The concept so prevalent in the late 1940s and 1950s that "Uranium is where you find it" is no longer valid. Housewives and cowboys no longer find uranium orebodies. Modern uranium exploration requires a broadly based approach, well-founded on geologic, geophysical, and geochemical techniques, and one which is supported by an informed and aggressive management structure.

Methods of exploration based on flexible models of ore genesis and designed to evaluate large geologic provinces rapidly have been developed. Selective use of geophysical and geochemical tools help to define targets within a favorable province. Careful geologic mapping, sampling, and data interpretation lead to preliminary drilling and interpretation of favorable areas, usually with little or no evidence of surface mineralization. In contrast to this approach, European exploration organizations have, with government subsidy, evolved a domestic exploration philosophy built around extremely detailed surface techniques and saturation drilling of target areas. Only some of the differences in approach are explained by the different types of orebodies found.

Both of these approaches have been successful in their respective areas of use.

Fundamental to the success of any uranium exploration program in the future will be increased reliance on skillful and creative three-dimensional thinking by the technical man. As in the oil industry, the easy ones have been found, but in uranium, the "plums" remain.

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