Everything about Uranium Mining In The United States totally explained
Uranium mining in the United States declined drastically in the 1980s, but has revived since 2001 due to higher uranium prices. The average spot price of uranium oxide (U
3O
8) increased from $7.92 in 2001 to $39.48 in 2006.
(External Link
)
Regular production of uranium-bearing ore in the United States began in 1898 with the mining of
carnotite-bearing sandstones of the
Colorado Plateau in
Colorado and
Utah, for their
vanadium content.
The late 1940s and early 1950s saw a boom in uranium mining in the western US, spurred by the fortunes made by prospectors such as
Charlie Steen. The United States was the world's leading producer of uranium from 1953 until 1980, when annual US production peaked at 16,810 tonnes U
3O
8. Until the early 1980s, there were active uranium mines in
Arizona,
Colorado,
New Mexico,
South Dakota,
Texas,
Utah,
Washington, and
Wyoming.
Price declines in the late 1970s and early 1980s forced the closure of numerous mines. Most uranium ore in the
United States comes from deposits in
sandstone, which tend to be of lower grade than those of
Australia and
Canada. Because of the lower grade, many uranium deposits in the
United States became uneconomic when the price of uranium declined sharply in the late 1970s. By 2001, there were only three operating uranium mines (all
in-situ leaching operations) in the United States. Annual production reached a low of 779 tonnes of uranium oxide in 2003, but then more than doubled in three years to 1672 tonnes in 2006, from 10 mines.
(External Link) The
US Energy Information Administration reported that 90% of US uranium production in 2006 came from
in-situ leaching.
(External Link)
Uranium is used primarily for nuclear power. In 2001 the
United States had 104 operating nuclear power plants generating 20% of the nation's electrical power supply. Although the United States had the most nuclear power plants of any country, it generated a much lower percentage of electricity from nuclear power than did
France (76% from nuclear) or
Japan (34% from nuclear). In 2001 the
United States mined only 5% of the
uranium consumed by its nuclear power plants. The remainder was imported, principally from
Canada and
Australia.
Although uranium production has declined to low levels, the
United States has the fourth-largest uranium
resource in the world, behind
Australia,
Canada, and
Kazakhstan. Rising uranium prices since 2001 have increased interest in uranium mining in
Arizona,
Colorado,
Texas and
Utah.
(External Link)(External Link) The states with the largest known uranium ore reserves (not counting byproduct uranium from phosphate) are (in order) Wyoming, New Mexico, and Colorado.
By state
Alabama
Uranium in
Alabama is found in the Coosa Block of the Northern Alabama
Piedmont.
Metamorphic uranium occurrences have been found in the Higgins Ferry Group in
Coosa and
Clay Counties. Some exploration has been done, but no economic deposits have been found to date.
Alaska
Uranium was discovered at the Ross-Adams deposit in 1955 by an airborne gamma radiation survey. The deposit is at Bokan Mountain on
Prince of Wales Island. The principal ore mineral was
uranothorite, whick occurred in veinlets in granite. Accessory minerals were primarily
hematite and
calcite, with lesser amounts of
fluorite,
pyrite,
galena, and
quartz. The only mining was done in 1957, when ore was removed from an open pit 25 to wide, long, and deep.
Arizona
See main article:
Uranium mining in Arizona
Uranium mining in Arizona has taken place since 1918. Prior to the uranium boom of the late 1940s, uranium in
Arizona was a byproduct of
vanadium mining of the mineral
carnotite. There are currently no producing uranium mines in
Arizona.
California
Uranium was discovered in 1954 in the
Sierra Nevada of
Kern County, along the
Kern River about northeast of
Bakersfield. Two mines, the Kergon mine and the Miracle mine, made small shipments in 1954 and 1955. Uranium occurs as
uraninite and
autunite in shear zones in
granodiorite. Accessory minerals include
fluorite and the
molybdenum minerals
ilsemanite and
jordisite.
Colorado
See main article,
Uranium mining in Colorado
The first uranium identified in the USA was
pitchblende from the Wood gold mine at
Central City, Colorado in 1871. Uranium mining in southwest
Colorado goes back to 1898. The
Uravan district of Colorado and Utah supplied about half the world's
radium from 1910 to 1922, and
vanadium and
uranium were byproducts. The only currently active uranium mine in the state is the Sunday mine near
Uravan, Colorado, owned by
Denison Mines.
Florida
The central-
Florida phosphorite deposits are considered to contain the largest known
uranium resource (one million tonnes of uranium oxide) in
North America (but note that
resources are not the same as
ore reserves). Uranium has been produced as a byproduct of
phosphate mining and the production of
phosphoric acid fertilizer. The uranium is contained in the phosphate minerals
francolite,
crandallite,
millisite,
wavellite, and
vivianite, found in
Miocene and
Pliocene sediments of the
Bone Valley Formation. The average uranium content is 0.009%. However, because the recovery process costs an estimated $22 to $54 per pound of U
3O
8, more than the price of uranium from the 1980s through the early 2000s, uranium hasn't been recovered from Florida phosphate since 1998. Because of the high price of uranium since 2003, uranium recovery may be reactivated.
(External Link)
Idaho
From 1955 to 1960, uranium was extracted from placer black sand deposits derived from the Idaho Batholith in southwest Idaho. The deposits were mined for uranium,
thorium, and
rare earths. Uranium and thorium were in the
monazite grains; rare earths were in
columbite and
euxenite. Production was 365 thousand pounds (165 tonnes) of U
3O
8.
Uranium was mined at the Stanley district in
Custer County, Idaho from 1957 to 1962. Deposits occur as veins in granite of the
Cretaceous Idaho Batholith, and in strataform deposits in possibly
Paleocene arkosic conglomerates and sandstones between the underlying Idaho Batholith and overlying Challis Volcanic Group (
Eocene). The USGS has estimated production to be less than 170 thousand pounds (78 tonnes) of U
3O
8.
Nebraska
The only uranium mine in
Nebraska has been the Crow Butte mine, operated by
Cameco. The mine is five miles (8 km) southeast of
Crawford in
Dawes County, western
Nebraska. The roll-front deposit in the Oligocene Chadron formation was discovered in 1980 by Wyoming Fuel Co. Mining began in 1991. The uranium is being mined by
in-situ leaching.
Nevada
The uranium deposit of the Apex mine (also called the Rundberg mine or the Early Day mine) was discovered in 1953, three miles south of
Austin, Nevada, in
Lander County. The mine produced 45 tonnes of U
3O
8 from 1954 until the mine was closed in 1966. Uranium occurs as
autunite and
meta-autunite in fractured
Cambrian quartzite and
argillite, adjacent to
Jurassic quartz monzonite.
The McDermitt
Caldera in
Humboldt County was the site of intense uranium exploration in the late 1970s. Western Uranium Corporation is currently drilling exploratory boreholes in the area.
(External Link)
New Jersey
A uranium exploration project in northern
New Jersey was halted in 1980 when the local government passed an ordinance preventing uranium mining.
(External Link)
New Mexico
See main article:
Uranium mining in New Mexico
New Mexico was a significant uranium producer since the discovery of uranium by
Navajo sheepherder
Paddy Martinez in 1950. Uranium in New Mexico is almost all in the Grants mineral belt, along the south margin of the
San Juan Basin in
McKinley and
Cibola counties, in the northwest part of the state. No mining has been done since 2002, even though the state has second-largest known uranium ore reserves in the U.S.
North Dakota
Some
lignite coal in southwest
North Dakota contains economic quantities of uranium. From 1965 to 1967
Union Carbide operated a mill near
Belfield in
Stark County to burn uraniferous lignite and extract uranium from the ash. The plant produced about 150 tonnes of U
3O
8 before shutting down.
(External Link)
North Dakota Geological Survey: Uranium
Oklahoma
A small amount of uranium ore was mined in the mid-1950s from a surface exposure at
Cement in
Caddo County. The uranium occurred as carnotite and tyuyamunite in fracture fillings in the
Rush Springs Sandstone over the Cement anticline, where the sandstone is bleached. The mined area was long, 3 to wide, and extended 3 to below ground surface.
Oregon
Uranium was discovered in
Oregon in 1955, near
Lakeview in
Lake County. The White King mine and the Lucky Lass mine shipped uranium from 1955 until 1965. At the White King mine, uranium was mined by both underground and open-pit methods from a low-temperature
hydrothermal deposit in
Pliocene volcanic rocks, associated with
opal realgar,
stibnite,
cinnabar, and
pyrite. At the Lucky Lass mine, the uranium without the associated minerals was mined from an open pit.
A minor amount of uranium was mined in 1960 from a deposit at Bear Creek Butte in
Crook County. The uranium was present as
autunite at the contact between a rhyolite dike and tuffs of the
Oligocene-
Miocene John Day Formation.
Pennsylvania
The uranium mineral
autunite was reported in 1874 near the town of Mauch Chunk (present-day
Jim Thorpe) in
Carbon County, eastern
Pennsylvania. A small amount of test mining was done in 1953 at the Mount Pisgah deposit. The uranium at the Mount Pisgah deposit is primarily in an unidentified black mineral in pods and rolls in the basal conglomerate of the
Mauch Chunk Formation (
Mississippian). Also present are the secondary uranium and uranium-
vanadium minerals
carnotite,
tyuyamunite,
liebigite,
uranophane, and
betauranophane.
South Dakota
Uranium was discovered near
Edgemont, South Dakota in 1951, quickly followed by mining. The uranium occurs in
Cretaceous sandstones of the Inyan Kara group, where it outcrops along the southern edge of the
Black Hills in
Fall River County, South Dakota. Minerals in unoxidized sandstone are
uraninite and
coffinite; minerals in oxidized zones include
carnotite and
tyuyamunite.
An airborne gamma radiation survey flown by the US Atomic Energy Commission in 1954 discovered high radiation readings over the Cave Hills area in
Harding County, in the northwest corner of the state. Claims were immediately staked over uranium-bearing
lignite beds in the area. The
lignite was strip-mined, probably starting that same year, and continuing until the mines closed in 1964.
(External Link)
No uranium is currently mined in South Dakota.
In January 2007
Powertech Uranium Corporation received a state permit to drill boreholes to evaluate their Dewey-Burdock project, in
Custer and
Fall River counties northwest of
Edgemont.
(External Link)(External Link) Previous work at the property in the early 1980s defined a resource of 10 million pounds (4500 tonnes) of uranium, of which 5 million pounds (2300 tonnes) were estimated recoverable by conventional underground mining.
(External Link) Powertech hopes to bring the property into production as an
in-situ leaching mine in 2009.
(External Link)
South Dakota Department of Environment & Natural Resources: In Situ Leach Mine Regulations
Texas
The uranium district of south
Texas was discovered by accident in 1954 by an airborne
gamma radiation survey looking for petroleum deposits. The coastal plain had previously been regarded as highly unfavorable for uranium deposits. The uranium occurs in roll-front type deposits in sandstones of
Eocene,
Oligocene and
Miocene age. The deposits are distributed along about of coastal plain, from
Panna Maria in the north, south into
Mexico. Uranium production began in 1958, from open-pit and
in situ leach mines.
Uranium production stopped in 1999, but restarted in 2004. By 2006, three mines were active: Kingsville Dome in
Kleberg County, the Vasquez mine in
Duval County, and the Alta Mesa mine in
Brooks County. 2007 production was 1.34 million pounds (607 tonnes) of U
3O
8.
Energy Metals Corp. is applying for permits to begin mining the La Palangana deposit in Duval County; the company hopes to begin mining in 2008.
(External Link)
Handbook of Texas Online: Uranium Mining
Utah
See main article:
Uranium mining in Utah.
Mining of uranium-vanadium ore in southeast
Utah goes back to the late 1800s. 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.
Virginia
Marline Uranium Corp. announced in July 1982 that it had discovered 30 million pounds of uranium in the Coles Hill deposit, on land that it had leased near
Chatham in
Pittsylvania County. In response, the state of Virginia imposed a moratorium on uranium mining in the state.
(External Link) Marline dropped its remaining mineral leases and closed its local exploration office in 1990.
(External Link) The deposits occur as breccia-fill and veins in
gneiss bordering the
Triassic Danville Basin. Ore minerals are coffinite, uraninite, and uranium-bearing apatite.
(External Link)
In October 2007, Walter Coles, who owns the land over the Coles Hill deposit, announced that he and some other landowners had formed Virginia Uranium Inc. to mine the deposit themselves, if it can be done safely.
(External Link)(External Link) In November 2007, the state issued an exploration permit to Virginia Uranium, to allow drilling test holes into the deposit. Drilling began in mid-December.
The state-imposed moratorium on uranium mining is still in effect. A bill proposed in the state General Assembly in January 2008 would have created a Virginia Uranium Mining Commission to determine if uranium mining could be done in a manner protective of human health and the environment, and to recommend regulatory controls.
(External Link) However, opponents of uranium mining succeeded in stopping the bill on March 3, 2008, when a committee to the House of Delegates delayed consideration of the bill until 2009.
(External Link)
Virginia Uranium Inc. website
Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy: Uranium Exploration Permit Approved
Washington
Uranium was discovered at the Midnite deposit on the Spokane Indian Reservation, Stevens County, Washington in 1954. The deposit was mined from an open pit 1956-1962 and 1969-1982. Production through 1975 was 8 million pounds of U3O8. The uranium is contained in autunite, uraninite, and coffinite, with gangue minerals pyrite and marcasite. The ore occurs as disseminations, replacements, and stockworks in Precambrian metamorphic rocks of the Togo formation, in a roof pendant in Cretaceous porphyritic quartz monzonite.
Western Nuclear discovered the Spokane Mountain uranium deposit in 1975, two miles (3 km) northeast of the Midnite Mine, and in a similar geologic setting.
Uranium was also mined at the Sherwood mine, a few miles south of the Midnite mine.
Wyoming
See main article Uranium mining in Wyoming
Wyoming once had many operating uranium mines, and has the largest known uranium ore reserves of any state in the U.S. The Wyoming uranium mining industry was hard-hit in the 1980s by the drop in the price of uranium. The uranium-mining boom town of Jeffrey City lost 95% of its population in three years. By 2006, the only active uranium mine in Wyoming was the Smith Ranch-Highland in-situ leaching operation in the Powder River Basin, owned by a subsidiary of Cameco. The mine produced 907 tonnes of yellowcake (uranium concentrate) in 2006, making it the leading uranium producer in the United States.
Health and environmental issues
The radiation hazards of uranium mining and milling were not appreciated in the early years, resulting in workers exposed to high levels of radiation. Inhalation of radon gas caused sharp increases in lung cancers among underground uranium miners employed in the 1940s and 1950s.
Uranium mining and milling has left a legacy of environmental problems. Out of 50 present and former uranium milling sites in 12 states, 24 have been abandoned, and are the responsibility of the US Department of Energy.(External Link)Further Information
Get more info on 'Uranium Mining In The United States'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://uranium_mining_in_the_united_states.totallyexplained.com">Uranium mining in the United States Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
