A N N I V E R S A RY
Exploration of Atomic Minerals
in Bangladesh
D r. Eunuse Akon
Inspired by favorable factors
for accumulation of uranium
in the geological set up of
Bangladesh, exploration for
uranium & thorium bearing
atomic minerals was initiated
by BAEC in 1977. Geological,
geophysical, radiometric and
relevant surveys have mostly
been carried out intermittent-
ly in different parts of greater
Sylhet district. Subsequently
laboratory investigations were
carried out. Field methods
include radiometric, radon
and resistivity
portable differential
trometry, exploratory drilling
and geophysical
Laboratory studies include-
classification of
according to radio counts
B
angladesh Atomic Energy
Commission (BAEC) has
been entrusted with the
responsibility of carrying out the
Surveys, prospecting and explo-
ration of uranium & thorium
bearing atomic minerals (pitch-
blende, uraninite, thorianite,
coffinite, uranophane, autunite,
uranothorite, zircon, monazite,
xenotime etc.) in the prospec-
tive areas throughout the coun-
try. BAEC is also responsible for
the exploration and exploitation
of mineral sands which contain
valuable industrial heavy miner-
als including radioactive miner-
als zircon and monazite. Two
geological units namely
Nuclear Minerals Unit (NMU),
AERE, Savar and Beach Sand
Minerals Exploitation Centre
(BSMEC), Cox ’s Bazar execute
the mineral exploration pro-
grams of BAEC. Bangladesh
forms a part of the foreland of
the Himalayan Geosyncline and nearly
borders the ancient stable platform of
Archaean basement of Bihar, the
Shillong Massif and the
Geanticlinorium of Burma consisting of
uranium bearing granite bodies and
metasediments. Most of the geological
elements such as the presence of terti-
ary rock formation, suitable host rock
and trap, source area, deep seated
faults and lineaments, proximity to the
uranium provinces of India, which are
considered to be favorable for the
accumulation of Uranium/thorium
bearing atomic minerals are present in
the geological set up of Bangladesh.
Based on favorable criteria, some
prospective areas have been delineat-
ed for the exploration of atomic miner-
als which are: a) The Tertiary fold belt
exposed in the north-east and eastern
part of the country; b) On or near the
basement of the Platform area in North
Bengal; c) Sediments overlying the
Precambrian crystalline granitic base-
ment rocks; and d) The Hinge Zone.
Potential areas in Bangladesh for urani-
um exploration is shown in the map.
Factors and processes which are relat-
and they are
found to contain
1100 — 1400 ppm
uranium oxide
and 4100 — 5000
ppm thorium
oxide. Presence
of 500 ppm ura-
nium in the bulk
samples is con-
sidered to be eco-
nomically signifi-
c a n t .
Anomalous con-
tent of uranium in
the bulk samples
and the presence
of uranium rich
atomic minerals
testify that the
p r o c e s s e s
required for ura-
nium mineraliza-
tion such as
source, mobiliza-
tion and trans-
portation of ura-
nium to the site of
formation and its
precipitation as
atomic minerals
and preservation
were accomplished in the geological
environments present in Bangladesh.
The positive findings observed are
indicative that there are possibilities of
discovering sandstone type uranium
deposits in the tertiary sedimentary
rocks of Bangladesh.
Atomic Minerals in Mineral Sand
Deposits- The exploratory efforts of
BAEC for more than 3 decades at the
beaches and off shore islands in the
south eastern coastal belt of
Bangladesh have led to the discovery
of 17 high grade mineral sand deposits
having 23% heavy minerals in
average. These deposits range
from 500-10,000 feet in length,
50-1000 feet in width and 3-15
feet in thickness. In total, these
mineral sand deposits contain
4.35 million tonnes of heavy min-
erals among which 1.76 million
tons are economic minerals,
which include ilmenite: 1025000
resources.
It is to be mentioned perti-
nently that in India, Atomic
Minerals Directorate (AMD) of
the Department of Atomic
Energy (DAE) has been
entrusted for the exploration
and research for atomic min-
erals and mineral sands; and
Indian Rare Earth Limited
(IREL), a full-fledged Govt.
undertaking under the admin-
istrative control of the DAE is engaged
in the mining & processing of mineral
sands of coastal beach areas and sepa-
ration of heavy minerals namely
ilmenite, rutile, zircon, monazite, silli-
manite and garnet. These minerals are
defined as ‘Prescribed Substances ’
under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 of
the Government of India.. For develop-
ing these mineral resources necessary
license and approvals are to be
obtained from DAE of India.
Considering the nuclear potential of the
atomic minerals and mineral sands,
BAEC should be given the rights for
exploration, mining, processing and
licensing. Concerned authorities
including BAEC should take necessary
initiatives in this regard for the effective
utilization of atomic minerals and min-
eral sands of Bangladesh.
Importance of U ranium
Uranium occurs naturally as a mixture
of 0.7% U-235, which is easily fission-
able, and about 99.3% U-238, which is
not fissionable. Nuclear weapons
require "enrichment" to increase the
proportion of U235 to 90% or more.
This is called Highly Enriched Uranium
(HEU). Nuclear reactors require enrich-
ment to about 3 - 5 % of U-235. This is
called Low Enriched Uranium (LEU).
HEU can be combined with plutonium
to form the "pit" or core of a nuclear
weapon, or it can be used alone as the
nuclear explosive. The bomb dropped
on Hiroshima used only HEU. About
15-20 kgs of HEU are sufficient to
make a bomb without plutonium.
Uranium having less than the natural
0.7% U-235 is called depleted urani-
um. As a by-product of enrichment in
the fuel cycle it generally has 0.25-
0.30% U-235 which can be blended
survey;
spec-
loggings.
samples
ed with the formation of uranium are:
source of uranium (granite, rhyolote,
syenite, acidic igneous rocks, older
crustal rocks, granitic basement rocks);
mobilisation of uranium from source;
transport of uranium to the site of dep-
osition; deposition of uranium (the
potential for reduction of uranium from
moving ground water is of considerable
importance); enrichment and preserva-
tion.
Inspired by favorable factors for accu-
mulation of uranium in the geological
set up of Bangladesh, exploration for
uranium & thorium bearing atomic
minerals was initiated by BAEC in
1977. Geological, geophysical, radio-
metric and relevant surveys have most-
ly been carried out intermittently in dif-
ferent parts of greater Sylhet district.
Subsequently laboratory investigations
were carried out. Field methods
include radiometric, radon and resistiv-
ity survey; portable differential spec-
trometry, exploratory drilling and geo-
physical loggings. Laboratory studies
include-classification of samples
according to radio counts; grain size
analysis; radioluxography, ore & petro-
graphic microscopy; heavy liquid sepa-
tonnes, magnetite: 81000 tonnes, zir-
con: 158000 tonnes, garnet: 223000
tons, rutile: 70000 tons, leucoxene:
97000 tons, Kyanite: 91000 tons and
monazite: 17000 tons. Among the
heavy minerals zircon and monazite
are of direct interest to nuclear energy
program. Zircon is used in its purest
form to make nuclear fuel containers.
Zirconium alloy is used as cladding for
fuel rods in nuclear reactors. Thorium
metal from monazite has application in
nuclear industry fuel assemblies.
Regulatory Framework for Atomic
Minerals and Mineral Sands:
with highly-enriched uranium to make
reactor fuel.
One of the main characteristics of the
nuclear power generation is that a huge
amount of energy can be obtained out
of a little fuel. Only 27 tons of uranium
are required for a 1000Mw nuclear
power plant which is easier to handle,
whereas 3 million tons of coal are
required for a coal fired plant of the
same capacity. Uranium Ore is used as
nuclear fuel for power generation by
the Nuclear Power Plant (NPP)
through the process of refinement, con-
version, enrichment and fabrication.
Nuclear power generation has the
advantage of using uranium as fuel
repeatedly which is not possible in case
of fossil fuels. The fuel which is burnt in
the reactor (spent fuel) is reborn as fuel
through reprocessing, which is called “
the nuclear fuel cycle”(fig.3).
Power starved Bangladesh needs to
switch over from its tremendous
dependence on natural gas and import-
ed petroleum for electricity generation
to alternative sources of energy.
Nuclear energy is definitely a better
alternative due to the advantages as
mentioned and various other factors
such as— nuclear power is clean with
no greenhouse gases; construction
period of a nuclear power plant is
reduced to less than five years from
more than ten years previously; and
rate of nuclear power tariff with a reac-
tor’s life of ~40 years is more or less the
same as that from coal based thermal
power stations.
Government has rightfully decided to
set up a Nuclear Power Plant of 1000
Mw at Rooppur, Pabna with the sup-
port of Russian Federation. Another
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ration; isodynamic magnetic
separation; x-ray fluorescence
analysis; mineralogical, geo-
chemical, fluorometric, gamma
spectrometric analysis; x-ray dif-
fraction studies and electron
probe micro-analysis. Besides
Govt of Bangladesh, Exploration
programs of BAEC for atomic
minerals have been financially
and technically supported by
International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA), UNDP and
Japan.
Results of Explorations
Exploration activities so far car-
ried out have resulted in the dis-
covery of a significant number
of interesting surface and sub-
surface radioactive anomalies
(3-60 times to be background)
in the tertiary sedimentary rocks
of Tipam and Dupitilla
Formation in different geologi-
cal structures of Sylhet and
Moulvibazar districts.
Anomalies of Harargaj and Lalakhal are
quite noteworthy. Radioactive anom-
alous zone discovered at Fultala of
Harargaj Structure, Kulaura,
Moulvibazar is found to have radioac-
tivity up to 6o times to the background.
Radioluxography of a radioactive sand-
stone shows the part of atomic minerals
in it (fig.1). Mineralogical studies
using ore & petrographic microscopy,
heavy liquid & isodynamic separator
and XRD techniques have confirmed
the presence of uranium/thorium rich
atomic minerals thorianite and uran-
othorite in the radioactive sandstone
from Fultala. Main light minerals are
quartz and feldspar; and the heavy
minerals are ilmenite, hematite, zircon,
monazite, rutile, garnet and anatase.
Presence of sulfide minerals are also
indicated. Thorianite and uranothorite
contain uranium up to 42% and 15%
respectively. Compositional mapping
(fig.2) of these atomic minerals done
by Electron Probe Micro Analyser
(EPMA) indicate that they are rich in
uranium and thorium. They also con-
tain notable amount of yttrium.
Chemical analysis of the bulk samples
from Fultala has been done using XRF
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Bangladesh Govt.
has entrusted
BAEC to carry out
exploration pro-
grams for radioac-
tive (atomic) min-
erals and mineral
sand deposits
containing
radioactive heavy
minerals and
associated indus-
trial minerals.
Unlike other solid
minerals ,devel-
opment of these
mineral resources
create radiation
problems during
exploration, min-
ing, processing
and production
due to significant
levels of uranium,
thorium and their
decay products
encountered in
these mineral
resources. BAEC
is well equipped
with adequate
radiological protection system.
Accordingly, BAEC should be made the
licensing authority for developing these
mineral resources and should have the
right to be engaged in mining, process-
ing and production of uranium/thorium
ores, atomic minerals and mineral
sands.
In the Mines and Minerals Rules 2012,
it has been made obligatory “ During
exploration and mining activities in any
area if radioactive minerals are found,
concerned licensee or lessee will
immediately inform Bangladesh
Atomic Energy Commission and
BMD and stop exploration or
mining activities”. This rule
remains incomplete. In fact, it
should be made mandatoty that
atomic minerals and mineral
sands which invariably have
higher level of radioactivity will
be dealt by BAEC in all the stages
of development of these
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NPP in the southern part of
Bangladesh is under active
consideration of the govt. after
the implementation of
Rooppur Nuclear Power
Plant.
Conclusion
Nuclear Power Program of a
country is greatly benefited if
there exits indigenous source
of uranium. Exploration of
uranium, thorium bearing
atomic minerals forms as essential part
of nuclear power program of a country.
Most of the countries having Nuclear
Power Plants and using nuclear energy
for power generation have uranium
reserves of their own and constantly
engaged to find uranium deposits
through exploration programs. Initially
India was dependent on the uranium
supply from overseas countries but
now the needs of nuclear fuel for the
Indian Nuclear Power Program are met
from its own uranium and atomic min-
erals resources. For the sustainable
development of the Nuclear power
program of Bangladesh and consider-
ing the importance of indigenous
source of uranium/thorium detailed
survey, prospecting and exploration
programs are to be carried out in the
potential areas in the north-eastern
part, platform area and in the Hinge
Zone of Bangladesh. Bangladesh must
have vision and mission to have indige-
nous nuclear raw materials and attain
capabilities for refinement, conversion,
enrichment of uranium ore, fabrication
of fuel bundles for nuclear reactors,
fuel reprocessing and nuclear waste
management In view of the nuclear
potential and radiation aspects related
with the exploration, mining, process-
ing and separation of atomic minerals
and mineral sands Regulatory
Framework need to be clearly defined.
EP
D r. Eunuse Akon;
Consultant, Institute of Mining,
Mineralogy and Metallurgy, BCSIR &
Former Chief Geologist & Director,
Nuclear Minerals Unit,
Bangladesh Atomic Energy
Commission
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