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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 , Colorado , New Mexico , South Dakota , Texas , Utah , Washington , and Wyoming . Warren I. Finch and others (1973) ''Nuclear fuels'', in ''United States Mineral Resources'', US Geological Survey, Professional Paper 820, p.458. Price declines in the late 1970s and early 1980s forced the closure of numerous mines. Most uranium ore in the reported that 90% of US uranium production in 2006 came from In-situ Leaching . {Link without Title} 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 .Warren I Finch (2003) ''Uranium-fuel for nuclear energy 2002'', US Geological Survey, Bulletin 2179-A. 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 .Warren I Finch (2003) ''Uranium-fuel for nuclear energy 2002'', US Geological Survey, Bulletin 2179-A. Rising uranium prices since 2001 have increased interest in uranium mining in Arizona , Colorado , Texas and Utah . {Link without Title} {Link without Title} The states with the largest known uranium ore reserves (not counting byproduct uranium from phosphate) are (in order) Wyoming, New Mexico, and Colorado.J. Keller and others, ''Colorado'', Mining Engineering, May 2006, p.76. BY STATE 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 75 feet wide, 370 feet long, and 30 feet deep.E.M. MacKevett Jr. (1963) ''Geology and Ore Deposits of the Bokan Mountain Uranium-Thorium Area, Southeastern Alaska'', US Geological Survey, Bulletin 1154. 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 30 miles 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 .E.M. MacKevett Jr. (1960) ''Geology and Ore Deposits of the Kern River Uranium Area, California'', US Geological Survey, Bulletin 1087-F. 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 .J. Burnell and others, ''Colorado'', Mining Engineering, May 2007, p.77. 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 is 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%.Warren I. Finch (1996) ''Uranium provinces of North America-their definition, distribution, and models'', US Geological Survey, Bulletin 2141. However, because the recovery process costs an estimated $22 to $54 per pound of U3O8, more than the price of uranium from the 1980s through the early 2000s, uranium has not been recovered from Florida phosphate in recent years. Because of the high price of uranium since 2003, uranium recovery may be reactivated. {Link without Title} Nebraska The only uranium mine in Nebraska has been the Crow Butte mine, operated by Cameco . The mine is five miles southeast of Crawford in Dawes County , western Nebraska . The roll-front deposit in sandstone was discovered in 1978 by accident, while drilling for petroleum.R.M. Lyman, ''Wyoming'', Mining Engineering, May 2005 p.130. 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 minles south of , p.413-420. 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. {Link without Title} New Jersey A uranium exploration project in northern New Jersey was halted in 1980 when the local government passed an ordinance preventing uranium mining. {Link without Title} New Mexico The first Uranium production in New Mexico was a minor amount of Autunite and Torbernite mined circa 1920 from former silver mines in the White Signal district, about 15 miles southwest of Silver City in Grant County .T.G. Lovering (1956) ''Radioactiver Deposits of New Mexico'', US Geological Survey, Bulletin 1009-L, p.329. , and in the Todilto limestone, all of Jurassic age.H.C. Granger and others, ''Sandstone-type uranium deposits at Ambrosia Lake, New Mexico-an interim report'', Economic Geology, Nov. 1961, p.1179-1210. Active mining stopped in New Mexico in 1998, although Rio Algom continued to recover uranium dissolved in water from its flooded underground mine workings at Ambrosia Lake until 2002.S.A. Lucas Kamat, ''New Mexico'', Mining Engineering, May 2006, p.107. No mining has been done since 2002, even though the state has second-largest known uranium ore reserves in the U.S. General Atomics subsidiary Rio Grande Resources is currently evaluating its Mt. Taylor Mine for development by in-situ leaching. Uranium is present in Coffinite in the Westwater Canyon member of the Morrison Formation at 3,000 feet (900 m) below ground surface. The mine, which operated as an underground uranium mine from 1986 to 1989, has a remaining Resource estimated by its owner at more than 45 thousand tonnes of uranium oxide. {Link without Title} Strathmore Minerals Corp. is currently applying for permits to mine their Church Rock and Roca Honda properties in the Grants Mineral Belt. {Link without Title} Health and environmental issues New Mexico uranium miners from the 1940s and 1950s have had abnormally high rates of lung cancer. The effect was particularly pronounced among Navajo miners, because the incidence of lung cancer is normally low among Navajos. The Navajo tribe, whose reservation contains much of the known ore deposits, declared a moratorium on uranium mining in 2005.S.A. Lucas Kamat, ''New Mexico'', Mining Engineering, May 2007, p.103. In May 2007, the US EPA announced that it would join the Navajo Nation EPA in cleaning up radioactive contamination near the Church Rock mine. {Link without Title} 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 U3O8 before shutting down. {Link without Title} External links North Dakota Geological Survey: ''Uranium'' Oklahoma A small amount of uranium ore was mined from a surface exposure at Cement in Caddo County . The uranium occurred as fracture fillings in the Rush Springs Sandstone over the Cement anticline, where the sandstone is bleached. The mined area was 150 feet long, 3 to 5 feet wide, and extended 3 to 5 feet below ground surface.''Uranium in the Southern United States'' (1969) US Atomic Energy Commission, WASH1128, p.52. 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.N.V. Peterson (1969) ''Uranium'', in ''Mineral and Water Resources of Oregon'', Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, Bulletin 64, p.180-184. 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 .Harry Klemic and R.C. Baker (1954) ''Occurrences of Uranium in Carbon County, Pennsylvania'', US Geological Survey, Circular 350. 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 .Harry Klemic, James C. Warren, and Alfred R. Taylor (1963) ''Geology and Uranium Occurrences of the Northern Half of the Leighton Pennsylvania Quadrangle and Adjoining Areas'', US Geological Survey, Bulletin 1138. 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 .Olin M. Hart (1968) ''Uranium in the Black Hills'', in ''Ore Deposits in the United States, 1933-1967'', New York: American Institute of Mining Engineers, p.832-837. 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. {Link without Title} 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 mine in 2009.[http://www.stockinterview.com/Story/02132007/Dewey-Burdock-Clement.html] 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.Southern Interstate Nuclear Board (1969) ''Uranium in the Southern United States'', United States Atomic Energy Commission, p.97. The uranium occurs in roll-front type deposits in sandstones of Eocene , Oligocene and Miocene age.William E. Galloway (2007) ''Geology of Texas uranium'', in Geology of the Karnes Uranium District, Texas, Austin Geological Society Field Guidebook, p.9-19. The deposits are distributed along about 200 miles 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.S.J. Clift and J.R. Kyle, ''Texas'', Mining Engineering, May 2006, p.114. 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 .S.J. Clift and J.R. Kyle, ''Texas'', Mining Engineering, May 2007, p.114. 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. {Link without Title} External links 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 . 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 .W.M. Sutherland, ''Wyoming'', Mining Engineering, May 2007, p.126. HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES 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 . {Link without Title} {Link without Title} REFERENCES SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS Uranium Producers of America |
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