Uranium mining in Utah

Uranium mining in Utah, a state of the United States, has a history going back more than 100 years. Uranium started as a byproduct of vanadium mining about 1900, became a byproduct of radium mining about 1910, then back to a byproduct of vanadium when the radium price fell in the 1920s. Utah saw a uranium boom in the late 1940s and early 1950s, but uranium mining declined in the 1980s. Since 2001 there has been a revival of interest in uranium mining, as a result of higher uranium prices.

Uravan mineral belt

Mining of uranium-vanadium ore in southeast Utah goes back to the late 1800s, at the northern end of the Uravan mineral belt (see "Uranium mining in Colorado"), where it crosses into Grand County, Utah. Uranium occurs in the Salt Wash member of the Morrison Formation of Jurassic age. Because much of the value depended on the vanadium content, the only economic ore minerals were carnotite and tyuyamunite. Following World War II buying for nuclear weapons programs made uranium valuable for its own sake, and attracted hundreds of prospectors to southeast Utah. [R.P. Fischer (1968) "The uranium and vanadium deposits of the Colorado Plateau region", in "Ore Deposits in the United States, 1933-1967", New York: American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, p.738.]

Lisbon Valley

Uranium was discovered in sandstone of the Chinle Formation in Lisbon Valley, San Juan County in 1913, and some carnotite was mined on a small scale for vanadium in 1917, 1940, and 1941. In the uranium mining boom of 1948, mining began in sandstone of the Permian Cutler Formation. Then in 1952, Charles Steen drilled into a rich 70-foot thick uraninite orebody in the Triassic Chinle Formation; that type of deposit became the largest producer in the district. Ore is distributed along 15 miles of outcrop on the southwest side of the Lisbon valley anticline. The district produced 49 million pounds of U₃O₈ (uranium oxide) through 1965. [Hiram B. Wood (1969) "Geology and Exploitation of Uranium Deposits in the Lisbon Valley Area, Utah", in "Ore Deposits of the United States, 1933-1967", v.1, New York: American Institute of Mining Engineers, p.770-799.]

White Canyon district

Uranium associated with copper mineralization at the White Canyon district in was identified in 1920, but production did not begin until 1946. The geology is similar to that of the Monument Valley uranium district 40 miles to the south (see "Uranium mining in Arizona"). Uranium occurs in the Shinarump Sandstone member of the Triassic Chinle Formation. Primary ore minerals are uraninite and coffinite. Through 1965, the White canyon district produced 10 million pounds of U₃O₈. [Roger C. Malan (1969) "The Uranium Mining Industry and Geology of the Monument Valley and White canyon Districts, Arizona and Utah", in "Ore Deposits of the United States, 1933-1967", v.1, New York: American Institute of Mining Engineers, p.790-804.] In 2005 the Navajo Nation declared a moratorium on uranium mining on the reservation, for environmental and health reasons.

Marysvale district

At the Marysvale district, in Piute and Sevier counties, uranium occurs in hydrothermal veins in igneous rocks (quartz monzonite, latite porphyry, and aplite). Primary uranium minerals are uraninite and umohoite, with associated gangue minerals pyrite, fluorite, quartz, and adularia. [Paul F. Kerr and others (1957) "Marysvale, Utah, Uranium Area", Geological Society of America, Special paper 64.]

ilver Reef district

Uranium minerals were noted by 1881 in the silver mines at the Silver Reef/Harrisburg district, at Leeds, Washington County. No uranium was extracted until 1950, when a small shipment was made. The uranium occurs as carnotite along with copper mineralization and the silver mineral chlorargyrite in the Chinle Formation. [Frederick Stugard Jr. (1951) "Uranium Resources in the Silver Reef (Harrisburg) District, Washington County, Utah", US Geological Survey, Open-File Report 51-41.] Uranium production has been minor.

Yellow Chief mine

Uranium was mined from tuffaceous conglomerate and sandstone of the Miocene Spor Mountain Formation at the Yellow Chief mine in the Thomas Range of Juab County. The uranium ore minerals were beta-uranophane, weeksite, and schroekingerite. [David A. Lindsey (1982) "Tertiary Volcanic Rocks and uranium in the Thomas range and Northern Drum Mountains, Juab County, Utah", US Geological Survey, Professional Paper 1221.]

Bingham Canyon copper mine

The Bingham Canyon Mine in Salt Lake County, a large porphyry copper mine, recovered 120,000 to 150,000 pounds of uranium oxide each year from 1978 through 1989, as part of its copper mining operation. ["Technologically enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials from Uranium Mining" v.1, US Environmental Protection Agency, EPA 402-R-05-007, p.1-17.]

Current activity

All of Utah’s numerous uranium mines closed prior to 2000, because of low prices.

In late 2006, Denison Mines reopened the Pandora mine in the La Sal mining district of southeastern Utah. [R.L. Bon and K.A. Krahulec, "Utah", Mining Engineering, May 2007, p.121.] Denison Mines has received all the required permits from the state of Utah and the US Bureau of Land Management to reopen its Tony M uranium mine in the Henry Mountains; ore production is expected to begin in 2008. The Tony M deposit is said to contain 5.3 million pounds (2400 tonnes) of U₃O₈. [http://www.denisonmines.com/files/objects/070910%20-%20Tony%20MV3.pdf] Nearby the Tony M deposit, Denison has another uranium deposit, the Bullfrog. Denison is currently stockpiling ore at its White Mesa uranium processing mill in the Henry Mountains; the mill is expected to begin processing in early 2008. ["Utah uranium mine obtains operating permits", Engineering and Mining Journal, Nov. 2007, p.12.]

Energy Fuels Inc. expects to reopen the Energy Queen mine in the La Sal trand of San Juan County in 2008. [http://www.energyfuels.com/projects/near_term/energy_queen/]

See also

* Atlas Uranium Mill
* Moab Tailings
* Uranium mining in the United States

External links

* [http://www.onlineutah.com/uraniumhistory.shtml Online Utah.com: "Uranium mining in Utah"]
* [http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/utah_today/utahsuraniumboom.html Utah History to Go: "Utah's Uranium Boom"]
* [http://geology.utah.gov/online/m/m-215.pdf Utah Geological Survey: "Uranium and vanadium Map of Utah"]
* [http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,250010691,00.html Deseret News (13 Feb. 2001): "Uranium Mining Left a Legacy of Death"]

References