> what are the prospects of finding uranium in venezuela?
● Venezuela has modest uranium potential, though it remains largely unexplored:
Known deposits:
- The Roraima Basin (southeastern Venezuela, near Brazil border) contains sandstone-type uranium deposits
- Estimates suggest potential resources of 50,000+ tonnes of uranium oxide, though these figures are speculative due to limited exploration
Key factors:
- Venezuela nationalized its uranium resources in 2009, restricting foreign exploration
- Political instability and economic crisis have halted most geological surveys since the 2010s
- The country lacks the technical infrastructure for uranium extraction
- International sanctions complicate any potential development partnerships
Geological context:
- The Guiana Shield region shares geology with Brazil's uranium districts
- Precambrian basement rocks could host additional undiscovered deposits
- Phosphate deposits in the Andes foothills may contain low-grade uranium as a byproduct
Current status:
- No active uranium mining operations
- Previous cooperation agreements with Russia and Iran for exploration were announced but never materialized significantly
- The IAEA has limited recent data on Venezuelan uranium resources
The prospects exist geologically, but political, economic, and infrastructure barriers make development unlikely in the near to medium term. Any serious assessment would require systematic geological surveys that haven't been conducted in over a decade.