Does some types of soil contain yellow cake uranium?
It is very unlikely that the sample is yellow cake uranium. Yellow cake (milled uranium oxide) is an intermediate product of uranium ore processing and is slightly dangerous (< 20% uranium). Even the tailing from a uranium mine would have low uranium concentrations. From the picture it seems to appear that the yellow coloring of the soil could be a result of the natural weathering of the large rock outcropping in the background. The rock formations in the Lithgow region are known to have high concentrations of iron, so it could be rust.
