Stream-sediment geochemical prospecting for uranium in the paleozoic of the Belgian ardennes

During the years 1979 and 1980, a preliminary program of uranium exploration in the Paleozoic of the Belgian Ardennes was carried out under the sponsorship of the Commission of European Communities. The Laboratory of Mineralogy of the Polytechnic Faculty of Mons was charged with the radiometric section of the program, the Geochemistry Laboratory of the Free University of Brussels with the hydrogeochemical exploration, and the Geochemistry Laboratory of the University of Louvain with the stream sediment exploration. The Geological Survey of Belgium had the responsibility for coordinating the three programs, the statistical and computer treatment of the data, and the compilation of the different maps.Orientation studies at the Geochemistry Laboratory of the University of Louvain showed that a positive geochemical response for uranium could be obtained with bank sampling, which consists of collecting colluvium and alluvium on both sides of the rivers. This necessitates a large sampling density of about one sample per km² (10 205 samples from an area of 11 000 km²).The frequency distribution of the values of uranium follows the lognormal law with a geometric mean of 1.06 ppm and a threshold of 2.36 ppm (P= 0.954). The anomalies (> 3 ppm) fall into three main areas each in a different geological setting: (1) at the periphery of the Cambro-Silurian Massif of Stavelot; (2) within the transition beds between the Visean and Namurian; and (3) in the lower Devonian of the central Ardennes.The first two areas coincide with zones of known radiometric anomalies and of the occurrence of uraniferous minerals.In the third zone, follow-up work has led to the discovery of a uraniferous mineral assemblage consisting of a weathered mass of iron oxide, leucoxene and phosphates.Statistical analyses of the results indicate no significant relationship between U and either organic carbon or Mn, a negative correlation between U and carbonate and pH, and a good positive correlation between U and Cu, V and Fe. The last correlation may indicate an association of U, V, and Cu with iron oxides formed during meteoric alteration.