Thorium: An Alternative for Nuclear Energy?
Thorium, a slightly radioactive metal that occurs in rocks and soils, may hold promise as a replacement for uranium in the nuclear energy sector.
Thorium, a slightly radioactive metal that occurs in rocks and soils, may hold significant promise as a replacement for uranium in the nuclear energy sector, especially considering it is more abundant than its radioactive counterpart.
As the world’s nuclear energy consumption increases and future supply of uranium remains uncertain, thorium is being looked into as a possible alternative to uranium to provide safe and abundant nuclear power at a reasonable cost. For example, India has been interested in thorium-based nuclear energy for decades, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). Still, extracting its latent energy value in a cost-effective way remains a challenge, meaning much more research and development is required.
Thorium in the works
The question of whether thorium works for energy production was answered in 2013, when privately owned Norwegian company Thor Energy began to produce power at its Halden test reactor in Norway using thorium. “It is the fundamental first step in the thorium evolution,” Thor Energy’s CEO, Oystein Asphjell, told Reuters at the time.
Nuclear giant Westinghouse, a unit of Toshiba (TSE:6502), is part of an international consortium that Thor Energy established to fund and manage the experiments. An established player in nuclear energy, Westinghouse provides viewpoints on the research.
Thor Energy is not the only company engaged in researching whether or not thorium is a viable alternative to uranium in nuclear energy. In fact, firms from the US, Australia and the Czech Republic have also been working on thorium reactor designs and other elements of fuel technology using the metal. However, Thor was the first to begin energy production using the radioactive metal.
How thorium energy works
Unlike uranium, thorium can’t split to make a nuclear chain reaction — in scientific terms, it isn’t fissile. However, if it is bombarded by neutrons from a fuel that is fissile, like uranium-235 or plutonium-239, it’s converted to uranium-233, itself an excellent nuclear fuel. After the process begins, it’s self-sustaining — fission of uranium-233 turns more thorium nearby into the same nuclear fuel. There are complexities beyond the scope of this article, including the mechanics of molten-salt versus pressurized-water reactors in burning thorium, but the reaction described above is the main appeal of thorium, and its principal promise.
Thorium vs. uranium
Thorium is an appealing alternative to uranium to many countries. It is both more cheap and more abundant than uranium, whose price is expected to rise yet more as backlash from the Fukushima disaster dies down. There are other benefits of thorium as well. During a thorium-powered nuclear reaction, most of the thorium itself is consumed, which leads to less waste, most of which is rendered non-hazardous in 30 years. The most dangerous nuclear waste material currently in use must be stored for 10,000 years, by way of contrast. Furthermore, 1 metric ton of thorium is equal to 250 metric tons in terms of efficiency in a water reactor.
Extraction of thorium would be less expensive per unit of energy than extraction of uranium as well, because it is present in higher concentrations by weight than the other metal, according to Dauvergne. The source also mentions another peculiar trait of thorium: it is nearly impossible to weaponize, as it contains no fissile isotopes. That in itself has slowed uranium research, according to a 1997 international scientific symposium on nuclear fuel cycles.
The dangers of uranium —widely publicized in the wake of the Fukushima disaster — often lead analysts and others to consider thorium more seriously. As thorium is not fissile on its own, reactions could be stopped in case of emergency, according to Forbes. What’s more, the publication suggests thorium could allow countries like Iran and North Korea to benefit from nuclear power without causing concern that they are secretly developing nuclear weapons.
Thorium can also be used together with conventional uranium-based nuclear power generation, meaning a thriving thorium industry would not necessarily make uranium obsolete.
Interestingly, the idea of using thorium as an alternative to coal in the US came up recently following the release of President Barack Obama’s final version of the Clean Power Plan. During a talk at the Harvard iLab, Harvard Business School Professor Joe Lassiter discussed why he believes nuclear power is an essential ingredient in fighting the worldwide threat of coal-fired power plant emissions, noting both uranium and thorium as viable alternatives.
Where thorium is found
Thorium is present in small quantities in soils and rocks everywhere, and it’s estimated to be about four times more plentiful than uranium. Large reserves, rather than the trace amounts of the metal in the average backyard, exist in China, Australia, the US, Turkey, India and Norway, according to Reuters.
The USGS compiled a document listing its domestic thorium resources. The metal is found in epigenetic vein deposits, low-grade deposits and black sand placer deposits. In its many locations, thorium can be found in Montana, Idaho, Colorado, the Carolinas, Florida and Georgia. This is a huge range of locations for possible thorium exploration, development and production.
The US isn’t the only place that contains thorium resources. According to the USGS, in 2014 exploration and development of rare earths projects associated with thorium were underway in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Greenland, India, Russia, South Africa, the United States and Vietnam.
Skyharbour Resources (SYH-V) is one company with thorium exploration in the works. Its Falcon Point uranium and thorium project is located in the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan. And while the project is still in its early stages, the company released assays from a drill program there in June, showing intersections of 0.172 percent U3O8 and 0.112 percent ThO2 over 2.5 meters.
SYH-V News Release July 21, '15
Skyharbour Resources is pleased to report diamond drill assay results from its 100% owned, 79,003 hectare Falcon Point Uranium and Thorium Property (the "Property") located 55 kilometres east of the Key Lake Mill. The drill program consisted of five diamond drill holes totaling 1,278 metres with four of the five holes intersecting uranium and thorium mineralization. Drill hole FP-15-05 intersected a 14.0 metre wide mineralized zone starting at 134.5 metres down-hole depth consisting of the highest grade mineralization found to date in the deposit area. These intersections include 0.172% U3O8 and 0.112% ThO2 over 2.5 metres as well as 0.165% U3O8 and 0.112% ThO2 over 2.0 metres within a broader interval containing 0.103% U308 and 0.062% ThO2 over 6.0 metres. This fifth and last hole of the program was lost in the mineralized horizon due to technical issues with the drill rig.
Skyharbour's Uranium Project Portfolio in the Athabasca Basin:
http://skyharbourltd.com/_resources/SYH_Landpackage_2014.jpg
The drill program tested high-priority targets in and around the current uranium and thorium resource at the JNR Fraser Lakes Zone B deposit. It was successful in discovering additional mineralization at higher grades than the deposit average and was the Company's first work program at Falcon Point (previously called Way Lake) since acquiring the Property from Denison Mines in the summer of 2014.
Highlights:
Drill program returned best mineralized intersections to date at the Falcon Point Uranium/Thorium Project
Drill hole FP-15-05 intersected 0.172% U3O8 and 0.112% ThO2 over 2.5 metres as well as 0.103% U308 and 0.062% ThO2 over 6.0 metres; drill hole FP-15-03 intersected 0.100% U3O8 over 2.0 metres
Skyharbour's Technical Team considers these results a breakthrough towards identifying additional and higher grade uranium mineralization at shallow depths at Falcon Point; further drilling is being planned
The mineralized intervals are associated with structural disruption of the host lithologies and accompanied by varying degrees of clay, chlorite and hematite alteration; these features are common to mineralization halos, associated with high-grade basement uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin
Highly encouraged by the results of exploration to date on the Property, Skyharbour is commencing a field program in the coming weeks
The program will consist of detailed prospecting and vegetation/soil sampling at the Hook Lake target where historical exploration yielded high grade uranium grab samples of up to 48% U3O8 from a massive pitchblende vein exposed at surface; previous operators were unable to definitively explain and locate the source of the high grade mineralization
Jordan Trimble, President and CEO of Skyharbour Resources, states: "We are excited to have intersected the highest grade uranium mineralization found to date in the deposit area on the Falcon Point Project. Similar to other notable high grade Athabasca Basin deposits, we are seeing the character of the uranium mineralization changing at depth as the grade is increasing which illustrates the strong discovery potential going forward at the project. Furthermore, we will be commencing a summer field program shortly consisting of prospecting and vegetation/soil sampling in and around a high grade 48% U3O8 surface showing on the Hook Lake target near the northern end of the property."
Falcon Point Project and the JNR Fraser Lakes Zone B Uranium/Thorium Deposit:
The 2015 winter/spring drill program focused on drilling in and around the current deposit area on the Falcon Point project near the south end of the property. This deposit was identified by previous exploration over an area comprising 1.5 kilometres by 0.5 kilometres and along an antiformal fold nose cut by an east-west dextral ductile-brittle cross-structure. The JNR Fraser Lakes Zone B deposit consists of a current NI 43-101 inferred resource totaling 7.0 million pounds of U3O8 at 0.03% and 5.3 million pounds of ThO2 at 0.023% within 10,354,926 tonnes using a cutoff grade of 0.01% U3O8. The independent NI 43-101 technical report by GeoVector Management Inc. supporting this mineral resource estimate was filed on SEDAR on March 20, 2015 by Skyharbour Resources. Independent qualified person, Dr. Allan Armitage, P.Geo., is responsible for the contents of the technical report and comments related to the resource estimate and its parameters.
Falcon Point Uranium Project Claims Map:
http://skyharbourltd.com/_resources/Falcon%20Point%20Mineral%20Deposition.jpg
The deposit outcrops and was not tested below 150 metres vertical prior to this drill program. It is open along strike and at depth, and consists of several zones of moderately dipping, multiple-stacked uranium and thorium mineralized horizons. Geological and geochemical features at the deposit show distinct similarities to high-grade, basement-hosted uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin such as Eagle Point, Millennium, P-Patch and Roughrider. Skyharbour's objective, which it successfully accomplished, was to discover higher grade uranium mineralization proximal to the current lower grade mineralized envelope present at the JNR Fraser Lakes deposit. The drill program tested for depth extensions to the known mineralization which is associated with a conductive zone located on the western limb of a prominent fold that closes to the north. Additionally, it tested the conductive eastern limb of the structure in an area where it is intersected by a regional scale east-west trending fault.
Description of the Falcon Point Winter/Spring 2015 Drill Program:
The results from this round of drilling are very encouraging and confirm the presence of widespread mineralization, alteration, structural disruption and radioactivity that are typically associated with high grade uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin. The discovery and exploration upside potential at Falcon Point is robust and additional drilling is recommended in the current deposit area to follow up on the results of this program.
Falcon Point Uranium/Thorium Project Geophysics Map:
http://skyharbourltd.com/_resources/SYH%20Falcon%20Point%20Zones%20Map.jpg
Drill holes FP-15-01 and FP-15-02 targeted the previously untested eastern limb of the fold under Fraser Lakes, while FP-15-01 also tested the intersection of the fold nose with a prominent northwest trending lineament. FP-15-03, FP-15-04 and FP-15-05 tested to a vertical depth of 250 metres and over a 500 metre strike length of the Fraser Lakes Zone B deposit that had been previously tested at shallower levels. The uranium and thorium mineralization is associated with pegmatite entrained in Wollaston Group pelitic and graphitic pelitic gneiss and orthogneiss above the Archean granite. It is also accompanied by anomalous levels of pathfinder elements such as copper, nickel, vanadium and lead.
Falcon Point Winter/Spring 2015 Drill Program Map:
http://skyharbourltd.com/_resources/maps/SY_Falcon_Point_Winter_Drill_Map.jpg
Holes FP-15-01 and FP-15-02 returned encouraging results, particularly as they were first pass, exploratory drill holes in a previously untested area. Both holes were structurally disrupted and altered, intersected well defined graphitic lithologies and were geochemically anomalous. Hole FP-15-01 also intersected lower grade uranium mineralization enriched in thorium solidifying this eastern limb as a priority target for future consideration.
Drill holes FP-15-03, FP-15-04 and FP-15-05 all intersected multiple intervals of uranium mineralization, including pathfinder elements in structurally disrupted and altered units. Drill hole FP-15-05 returned the best intersections to date at the deposit area; however, due to technical issues this hole was terminated in the mineralized horizon with additional drilling warranted to follow up in the higher grade mineralization discovered at depth.
Table 1: Significant Mineralized Intervals
| |
DDH# | From
(m) |
To (m) | Width
(m) |
% U3O8 |
% ThO2 |
Anomalous Metals | | FP-015-01 | 38.5 | 39.5 | 1.0 | 0.015 | | Up to 271 ppm Cu, 188 ppm V | | | 51.5 | 53.0 | 1.5 | 0.037 | 0.021 | Up to 183 ppm Cu | | | 55.5 | 56.0 | 0.5 | 0.020 | 0.022 | Up to 250 ppm Mo | | | 75.5 | 76.0 | 0.5 | 0.014 | | | | | 132.5 | 133.0 | 0.5 | 0.026 | 0.096 | | | FP-15-03 | 277.5 | 279.5 | 2.0 | 0.018 | | | | | 295.5 | 298.5 | 3.0 | 0.082 | | Up to 346 ppm Pb | | Incl. | 295.5 | 297.5 | 2.0 | 0.100 | | | | FP-15-04 | 204.5 | 205.0 | 0.5 | 0.094 | | Up to 863 ppm Mo, 291ppm Pb | | | 206.0 | 206.5 | 0.5 | 0.098 | 0.037 | Up to 329 Pb | | | 244.0 | 244.5 | 0.5 | 0.070 | 0.039 | Up to 220 Pb | | FP-15-05 | 134.5 | 140.5 | 6.0 | 0.103 | 0.062 | Up to 245 ppm Mo, 548 ppm Pb | | Incl. | 135.0 | 137.0 | 2.0 | 0.165 | 0.111 | | | | 140.5 | 142.0 | 1.5 | 0.058 | 0.039 | Up to 248 ppm Mo, 318 ppm Pb, 199 ppm Zn | | | 144.0 | 145.5 | 1.5 | 0.047 | 0.004 | Up to 246 ppm Mo, 274 ppm Pb | | | 146.0 | 148.5 | 2.5 | 0.172 | 0.113 | Up to 758 ppm Mo, 911 ppm Pb, 204 ppm Zn |
Upcoming Summer 2015 Field Program at Falcon Point:
As a result of the highly encouraging results from the recent round of drilling as well as the findings from the historical exploration throughout the Property, Skyharbour has elected to commence another field program at Falcon Point in the coming weeks. The program will consist of detailed prospecting and vegetation/soil sampling at the Hook Lake target area where historical exploration yielded high grade uranium grab samples of up to 48% U3O8 in a massive pitchblende vein exposed at surface. Previous operators have been unable to definitively explain and locate the source of the high grade uranium and thorium mineralization at the Hook Lake target.
Qualified Statement:
The only sample type collected were split samples with selected sections of core longitudinally split and sent for geochemical analysis. The split samples were sent to the Saskatchewan Research Council for geochemical analysis. Samples were subjected to HF/HN03/HCl4 (total) digestion and subsequently analysed using SRC's 60 element ICP package (including major oxides and the major trace elements Cu, Ni, Pb, Co, Zn, As). Uranium was analyzed by fluorimetry after total digestion and boron was determined by ICP analysis after Na2O fusion.
The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and reviewed and approved by Richard Kusmirski, P.Geo., M.Sc., Skyharbour's Head Technical Advisor and a Director, as well as a Qualified Person.
About Skyharbour Resources Ltd.:
Skyharbour holds interest in an extensive portfolio of uranium and thorium exploration projects in Canada's Athabasca Basin and is well positioned to benefit from improving uranium market fundamentals with four drill-ready projects. The Company is the operator of the Western Athabasca Syndicate which controls a large, geologically prospective land package consisting of five properties in the Athabasca Basin of Saskatchewan. Skyharbour also owns a 100% interest in the Falcon Point (formerly Way Lake) Uranium Project on the east side of the Basin which hosts an NI 43-101 inferred resource totaling 7.0 million pounds of U3O8 at 0.03% and 5.3 million pounds of ThO2 at 0.023%. The Company owns a 60% interest in the Mann Lake Uranium project on the east side of the Basin strategically located adjacent to the Mann Lake Joint Venture operated by Cameco with partners Denison Mines and AREVA where high-grade, basement-hosted uranium mineralization was recently discovered. Skyharbour's goal is to maximize shareholder value through new mineral discoveries, committed long-term partnerships, and the advancement of exploration projects in geopolitically favourable jurisdictions.
To find out more about Skyharbour Resources Ltd. (TSX-V:SYH) visit the Company's website at www.skyharbourltd.com.
SKYHARBOUR RESOURCES LTD.
"Jordan Trimble"
Jordan Trimble
President and CEO
For further information contact myself or:
Don Myers
Director
Skyharbour Resources Ltd.
Telephone: 604-687-3376
Toll Free: 800-567-8181
Facsimile: 604-687-3119
Email: info@skyharbourltd.com |
