAEA is providing support for identification and evaluation of uranium and other radioactive resources in the DRC through the Technical Cooperation programme entitled, “Strengthening National Capacities for the Assessment of Uranium Resources and Other Radioactive Minerals and for the Regulation of Associated Mining Activities”. The programme began in 2018 and will continue through 2019.

Egypt last reported exploration expenditures in 2008. It has had ongoing support for over a decade in developing uranium exploration and production capacities through several IAEA Technical Cooperation projects. The most recent projects include: “Supporting Technological Separation and Purification of Naturally Occurring Radionuclides and Rare Earth Elements from Minerals” and “Supporting a Feasibility Study for Uranium and Rare-Earth Element Recovery from Unconventional Resources”, which began in 2016 and 2018, respectively.

Mauritania, does not report exploration and development expenditures. Recent activities by Aura Energy have advanced the Tiris (Reguibat) project and in May 2018 they announced an increase in inferred resources by 6% to 52 million lbs U O (20 000 tU) as well as an increase in reasonably assured resources to 17 million lbs U O (6 540 tU). Definitive feasibility studies are under way.

Support in the uranium production cycle has been provided through IAEA Technical Cooperation project, “Establishing an Effective Monitoring Mechanism for Environmental Protection related to Uranium and Mining Activities”. The project began in 2014 and continued through 2017. The specific objective of the project was to put in place a framework for environment management, build capacity for environmental and radiological site characterisation leading to baseline generation of potential uranium mining sites in Mauritania and building capacity for monitoring of radionuclides in the environment.

Namibia reported expenditures of over USD 1 billion for 2014, principally related to development of the Husab mine and following that, expenditures dropped to USD 9.96 million in 2015 and continued to drop in 2016 to USD 8.3 million and again to USD 4.8 million in 2017. Current market conditions have contributed to a decline in the overall progression of projects, with some projects on hold until uranium prices increase. Despite poor market conditions, some projects have been making some progress, notably Deep Yellow Ltd. has announced further results on their Tumas 3 project and Bannerman Resources continues to work on their Etango deposit with a new resource estimate for this report.