As early as 1874, sandstone-type uranium deposits were discovered in Pennsylvania, USA. Until the incentive policy of the US Department of Energy was introduced in the 1940s and 1950s, a large number of uranium deposits with industrial significance were discovered in Colorado Plateau, Wyoming Basin and South Texas, and detailed exploration was carried out. At that time, this kind of deposit was named as exogenous uranium deposit in sandstone, and the uranium deposit was precipitated from solution (Finch, 1967). Most deposits are plate-like parallel to the bedding plane, so they are also called quasi-integrated deposits. The deposit occurs in three tectonic environments: ① shallow foreland depression zone between geosyncline and stable continent; ② Intermountain basin; ③ Coastal plain near the coastline. In these environments, the discharge of water is not smooth, and the solution has enough time to react with rocks to enrich uranium. By the middle and late 1960s, about 4,600 sandstone-type uranium deposits were discovered in the United States, and U3O8 with a reserve of 17000t was discovered in 1958.

By the early 1980s, the United States established a "rolling uranium deposit" metallogenic model (Harshman,1970; Granger,1978; Lakli, 1976). Central Asia is the largest sandstone-type uranium enrichment area in the world, with dozens of large and super-large sandstone-type uranium deposits. In its decades of exploration and research, the theory of "ore control in sub-orogenic belt" has gradually formed, and the theory of interlayer oxidation zone sandstone-type uranium mineralization has been established for the first time, which is called "interlayer infiltration mineralization theory" or "water-bearing uranium theory". Russian experts have studied the genetic mechanism of sandstone uranium deposits in ancient rivers discovered in Russia and Mongolia. According to the study of Dalmatov in the external Urals, Malinoff in the western Siberia and Xi 'Agda deposit in the external Baikal, it is proposed that this type belongs to phreatic water-interlayer water infiltration oxidation.

Although the research on sandstone-type uranium deposits in China began in the 1950s, substantial progress was made after the breakthrough of in-situ leaching technology in China in the late 1980s. Since 1980s and early 1990s, the geological system of the nuclear industry has introduced exploration methods and experiences of in-situ leachable sandstone-type uranium deposits from Central Asia and Russia, which has set off a prospecting climax in the northern basin of China and achieved many achievements and understandings. Especially in the late 1990s, the theory and practice of ancient channel sandstone-type uranium mineralization were introduced from Russia, which was greatly inspired and verified at home.

Judging from the current literature and the prospect of Chinese experts, the prospect of sandstone-type uranium deposits in China is gratifying, especially the sandstone-type uranium deposits in Guhe River, which may be the key to our major breakthrough. Due to the unique historical tectonic conditions, it seems that the conditions for China to search for large-scale interlayer oxidation zones similar to those in Central Asia do not exist. Since Mesozoic and Cenozoic, the large and small continental basins have formed their own systems with each basin as a unit, with the basin as the core of material source supply, hydrodynamic mechanism and sedimentary facies distribution. There is no slope developed under the unified large-scale regional background, and even in the same basin, the internal environment is uneven. In fact, many basins are still relatively isolated when forming ore-bearing beds, and the phenomenon of "basin in basin" is widespread, such as Erlian and Hailaer basins. This condition is not conducive to the development of regional interlayer oxidation zone, but is conducive to the development of relatively independent river system, which is a favorable condition for the formation of ancient river deposits. In a word, in China, especially in the eastern region, it may be more favorable to search for ancient channel-type uranium deposits than for large interlayer oxidation zone-type deposits.