![]() The geochemical environment of these roll-front deposits is analogous to the environment of a radioactive waste repository containing redox-sensitive elements during its post-thermal period. ![]() Roll-front deposits consist of naturally occurring ore-grade uranium in selected sandstone aquifers throughout the world. Alteration can only be mapped in areas of thin soil cover and moderate to sparse vegetative cover. Statistical analysis show that the detectability of geochemical and color zonation in host sands is weakened by soil-forming processes. Eh and pH more » changes associated with passage of a roll front cause oxidation of magnetite and pyrite to hematite, goethite, and limonite in the host sandstone, thereby producing the alteration. Samples from Pumpkin Buttes show that iron is the primary coloring agent which makes alteration visually detectable. Geochemical and mineralogical associations occur in unaltered, altered, and ore roll-front zones. The 6/4 ratio is most effective for color infrared aerial photography. For LANDSAT data, the 7/4 ratio produces the best enhancement of altered sandstone. Image data must be enhanced so that alteration spectral contrasts can be seen, and video image processing is a fast, low-cost, and efficient tool. LANDSAT satellite imagery and aerial photography can be used to map areas of altered sandstone associated with roll-front uranium deposits. These are given in the form of illustrative examples on the use of geostatistics and the accompanying computer program user's guide. Part II of this report contains the results of the second and the third study objectives, which are to assess the potential benefits that can be derived by the introduction of the geostatistical method to the current state-of-the-art in uranium reserve estimation method and to be instrumental in generating the acceptance of the new method by practitioners through illustrative examples, assuming its superiority and practicality. ![]() A good exposition on the theory of geostatistics, the adopted study procedures, conclusions and recommended future research more » are given in Part I. ![]() Briefly, the overall result from this comparative study is in favor of the use of geostatistics in most cases because the method has lived up to its theoretical claims. The conventional methods chosen for comparison were: (a) the polygon method, (b) the inverse of the distance squared method, and (c) a method similar to (b) but allowing different weights in different directions. ![]() Part I contains a comprehensive treatment of the comparative study of the geostatistical ore reserve estimation method over the conventional methods. ![]()
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