As the Philippines prepares to introduce nuclear power and moves to build a higher-value critical minerals industry, Filipino researchers are revisiting a resource the country has studied for decades: uranium in Camarines Norte, the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (DOST-PNRI) announced.
Researchers from the University of the Philippines Diliman, the DOST-PNRI, and Akita University in Japan have developed an integrated mineral-processing method for uranium-bearing materials.
Their study focused on Bessemer, Larap, Jose Panganiban, Camarines Norte, a historic center that has long been associated with uranium exploration in the country.
Their work confirmed that uraninite is the main uranium-bearing mineral on the surface deposits examined in the study.
The study also revealed that the material can be processed into a product with higher uranium content.
This finding is an important step toward further research on producing uranium concentrate, commonly known as ‘yellowcake,’ an intermediate material used in the nuclear fuel cycle.
The study arrives at a timely moment as the country moves forward to include nuclear power in the future energy mix. The Philippine Energy Plan targets the entry of at least 1,200 megawatts of nuclear power capacity by 2032.
Meanwhile, Executive Order 122, issued in August 2026, established a national framework for developing the Philippine critical minerals industry, emphasizing investment, local mineral processing, value addition, and downstream industries.
Together, these national directions highlight a growing need for Philippine expertise not only in nuclear energy, but also in understanding and developing the country’s mineral resources.
Returning to Larap with modern science
The Larap-Paracale district has been explored for uranium for decades. The material used in the new study came from Bessemer, Larap, a newly-identified area for uranium mineralization. The sampled mineralized zone was about half-meter wide where 180 kilograms of material were collected for laboratory testing, the DOST-PNRI said.
Using techniques-such as microscopy, X-ray diffraction and modern elemental analysis-the researchers confirmed the presence of uraninite grains among copper-, molybdenum- and iron-bearing minerals.
Identifying the minerals that contain uranium is important because their physical and chemical properties determine how the uranium can be separated and recovered.
According to the researchers, the original material contained 244 parts per million (ppm) of uranium, along with 0.57 percent copper, 0.49 percent molybdenum and 13.5 percent iron.
The researchers first used flotation, a method that separates materials such as copper- and molybdenum-bearing sulfides.
Then they processed the remaining material through magnetic separation, which removed magnetite, an iron-rich magnetic material, and further concentrated uranium in the non-magnetic fraction.
The combined process increased the uranium concentration from 244 ppm to 305 ppm, while recovering about 73 percent of the uranium in the final product.
Microscopic examination after processing also revealed that some uraninite grains had been separated from the surrounding mineral matrix.
This indicates that the process can effectively improve the concentration of uraninite and produce a material suitable for further uranium recovery.
However, the resulting material is not yet yellowcake or nuclear fuel. Rather, the study showed that it can serve as a starting material for the next stages of processing, such as leaching and purification to produce yellowcake, the DOST-PNRI explained.
A resource question that only drilling can answer
The study confirms that uranium mineralization is present at the surface and that the uranium-bearing material can be upgraded. What it cannot determine yet is how much uranium exists underground.
Because the present work examined only the surface, it does not establish the depth of the deposit, how thick it is, or how deep and widespread the uranium-bearing zones are.
Determining whether Larap has enough uranium resource to be considered as having potentially economic significance will require a much larger exploration program. Such work will include detailed geological, radiometric, and geophysical surveys followed by systematic drilling and analysis of drill cores.
It would need geologists to map the mineralization in a three-dimensional way and estimate the extent of the deposits as well as the uranium content. Only after such work can geologists confidently assess the area’s resource potential.
This represents a clear opportunity for the next phase of the work. Government agencies, research institutions, mining and exploration companies, and potential private-sector investors could help move forward the investigation from surface studies to full-scale exploration of what lies underground.
If drilling establishes a significant resource, more studies would still be needed to assess mining and processing economics, environmental and radiological impacts, regulatory requirements, and community considerations before any possible development.
More than a uranium story
The material found in Larap contains several valuable minerals, not just uranium.
During processing, the researchers were able to separate different minerals-such as copper and molybdenum in one part of the process, as well as iron-bearing magnetite. Uranium, meanwhile, became more concentrated in the final nonmagnetic material.
This multi-resource approach is relevant to the direction of EO 122, which seeks to move the Philippines beyond raw mineral extraction toward greater domestic processing and value creation.
The government is still developing the official Philippine Critical Minerals List, so the study does not presume which of these resources will ultimately be formally designated as critical minerals.
The findings help determine the geological, analytical, and mineral-processing capability the country will need to properly evaluate complex domestic mineral resources and determine how more of their value can be captured in the Philippines.
The broader significance of the research is therefore not that the Philippines is ready to produce its own nuclear fuel. More so, the study proves that Filipino scientists are rebuilding the capability to understand a domestic uranium occurrence, determine how its uranium can be concentrated, and identify the next scientific questions needed to establish whether the resource warrants further development, the DOST-PNRI pointed out.
For Larap, that next question is now clear: what lies beneath the surface, and is there enough of it to justify the next stage of exploration?
The research was funded by the Department of Science and Technology Grants-in-Aid Program through the NuCycle Program-NuMER Project, and implemented jointly by UP Diliman’s Department of Mining, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering and DOST-PNRI.