General Assembly & Evening Lecture: U exploration, resources and production: a global review
The Joint OECD-NEA / IAEA Uranium Group (UG) is a forum for the exchange of information, analysis, and guidance on the uranium market and its role and relationship with respect to the global nuclear fuel cycle. The UG conducts a biennial survey of world uranium exploration, resources, production and demand, commonly known as the ‘Red Book’, the results of which reflect mainly official government information sources.
The latest published edition of the Red Book (2022) concludes that global uranium demand is expected to continue to increase over the next several decades, and that identified recoverable in-ground uranium resources are sufficient for at least 100 years (considering current demand). From 2014 to 2021, annual global expenditures on uranium exploration and mine development fell nearly USD $2 billion. Following the recent rise in uranium market spot prices to a 17-year high, as well as a declaration made at COP28 by 22 countries to double or triple their nuclear energy capacities by 2050, interest in uranium exploration and mining is expected to increase dramatically. However, in order to meet the demand for refined uranium ready for nuclear fuel production, favourable prices (≥ US$ 50/lb U3O8) will need to be sustained, exploration increased, and investment in technical innovations to recover uranium from low-grade deposits, such as phosphate and black shale deposits, will need to be made.
Timing
18:00: General Assembly
18:30: Introduction of the EVL
18:35: Presentation by Mark Mihalasky
19:25: Q&A
19:45: Drink
20:30: End
Registration
Will be closed on Thursday the 23rd of May, 12 AM.
Speaker
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Mark J. MihalaskyMark J. Mihalasky is a Uranium Resources Specialist with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria. He received a B.S. in Geology in 1984 from Stockton State College, a M.S. in 1988 from Eastern Washington University in Geology, and a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences in 1999 from the University of Ottawa. He has worked as an exploration geologist and GIS consultant, Assistant Professor of Earth and Marine Geology and Coastal Research Center Director of Research at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, a geospatial analyst and resource assessment scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, and since joining the IAEA in 2020, has been responsible for publications and database development related to global and country-level uranium exploration, resources, and production, including the Joint OECD-NEA / IAEA “Red Book” and the UDEPO and ThDEPO databases. He has experience in economic geology, mineral and interdisciplinary natural resource assessment, and quantitative analysis and modeling of geospatial data. He has been involved with metallic mineral resource assessments (gold, silver, copper, uranium, REE) in Nevada, Texas, China, Afghanistan, and western Asia (eastern Russia, Mongolia, northern China, Kazakhstan, Algeria, Uzbekistan), lithium resources in central South America, diamond resources in Mali and Central African Republic, and interdisciplinary natural resource assessments in Madagascar, Gabon, and the United States.