[en] The topics covered in this conferences are strategic minerals and atomic minerals, metallogeny and mineral deposits, mineral exploration techniques, crystal evolution and tectonics, metamorphic rocks, sedimentology, marine geology etc. Papers relevant to INIS are indexed separately

[en] Granites exposed in northwestern part of Chitrial uranium deposit form the basement for Srisailam sediments. The Srisailam sediments occur as outlier in Chitrial area. These granites are intruded by quartz/quartzo-feldspathic/aplitic/pegmatite veins and mafic dykes. The basement granites of study area constitute grey and pink equigranular and porphyritic variants. They contain quartz, orthoclase, microcline, perthite, Na-plagioclase along with accessory biotite, ilmenite, sphene, apatite zircon, allanite, monazite and traces of fluorite. Among the opaques, magnetite, pyrite and goethite are present

[en] The Proterozoic basins are proven to be the main thrust area for high grade, large tonnage U-deposit throughout the world. India's 75% of uranium resources are confined to Purana basins. Uranium is the key to the growth of nuclear power programme which is necessary to meet the quantitative demand of secure, affordable and green energy for accelerated agricultural and industrial growth of our country. Therefore, major thrust has been given on uranium exploration to discover large-tonnage higher-grade uranium deposits. The present case study deals with structurally controlled hydrothermal vein type uranium mineralizationin the Mesoproterozoic Delhi Supergroup of rocks of Rambas-Jamalpur block exposed in the southern part Haryana

[en] The basement complex south of Cuddapah basin, comprising granite gneiss and patches of greenstone belts are traversed by number of fractures trending along N-S, E-W, NW-SE and NE-SW directions, which are subsequently intruded by younger basic intrusives. Several uranium occurrences are reported along the younger NE-SW trending fracture zone at Kamaguttapalle-Kammapalle area with continuity of correlatable mineralisation established up to a vertical depth of 200m over a strike length of 200m

[en] The northern part of Cuddapah basin comprises of Middle to Upper Proterozoic Papaghni, Srisailam, Painad and Kurnool sub-basins lying over Archean basement crystallines, which is marked by number of discontinuous patches of Archean/early Proterozoic schist belts, peninsular gneiss, Closepet granites and its equivalents and younger intrusives. This geological domain has undergone deformations and multiple phases of igneous activity making it favourable for uranium mineralization

[en] The alkaline igneous complex viz. microgranite and granite rocks of Siwana Ring Complex (SRC), Banner district, Rajasthan are reported to contain Rare Earth Elements (REE), niobium (Nb), yttrium (Y) in appreciable amounts. Laboratory investigations such as size analysis, crushing, grinding, desliming, wet tabling and magnetic separation at various field strengths of 7, 10 and 14 kilogauss are adopted to process the samples to recover REE, Y, Nb mineral concentrates. Size analysis is carried out to estimate the REE, Nb values in different size fractions. The study also indicates the quantitative estimate of gangue which can be removed by sizing technique

[en] Khetri sub-basin of North Delhi Fold Belt is characterized by presence of several uranium occurrences associated with albitite zones. Geratiyon Ki Dhani - Ladi Ka Bas area is located along the eastern albitite zone in Sikar District, Rajasthan. This area exposes quartzite, quartz biotite schist and calc-silicate of Ajabgarh Group of Mesoproterozoic Delhi Supergroup. The general strike of the rocks is NNW-SSE with moderate to steep dip towards WSW. Granites exposed near Jaitpura and Ladi Ka Bas area occur as intrusive within the metasediments. Geochemical studies of metasediments revealed predominance of Na₂O over K₂O indicating albitisation

[en] The Mahadek Basin of Meghalaya has been identified as one of the most potential basin to host sandstone-type uranium mineralization in the country. Uranium deposit of moderate tonnage has been established at Umthongkut, located 30 km west of well-known Domiasiat uranium deposit, where the mineralisation is hosted by the Lower Mahadek sediments. Thus, the study of Fe⁺³/Fe²⁺ ratios has conclusively established that changes in physico-chemical conditions (oxidation and reduction) have played an important role in uranium mineralization in Umthongkut, Meghalaya

[en] The Karbi Hills of Shillong Plateau are endowed with a large volume of intrusive magmatics and localized trap rocks of varying ages, forming mostly ridges and plunging anticlines (Kathalguri granites). The presently studied late Pan-African (Cambro-Ordovician) A-type granites occurring in north-western Karbi Hills are marked by rich concentration of REE and uranium. The granites are mainly comprised of quartz, k-feldspar, plagioclase, biotite and minor amphibole. U content in studied granite is normally <50ppm, however, the highest abundance (159 ppm) is found in granites of Udmari Hills. These granites exhibit some significant uranium mineralization parameters like presence of large number of volatile mineral phases and accessory minerals with pitted surface, pleochroic haloes in biotite and low Th/U ratio. They can be good source rock to contribute uranium to the nearby structural dislocations of shear or fault zones

[en] Reprocessing of spent nuclear fuels does fetch multiple benefits in terms of lower environmental stress/risk and more economical nuclear power generation. (i) Recycling of uranium (²³⁵U, ²³³U), and/or plutonium (²³⁹Pu) as nuclear fuel components for further energy generation; usage of (ii) ¹³⁷Cs and ⁹⁰Sr for cancer treatment; (iii) ²³⁸Pu, ²⁴⁴Cm for Radioactive Thermoelectric Generator; (iv) ²⁴¹Am for safety (e.g. smoke detector) and security applications; (v) recovery of expensive platinum group of elements etc are the few advantages associated with closed nuclear fuel cycles. However, besides all these beneficial features, reprocessing of spent fuels also generates High-Level Nuclear Wastes, which contain as high as 99% of radioactivity witnessed in a given fuel cycle