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File Created: 23-Mar-1987 by Larry Jones (LDJ)
Last Edit:  25-Jan-1996 by Jay W. Page (JWP)

Summary Help Help

NMI
Name AGUR-7, AGUR Mining Division Osoyoos
BCGS Map 082E052
Status Showing NTS Map 082E12W
Latitude 049º 33' 49'' UTM 11 (NAD 83)
Longitude 119º 47' 37'' Northing 5493862
Easting 297996
Commodities Uranium Deposit Types B08 : Surficial U
Tectonic Belt Intermontane Terrane Overlap Assemblage, Plutonic Rocks
Capsule Geology

The AGUR-7 showing is a postglacial uranium concentration in lake-bottom sediments in a small pond. It is located approximately 9.5 kilometres southwest of Summerland.

This is one of many young uranium occurrences discovered by D. G. Leighton & Associates Ltd. in the late 1970s. Work prior to the uranium moratorium in 1980 consisted of auger sampling. The area is underlain by granodiorite of the Jurassic Okanagan Intrusions.

The occurrence is recent, having formed from the interaction between uranium-rich groundwater and unconsolidated material containing organics or clay. This process is believed to still be taking place. The source of the uranium is thought to be the surrounding igneous rocks, where groundwaters rich in carbonate and alkali ions have leached labile uranium from fresh rock exposed after glaciation.

Uranium enrichment occurs in lake-bottom sediments over an area measuring 7,800 square metres (Culbert, 1979). An auger hole intersected a 1.5-metre thick layer averaging 0.0150 per cent uranium with a 0.5-metre section averaging 0.0303 per cent uranium (Culbert, 1979). The uraniferous layer lies 1.5 metres below the surface (Culbert, 1979).

The highest uranium value reported is a lake sediment grab sample which contained 0.152 per cent (Assessment Report 6768). It was noted that the uranium is not accompanied by abnormal amounts of thorium. The secondary uranium is far from being in equilibrium with its daughter products (19 per cent), but the radium levels tend to be above those usually associated with uranium resulting from alkaline water transport of uranium alone. A large discrepancy between radium and lead 214 content suggests that the sedimentary uranium is in an adsorbed or surficial form with a high radon escape ratio.

Other young uranium occurrences located nearby are AGUR-1 (082ENW085) and AGUR-HILL (082ENW086).

Bibliography
EMPR ASS RPT *6768
EMPR OF 1990-32; 1994-8
EMPR RGS 29
GSC MAP 538A; 15-1961; 1701A; 1712A; 1713A; 1714A; 1736A; 7686G; 8521G
GSC OF 409; 736; 1969
CIM BULL 1978, Vol. 71, #783, pp. 103-110
IAEA TECDOC 322 (Surficial Uranium Deposits, Technical Document, Vienna, 1984), pp. 179-191
JGE 1981, Vol. 14, pp. 49-68
Bates, D.V.; Murray, J.W.; Raudsepp, V. (1980): Royal Commission of Inquiry, Health and Environmental Protection, Uranium Mining; Commissioners' Report, Vol. 1, pp. 35-36,183-184.
*Culbert, R.R. (1979): Post-Glacial Uranium Concentration in South Central British Columbia, Royal Commission on Uranium Mining, Accession List #2109S01, 20 pages.
Culbert, R.R. (1979): Uranium Equilibrium - Disequilibrium as Observed in the Natural Environment in British Columbia, Royal Commission on Uranium Mining, Accession List #2017S, 15 pages with Appendices.
*Culbert, R.R. and Leighton, D.G. (1988): Young Uranium; in Unconventional Uranium Deposits, Ore Geology Reviews, Vol. 3, pp. 313-330.
EMPR PFD 756, 880354, 880355, 823583

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