Uranium mining in the United States - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Uranium mining in the United States is the extraction of uranium

Uranium

Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...

-bearing ore from the earth. While uranium is used primarily for nuclear power

Nuclear power

Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...

, uranium mining had its roots in the production of uranium-bearing ore

Ore

An ore is a type of rock that contains minerals with important elements including metals. The ores are extracted through mining; these are then refined to extract the valuable element....

in 1898 with the mining

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

of carnotite

Carnotite

Carnotite is a potassium uranium vanadate radioactive mineral with chemical formula: K222·3H2O. The water content can vary and small amounts of calcium, barium, magnesium, iron, and sodium are often present.-Occurrence:...

-bearing sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

s of the Colorado Plateau

Colorado Plateau

The Colorado Plateau, also called the Colorado Plateau Province, is a physiographic region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. The province covers an area of 337,000 km2 within western Colorado, northwestern New Mexico,...

in Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

and Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

, for their vanadium

Vanadium

Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery gray, ductile and malleable transition metal. The formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the metal against oxidation. The element is found only in chemically combined form in nature...

content. The late 1940s and early 1950s saw a boom in uranium mining

Uranium mining

Uranium mining is the process of extraction of uranium ore from the ground. The worldwide production of uranium in 2009 amounted to 50,572 tonnes, of which 27% was mined in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia are the top three producers and together account for 63% of world uranium...

in the western U.S., 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 U.S. production peaked at 16,810 metric tons U₃O₈. Until the early 1980s, there were active uranium mines in Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

, Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

, South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, Utah

Utah

, Washington, and Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

.

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

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Because of the lower grade, many uranium deposits in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

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 metric tons of uranium oxide in 2003, but then more than doubled in three years to 1672 metric tons in 2006, from 10 mines.http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf23.html The U.S. DOE

United States Department of Energy

The United States Department of Energy is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government concerned with the United States' policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material...

's Energy Information Administration

Energy Information Administration

The U.S. Energy Information Administration is the statistical and analytical agency within the U.S. Department of Energy. EIA collects, analyzes, and disseminates independent and impartial energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and public understanding of energy and...

reported that 90% of U.S. uranium production in 2006 came from in-situ leaching.

The average spot price

Spot price

The spot price or spot rate of a commodity, a security or a currency is the price that is quoted for immediate settlement . Spot settlement is normally one or two business days from trade date...

of uranium oxide

Uranium oxide

Uranium oxide is an oxide of the element uranium.The metal uranium forms several oxides:* Uranium dioxide or uranium oxide * Uranium trioxide or uranium oxide...

(U₃O₈) increased from $7.92 per pound

Pound (mass)

The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...

in 2001 to $39.48 per pound ($39.48 kilograms (87.04 lb)/kg) in 2006. In 2001 the United States mined only 5% of the uranium consumed by its nuclear power plants. The remainder was imported, principally from Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

(50%), Canada

Canada

, and Australia

Australia

. Although uranium production has declined to low levels, the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

has the fourth-largest uranium resource

Mineral resource classification

Mineral resource classification is the classification of mineral deposits based on their geologic certainty and economic value.Mineral deposits can be classified as:...

in the world, behind Australia

Australia

, Canada

Canada

, and Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

. United States uranium reserves are strongly dependent on price. At $30 per pound U₃O₈, reserves are estimated to be 265 million pounds (120,000 metric tons); however, at a price of $50 per pound, reserves are an estimated 890 million pounds (400,000 metric tons). Rising uranium prices since 2001 have increased interest in uranium mining in Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

, Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, Texas

Texas

and Utah

Utah

.http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/business/28uranium.html?ex=1332734400&en=2ee40a7e7c5a9144&ei=5088& The states with the largest known uranium ore reserves (not counting byproduct uranium from phosphate) are (in order) Wyoming, New Mexico, and Colorado.

The radiation hazards of uranium mining and milling were not appreciated in the early years, resulting in workers being exposed to high levels of radiation. Inhalation of radon

Radon

Radon is a chemical element with symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas, occurring naturally as the decay product of uranium or thorium. Its most stable isotope, 222Rn, has a half-life of 3.8 days...

gas caused sharp increases in lung cancers among underground uranium miners employed in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1950, the US Public Health service began a comprehensive study of uranium miners, leading to the first publication of a statistical correlation between cancer and uranium mining, released in 1962. In 1969, the federal government regulated the standard amount of radon

Radon

in mines.
In 1990, Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act

Radiation Exposure Compensation Act

The United States Radiation Exposure Compensation Act is a federal statute providing for the monetary compensation of people, including atomic veterans, who contracted cancer and a number of other specified diseases as a direct result of their exposure to atmospheric nuclear testing undertaken by...

(RECA), granting reparations

Reparation (legal)

In jurisprudence, reparation is replenishment of a previously inflicted loss by the criminal to the victim. Monetary restitution is a common form of reparation...

for those affected by mining. 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.

Alabama

Uranium in Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

is found in the Coosa Block of the Northern Alabama Piedmont

Piedmont (United States)

The Piedmont is a plateau region located in the eastern United States between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the main Appalachian Mountains, stretching from New Jersey in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedmont province is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division...

. Metamorphic

Metamorphic rock

Metamorphic rock is the transformation of an existing rock type, the protolith, in a process called metamorphism, which means "change in form". The protolith is subjected to heat and pressure causing profound physical and/or chemical change...

uranium occurrences have been found in the Higgins Ferry Group in Coosa

Coosa County, Alabama

Coosa County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. Its name derives from a town of the Creek tribe. As of 2010 the population was 11,539, but since that time it has lost the most population by percentage of any Alabama county...

and Clay

Clay County, Alabama

Clay County is a county of the US state of Alabama. Its name is in honor of Henry Clay, famous American statesman, member of the United States Senate from Kentucky and United States Secretary of State in the 19th century. As of 2010 the population was 13,932...

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

Thorite

Thorite, SiO4, is a rare nesosilicate of thorium that crystallizes in the tetragonal system and is isomorphous with zircon and hafnon. It is the most common mineral of thorium and is nearly always strongly radioactive. It was named in 1829 to reflect its thorium content...

, which occurred in veinlets in granite. Accessory minerals were primarily hematite

Hematite

Hematite, also spelled as haematite, is the mineral form of iron oxide , one of several iron oxides. Hematite crystallizes in the rhombohedral system, and it has the same crystal structure as ilmenite and corundum...

and calcite

Calcite

Calcite is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate . The other polymorphs are the minerals aragonite and vaterite. Aragonite will change to calcite at 380-470°C, and vaterite is even less stable.-Properties:...

, with lesser amounts of fluorite

Fluorite

Fluorite is a halide mineral composed of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It is an isometric mineral with a cubic habit, though octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon...

, pyrite

Pyrite

The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, is an iron sulfide with the formula FeS2. This mineral's metallic luster and pale-to-normal, brass-yellow hue have earned it the nickname fool's gold because of its resemblance to gold...

, galena

Galena

Galena is the natural mineral form of lead sulfide. It is the most important lead ore mineral.Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It crystallizes in the cubic crystal system often showing octahedral forms...

, quartz

Quartz

Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...

, and rare earth minerals. The first mining was done in 1957, when ore was removed from an open pit 25 to 75 ft (7.6 to 22.9 m) wide, 370 feet (112.8 m) long, and 30 feet (9 m) deep. Additional mining took place in 1959-1964 and 1970-1971 A total of 1.3 million pounds (590 t) of uranium were produced, with all of the milling taking place in Washington and Utah. There is a firm looking at the potential of reopening the mine.

Arizona

Uranium mining in Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

has taken place since 1918. Prior to the uranium boom of the late 1940s, uranium in Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

was a byproduct of vanadium

Vanadium

mining of the mineral carnotite

Carnotite

. There is currently a Denison Mines

Denison Mines

Denison Mines Corp. is a Canadian uranium exploration, development, and production company. Founded by Stephen B. Roman, and best known for its uranium mining in Elliot Lake, it later diversified into coal, potash, and other projects....

mining operation located several miles outside Fredonia, AZ.

California

Uranium was discovered in 1954 in the Sierra Nevada of Kern County

Kern County, California

Spreading across the southern end of the California Central Valley, Kern County is the fifth-largest county by population in California. Its economy is heavily linked to agriculture and to petroleum extraction, and there is a strong aviation and space presence. Politically, it has generally...

, along the Kern River

Kern River

The Kern River is a river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfield. Fed by snowmelt near Mount Whitney, the river passes through scenic canyons in the mountains and is a popular destination for...

about 30 miles (48.3 km) northeast of Bakersfield

Bakersfield, California

Bakersfield is a city near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California. It is roughly equidistant between Fresno and Los Angeles, to the north and south respectively....

. Two mines, the Kergon mine and the Miracle mine, made small shipments in 1954 and 1955. Uranium occurs as uraninite

Uraninite

Uraninite is a radioactive, uranium-rich mineral and ore with a chemical composition that is largely UO2, but also contains UO3 and oxides of lead, thorium, and rare earth elements...

and autunite

Autunite

Autunite with formula: Ca22·10-12H2O is a yellow - greenish fluorescent mineral with a hardness of 2 - 2½. Autunite crystallizes in the tetragonal system and often occurs as tabular square crystals. Due to the moderate uranium content of 48.27% it is radioactive and also used as uranium ore...

in shear zones in granodiorite

Granodiorite

Granodiorite is an intrusive igneous rock similar to granite, but containing more plagioclase than orthoclase-type feldspar. Officially, it is defined as a phaneritic igneous rock with greater than 20% quartz by volume where at least 65% of the feldspar is plagioclase. It usually contains abundant...

. Accessory minerals include fluorite

Fluorite

Fluorite is a halide mineral composed of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It is an isometric mineral with a cubic habit, though octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon...

and the molybdenum

Molybdenum

Molybdenum , is a Group 6 chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42. The name is from Neo-Latin Molybdaenum, from Ancient Greek , meaning lead, itself proposed as a loanword from Anatolian Luvian and Lydian languages, since its ores were confused with lead ores...

minerals ilsemanite and jordisite.

Colorado

The first uranium identified in the USA was pitchblende from the Wood gold mine at Central City, Colorado

Central City, Colorado

Central City is a home rule municipality in Clear Creek and Gilpin counties in the U.S. state of Colorado, and the county seat of Gilpin County. The city population was 515 in the 2000 United States Census...

in 1871. Uranium mining in southwest Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

goes back to 1898. The Uravan

Uravan, Colorado

Uravan is an abandoned uranium mining town in western Montrose County, Colorado, United States, that is now a Superfund site. The town was a company town established by U. S. Vanadium Corporation in 1936 to extract the rich vanadium ore in the region...

district of Colorado and Utah supplied about half the world's radium

Radium

Radium is a chemical element with atomic number 88, represented by the symbol Ra. Radium is an almost pure-white alkaline earth metal, but it readily oxidizes on exposure to air, becoming black in color. All isotopes of radium are highly radioactive, with the most stable isotope being radium-226,...

from 1910 to 1922, and vanadium

Vanadium

and uranium were byproducts. The only currently active uranium mine in the state is the Sunday mine near Uravan, Colorado

Uravan, Colorado

, owned by Denison Mines

Denison Mines

Florida

The central-Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

phosphorite

Phosphorite

Phosphorite, phosphate rock or rock phosphate is a non-detrital sedimentary rock which contains high amounts of phosphate bearing minerals. The phosphate content of phosphorite is at least 15 to 20% which is a large enrichment over the typical sedimentary rock content of less than 0.2%...

deposits are considered to contain the largest known uranium resource

Mineral resource classification

Mineral resource classification is the classification of mineral deposits based on their geologic certainty and economic value.Mineral deposits can be classified as:...

(one million metric tons of uranium oxide) in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

(but note that resources are not the same as ore reserves
Mineral resource classification
Mineral resource classification is the classification of mineral deposits based on their geologic certainty and economic value.Mineral deposits can be classified as:...

). Uranium has been produced as a byproduct of phosphate

Phosphate

A phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in...

mining and the production of phosphoric acid

Phosphoric acid

Phosphoric acid, also known as orthophosphoric acid or phosphoric acid, is a mineral acid having the chemical formula H3PO4. Orthophosphoric acid molecules can combine with themselves to form a variety of compounds which are also referred to as phosphoric acids, but in a more general way...

fertilizer. The uranium is contained in the phosphate minerals francolite

Francolite

Francolite is a carbonate rich variety of the mineral Fluorapatite and is present in most sedimentary phosphorites. It has a variable chemical composition which can be represented by 106F2−3. The mineral was named after its occurrence at Wheal Franco, Whitchurch, Tavistock District, Devon, England....

, crandallite, millisite, wavellite

Wavellite

Wavellite is a phosphate mineral with formula Al323·5H2O.It normally occurs as translucent green radial or spherical clusters.-Discovery and occurrence:...

, and vivianite, found in Miocene

Miocene

The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...

and Pliocene

Pliocene

The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...

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 U₃O₈, more than the price of uranium from the 1980s through the early first decade of the 21st century, uranium has not been recovered from Florida phosphate since 1998. Because of the high price of uranium since 2003, uranium recovery may be reactivated.

Idaho

From 1955 to 1960, uranium was extracted from placer

Placer deposit

In geology, a placer deposit or placer is an accumulation of valuable minerals formed by gravity separation during sedimentary processes. The name is from the Spanish word placer, meaning "alluvial sand". Placer mining is an important source of gold, and was the main technique used in the early...

black sand deposits derived from the Idaho Batholith in southwest Idaho. The deposits were mined for uranium, thorium

Thorium

Thorium is a natural radioactive chemical element with the symbol Th and atomic number 90. It was discovered in 1828 and named after Thor, the Norse god of thunder....

, and rare earths. Uranium and thorium were in the monazite

Monazite

Monazite is a reddish-brown phosphate mineral containing rare earth metals. It occurs usually in small isolated crystals. There are actually at least four different kinds of monazite, depending on relative elemental composition of the mineral:...

grains; rare earths were in columbite

Columbite

Columbite, also called niobite, niobite-tantalite and columbate [2O6], is a black mineral group that is an ore of niobium and tantalum. It has a submetallic luster and a high density and is a niobate of iron and manganese, containing tantalate of iron. This mineral group was first found in Haddam,...

and euxenite

Euxenite

Euxenite or euxenite- is a brownish black mineral with a metallic luster.-Chemistry:It contains calcium, niobium, tantalum, cerium, titanium, yttrium, and typically uranium and thorium, with some other metals. The chemical formula is: 2O6...

. Production was 365,000 pounds (165 metric tons) of U₃O₈.

Uranium was mined at the Stanley district in Custer County, Idaho

Custer County, Idaho

Custer County is a rural mountain county located in the center of the U.S. state of Idaho. Established in 1881, it was named for the General Custer Mine, where gold was discovered five years earlier . The population was 4,342 at the 2000 census; it is estimated to have fallen to 4,166 by 2007...

from 1957 to 1962. Deposits occur as veins in granite of the Cretaceous

Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...

Idaho Batholith, and in strataform deposits in possibly Paleocene

Paleocene

The Paleocene or Palaeocene, the "early recent", is a geologic epoch that lasted from about . It is the first epoch of the Palaeogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era...

arkosic conglomerates and sandstones between the underlying Idaho Batholith and overlying Challis Volcanic Group (Eocene

Eocene

The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the...

). The USGS has estimated production to be less than 170,000 pounds (78 metric tons) of U₃O₈.

Nebraska

The only uranium mine in Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

has been the Crow Butte

Crow Butte

Crow Butte is a uranium mining operation located in Nebraska, U.S.A.Crow Butte is a roll-front uranium deposit discovered in 1980. Uranium is recovered using in-situ recovery mining methods.-Reserves:...

mine, operated by Cameco

Cameco

Cameco Corporation is the world's largest publicly traded uranium company, based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. In 2009, it was the world's second largest uranium producer, accounting for 16% of world production.-History:...

. The mine is five miles (8 km) southeast of Crawford

Crawford, Nebraska

Crawford is a city in Dawes County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 997 at the 2010 census. It was incorporated in 1886 and was named for the late Captain Emmet Crawford who had previously been stationed at nearby Fort Robinson.-Geography:...

in Dawes County

Dawes County, Nebraska

-National protected areas:*Nebraska National Forest *Oglala National Grassland *Pine Ridge National Recreation Area-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 9,060 people, 3,512 households, and 2,086 families residing in the county. The population density was 6 people per square mile...

, western Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

. 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

Austin, Nevada

Austin is a small, unincorporated community located in Lander County, Nevada, in the United States. As of 2004, its population is approximately 340. It is located on the western slopes of the Toiyabe Range at an elevation of . U.S...

, in Lander County

Lander County, Nevada

Lander County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 5,794. Its county seat is Battle Mountain.-History:...

. The mine produced 45 metric tons of U₃O₈ from 1954 until the mine was closed in 1966. Uranium occurs as autunite

Autunite

and meta-autunite in fractured Cambrian

Cambrian

The Cambrian is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, lasting from Mya ; it is succeeded by the Ordovician. Its subdivisions, and indeed its base, are somewhat in flux. The period was established by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latin name for Wales, where Britain's...

quartzite

Quartzite

Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink...

and argillite

Argillite

An argillite is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of indurated clay particles. Argillaceous rocks are basically lithified muds and oozes. They contain variable amounts of silt-sized particles. The argillites grade into shale when the fissile layering typical of shale is...

, adjacent to Jurassic

Jurassic

The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...

quartz monzonite

Quartz monzonite

Quartz monzonite is an intrusive igneous rock that has an approximately equal proportion of orthoclase and plagioclase feldspars. The plagioclase is typically intermediate to sodic in composition, andesine to oligoclase. Quartz is present in significant amounts. Biotite and/or hornblende...

.

The McDermitt Caldera

Caldera

A caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption, such as the one at Yellowstone National Park in the US. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters...

in Humboldt County

Humboldt County, Nevada

Humboldt County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of 2007, the population was estimated to be 18,052. Its county seat is Winnemucca.The county was the site of an arrest in 2000 that led to the U.S. Supreme Court decision Hiibel v...

was the site of intense uranium exploration in the late 1970s. Western Uranium Corporation is currently drilling exploratory boreholes in the area.http://www.westernuraniumcorp.com/projects/kings_valley/

New Jersey

A uranium exploration project in northern New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

was halted in 1980 when the local government passed an ordinance preventing uranium mining.

New Mexico

was a significant uranium producer since the discovery of uranium by Navajo

Navajo people

The Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...

sheepherder Paddy Martinez

Paddy Martinez

Patricio "Paddy" Martinez , American prospector and shepherd, discovered uranium at Haystack Mountain, near Grants, New Mexico in 1950. This was the first discovery in the Grants Uranium District, and led to a uranium boom that lasted almost 30 years.Martinez's discovery, on Santa Fe Railroad land,...

in 1950. Uranium in New Mexico is almost all in the Grants mineral belt, along the south margin of the San Juan Basin

San Juan Basin

The San Juan Basin is a geologic structural basin in the Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States; its main portion covers around , encompassing much of northwestern New Mexico, southwest Colorado, and parts of Arizona and Utah....

in McKinley and Cibola

Cibola County, New Mexico

-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*41.8% White*1.0% Black*41.0% Native American*0.5% Asian*0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.1% Two or more races*12.5% Other races*36.5% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...

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

Lignite

Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat...

coal in southwest North Dakota

North Dakota

North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....

contains economic quantities of uranium. From 1965 to 1967 Union Carbide

Union Carbide

Union Carbide Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company. It currently employs more than 2,400 people. Union Carbide primarily produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers before reaching consumers. Some are high-volume...

operated a mill near Belfield

Belfield, North Dakota

As of the 2000 Census, there were 866 people, 355 households, and 235 families residing in the city. The population density was 799.8 people per square mile . There were 439 housing units at an average density of 405.4 per square mile...

in Stark County

Stark County, North Dakota

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 22,636 people, 8,932 households, and 5,877 families residing in the county. The population density was 17 people per square mile . There were 9,722 housing units at an average density of 7 per square mile...

to burn uraniferous lignite and extract uranium from the ash. The plant produced about 150 metric tons of U₃O₈ before shutting down.

North Dakota Geological Survey: Uranium

Oklahoma

A small amount of uranium ore was mined in the mid-1950s from a surface exposure at Cement

Cement, Oklahoma

Cement is a town in Caddo County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 530 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Cement is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all of it land....

in Caddo County

Caddo County, Oklahoma

Caddo County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of 2000, the population was 30,150. Its county seat is Anadarko. It is named after the Caddo tribe who were settled here on the 1870s...

. 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 150 feet (45.7 m) long, 3 to 5 ft (0.9144 to 1.5 m) wide, and extended 3 to 5 ft (0.9144 to 1.5 m) below ground surface.

Oregon

Uranium was discovered in Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

in 1955, near Lakeview

Lakeview, Oregon

Lakeview is a city in Lake County, Oregon, United States. The population was 2,294 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Lake County. Although it is an incorporated city, the municipal government refers to the community as "The Town of Lakeview", and bills itself as "Tallest Town in Oregon"...

in Lake County

Lake County, Oregon

Lake County is a county in the high desert south central region of the U.S. state of Oregon, so named for the many lakes found within its boundaries, including Lake Abert, Hart Lake Reservoir, and Goose Lake. While Lake is among Oregon's largest counties, it is sparsely populated with 7,895...

. 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

Pliocene

volcanic rocks, associated with opal

Opal

Opal is an amorphous form of silica related to quartz, a mineraloid form, not a mineral. 3% to 21% of the total weight is water, but the content is usually between 6% to 10%. It is deposited at a relatively low temperature and may occur in the fissures of almost any kind of rock, being most...

, realgar

Realgar

Realgar, α-As4S4, is an arsenic sulfide mineral, also known as "ruby sulphur" or "ruby of arsenic". It is a soft, sectile mineral occurring in monoclinic crystals, or in granular, compact, or powdery form, often in association with the related mineral, orpiment . It is orange-red in colour, melts...

, stibnite

Stibnite

Stibnite, sometimes called antimonite, is a sulfide mineral with the formula Sb2S3. This soft grey material crystallizes in an orthorhombic space group. It is the most important source for the metalloid antimony...

, cinnabar

Cinnabar

Cinnabar or cinnabarite , is the common ore of mercury.-Word origin:The name comes from κινναβαρι , a Greek word most likely applied by Theophrastus to several distinct substances...

, and pyrite

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

Crook County, Oregon

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 19,182 people, 7,354 households, and 5,427 families residing in the county. The population density was 6 people per square mile . There were 8,264 housing units at an average density of 3 per square mile...

. The uranium was present as autunite

Autunite

at the contact between a rhyolite dike and tuffs of the Oligocene

Oligocene

The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 34 million to 23 million years before the present . As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are slightly...

-Miocene

Miocene

John Day Formation

The John Day Formation is series of rock strata exposed in the John Day River basin of north-central Oregon in the United States. The strata, which vary in age from 39 million years to 18 million years, were formed mainly from ashfalls from volcanoes to the west...

Pennsylvania

The uranium mineral autunite

Autunite

was reported in 1874 near the town of Mauch Chunk (present-day Jim Thorpe

Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania

Jim Thorpe is a borough in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, USA. The population was 4,804 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Carbon County. The town has been called the "Switzerland of America" due to the picturesque scenery, mountainous location, and architecture; as well as the "Gateway to...

) in Carbon County

Carbon County, Pennsylvania

As of the census of 2000, there were 58,802 people, 23,701 households, and 16,424 families residing in the county. The population density was 154 people per square mile . There were 30,492 housing units at an average density of 80 per square mile...

, eastern Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

. A small amount of test mining was done in 1953 at the Mount Pisgah deposit near Jim Thorpe. 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

Mauch Chunk Formation

The Mississippian Mauch Chunk Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. It is named for the borough of Mauch Chunk, now known as Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.-Description:...

(Mississippian). Also present are the secondary uranium and uranium-vanadium

Vanadium

minerals carnotite

Carnotite

, tyuyamunite, liebigite, uranophane

Uranophane

Uranophane Ca22·5H2O is a rare calcium uranium silicate hydrate mineral that forms from the oxidation of uranium bearing minerals. Uranophane is also known as uranotile. It has a yellow color and is radioactive....

, and betauranophane.

South Dakota

Uranium was discovered near Edgemont, South Dakota

Edgemont, South Dakota

Edgemont is a city in Fall River County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 774 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Edgemont is located at ....

in 1951, quickly followed by mining. The uranium occurs in Cretaceous

Cretaceous

sandstones of the Inyan Kara group, where it outcrops along the southern edge of the Black Hills

Black Hills

The Black Hills are a small, isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, USA. Set off from the main body of the Rocky Mountains, the region is something of a geological anomaly—accurately described as an "island of...

in Fall River County, South Dakota

Fall River County, South Dakota

As of the census of 2000, there were 7,453 people, 3,127 households, and 1,976 families residing in the county. The population density was 4 people per square mile . There were 3,812 housing units at an average density of 2 per square mile...

. Minerals in unoxidized sandstone are uraninite

Uraninite

Uraninite is a radioactive, uranium-rich mineral and ore with a chemical composition that is largely UO2, but also contains UO3 and oxides of lead, thorium, and rare earth elements...

and coffinite

Coffinite

Coffinite is a uranium-bearing silicate mineral with formula: U1-x4x.It occurs as black incrustations, dark to pale-brown in thin section. It has a grayish black streak. It has a brittle to conchoidal fracture. The hardness of coffinite is between 5 and 6.It was first described in 1954 for an...

; minerals in oxidized zones include carnotite

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

Harding County, South Dakota

As of the census of 2000, there were 1,353 people, 525 households, and 352 families residing in the county. The population density was 0.5 people per square mile . There were 804 housing units at an average density of 0.3 per square mile...

, in the northwest corner of the state. High winds blew the reconnaissance flight off their planned survey route over the Slim Buttes twenty miles southeast of the North Cave Hills. Claims were immediately staked over uranium-bearing lignite

Lignite

Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat...

beds in the area. The lignite was strip-mined, probably starting that same year, and continuing until the mines closed in 1964.

No uranium is currently mined in South Dakota.

In January 2007 received a state permit to drill boreholes to evaluate their Dewey-Burdock

Burdock, South Dakota

Burdock is a geographic place name in Argentine Township in Fall River County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 0 at the 2010 census...

project, in Custer

Custer County, South Dakota

As of the census of 2000, there were 7,275 people, 2,970 households, and 2,067 families residing in the county. The population density was 5 people per square mile . There were 3,624 housing units at an average density of 2 per square mile...

and Fall River

Fall River County, South Dakota

counties northwest of Edgemont

Edgemont, South Dakota

Edgemont is a city in Fall River County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 774 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Edgemont is located at ....

. Previous work at the property in the early 1980s defined a resource of 10 million pounds (4500 metric tons) of uranium, of which 5 million pounds (2300 metric tons) were estimated recoverable by conventional underground mining. Powertech hopes to bring the property into production as an in-situ leaching mine in 2009.

A campaign has been underway to halt any effort to mine uranium in the Black Hills because of its effect on Native American

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

and wildlife

Wildlife

Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....

populations, as well as the effects of mining on the water table

Water table

The water table is the level at which the submarine pressure is far from atmospheric pressure. It may be conveniently visualized as the 'surface' of the subsurface materials that are saturated with groundwater in a given vicinity. However, saturated conditions may extend above the water table as...

and local ranchers. Indigenous leaders and anti-nuclear

Anti-nuclear

The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes the use of nuclear technologies. Many direct action groups, environmental groups, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, national, and international level...

activists began organizing around this issue in the 1970s and there are still efforts underway to prevent mining on native lands.

Texas

The uranium district of south Texas

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

Eocene

, Oligocene

Oligocene

and Miocene

Miocene

age. The deposits are distributed along about 200 miles (321.9 km) of coastal plain, from Panna Maria

Panna Maria, Texas

Panna Maria is a small unincorporated community in Karnes County, Texas, United States. It is the oldest Polish settlement in the United States. A Franciscan missionary, Father Leopold Moczygemba, started recruiting Upper Silesians in 1852, when Silesia was part of the Kingdom of Prussia. The...

in the north, south into Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. 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 metric tons) of U₃O₈.

Uranium Energy Corp. began in-situ leach

In-situ leach

In-situ leaching , also called in-situ recovery or solution mining, is a mining process used to recover minerals such as copper and uranium through boreholes drilled into a deposit, in situ....

mining at its Palangana deposit in Duval County in 2010; the company has three more South Texas deposits which it hopes to mine.

Handbook of Texas Online: Uranium Mining

Utah

Mining of uranium-vanadium ore in southeast Utah

Utah

goes back to the late 19th century. All of Utah

Utah

’s numerous uranium mines closed prior to 2000, because of low prices. In late 2006, Denison Mines

Denison Mines

reopened the Pandora mine in the La Sal mining district of southeastern Utah

Utah

Virginia

Marline Uranium Corp. announced in July 1982 that it had discovered 110 million pounds (50,000 metric tons) of uranium in the Swanson/Coles Hill deposit, on land that it had leased near Chatham

Chatham, Virginia

Chatham is a town in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, United States. Chatham's population was 1,338 at the 2000 census. It is included in the Danville, Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. Chatham is home to Chatham High School and Hargrave Military Academy. It is also home to Chatham Hall , an...

in Pittsylvania County

Pittsylvania County, Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 61,745 people, 24,684 households, and 18,216 families residing in the county. The population density was 64 people per square mile . There were 28,011 housing units at an average density of 29 per square mile...

. During the 1982 legislative session, the state of Virginia adopted laws to govern exploration for uranium in the Commonwealth. At the same time, the legislature imposed a moratorium on uranium mining in the state until such time that regulations to govern uranium mining could be enacted into law.http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-08-31-0157.html

In 1981, the Virginia General Assembly approved House Joint Resolution No. 324, which directed the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission to evaluate the effects of uranium development on the Commonwealth and its citizens. The Virginia Coal and Energy Commission is a permanent legislative commission composed of five Senators, eight Delegates, and seven citizens appointed by the Governor.

The Commission completed its evaluation of uranium mining in October 1984 and concluded that the moratorium regarding uranium development could be lifted on the condition that certain specific recommendations derived from its work would be enacted into law.

Union Carbide was the joint venture partner on the project with Marline until early 1984 when it dropped its option on the property due to declining uranium prices. Marline kept the project on care and maintenance until 1990, when it dropped its remaining mineral leases and closed its local exploration office.http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/EcoNatRes/EcoNatRes-idx?type=turn&entity=EcoNatRes.MinYB1990v2.p0515&isize=text

The deposits occur as breccia-fill and veins in gneiss

Gneiss

Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...

bordering the Triassic

Triassic

The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...

Danville Basin. Ore minerals are coffinite, uraninite, and uranium-bearing apatite.http://www.geoinformatics.vt.edu/server/docs/jjerden/NA99l.htm

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.http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news/state.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-10-19-0154.html http://www.wpcva.com/articles/2007/11/28/chatham/news/news30.txt 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.http://www.wpcva.com/articles/2008/01/16/chatham/news/news31.txt The bill passed the Democratic controlled state Senate by a vote of 36-4. However, opponents of uranium mining succeeded in stopping the bill on March 3, 2008, when Rules Committee of the Republican controlled House of Delegates delayed consideration of the bill until 2009.http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news/business.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-03-04-0029.html

In November 2008, the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission voted unanimously to once again create a subcommittee to study the issue of uranium mining. In May 2009 the subcommittee approved a study of potential uranium mining and its safety and pollution issues. The study is expected to take about 18 months to complete.

In February 2010, the Commonwealth of Virginia contracted the National Research Council

United States National Research Council

The National Research Council of the USA is the working arm of the United States National Academies, carrying out most of the studies done in their names.The National Academies include:* National Academy of Sciences...

and Virginia Polytechnic Institute to oversee a National Academy of Sciences study of potential environmental and economic effects of uranium mining in Virginia. The study, funded indirectly by a $1.4 million grant from Virginia Uranium to the Commonwealth, will produce a report by December 2011.

Washington

Uranium was discovered at the Midnite Mine

Midnite Mine

The Midnite Mine is a currently inactive uranium mine in the Selkirk Mountains, about eight miles from Wellpinit, Stevens County, Washington. The mine was listed as Superfund site on 5/11/2000....

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 (3,600 metric tons) 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

Midnite Mine

The Midnite Mine is a currently inactive uranium mine in the Selkirk Mountains, about eight miles from Wellpinit, Stevens County, Washington. The mine was listed as Superfund site on 5/11/2000....

, and in a similar geologic setting.

Other Washington state uranium mines include the Sherwood mine, located a few miles south of the Midnite mine, and the Daybreak mine, located about four miles west-northwest of Mt. Spokane. The Daybreak mine is recognized as the source of the finest museum-quality specimens of autunite and meta-autunite yet found.

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

Jeffrey City, Wyoming

Jeffrey City is a census-designated place and former uranium mining boomtown located in Fremont County, in the central part of the U.S. state of Wyoming. The town is famous in Wyoming and the American West as symbol of a boomtown that went “bust” very quickly, as the mine was shut down in 1982...

lost 95% of its population in three years. By 2006, the only active uranium mine in Wyoming was the Smith Ranch-Highland

Smith Ranch-Highland

Smith Ranch and Highland are uranium mining operations located in Wyoming, U.S.A. They are separate permits, operated as a single operation, and have one central processing facility. The Smith Ranch-Highland operation is the largest uranium production facility in the United States.Smith Ranch and...

in-situ leaching operation in the Powder River Basin

Powder River Basin

The Powder River Basin is a geologic region in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming, about east to west and north to south, known for its coal deposits. The region supplies about 40 percent of coal in the United States. It is both a topographic drainage and geologic structural basin...

, owned by a subsidiary of Cameco

Cameco

. The mine produced 907 metric tons of yellowcake

Yellowcake

Yellowcake is a kind of uranium concentrate powder obtained from leach solutions, in an intermediate step in the processing of uranium ores. Yellowcake concentrates are prepared by various extraction and refining methods, depending on the types of ores...

(uranium concentrate) in 2006, making it the leading uranium producer in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

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

Radon

gas caused sharp increases in lung cancers among underground uranium miners employed in the 1940s and 1950s.

In 1950, the US Public Health service began a comprehensive study of uranium miners, leading to the first publication of a statistical correlation between cancer and uranium mining, released in 1962. The federal government eventually regulated the standard amount of radon

Radon

in mines, setting the level at 0.3 WL on January 1, 1969.
In 1990, Congress

United States Congress

passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act

Radiation Exposure Compensation Act

(RECA), granting reparations

Reparation (legal)

In jurisprudence, reparation is replenishment of a previously inflicted loss by the criminal to the victim. Monetary restitution is a common form of reparation...

for those affected by mining, with amendments passed in 2000 to address criticisms with the original act.

Uranium mines also create radioactive waste in the form of tailings, which contain uranium, thorium, radium, and polonium. Consequently, uranium mining results in "the unavoidable radioactive contamination of the environment by solid, liquid and gaseous wastes".

In the 1940s and 1950s, uranium mill tailings were released with impunity into water sources, and the radium leached from these tailings contaminated thousands of miles of the Colorado River system. Between 1966 and 1971, thousands of homes and commercial buildings in the Colorado Plateau region were "found to contain anomalously high concentrations of radon, after being built on uranium tailings taken from piles under the authority of the Atomic Energy Commission".

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. Accidental releases from uranium mills include the 1979 Church Rock uranium mill spill

Church Rock Uranium Mill Spill

The Church Rock Uranium Mill Spill occurred in New Mexico, USA, in 1979 when United Nuclear Corporation's Church Rock uranium mill tailings disposal pond breached its dam. Over 1,000 tons of radioactive mill waste and millions of gallons of mine effluent flowed into the Puerco River, and...

in New Mexico, called the largest accident of nuclear-related waste in US history, and the 1986 Sequoyah Corporation Fuels Release in Oklahoma.

Uranium mining and the Navajo people

After the end of World War II, the United States encouraged uranium mining

Uranium mining

production because of the nuclear arms race

Nuclear arms race

The nuclear arms race was a competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies during the Cold War...

with the U.S.S.R., its opponent in the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

. Large uranium

Uranium

deposits were found on and near the Navajo Reservation in the Southwest

Southwestern United States

The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...

, and private companies hired many Navajo employees to work the mines. Disregarding the known health risks imposed by exposure to uranium, the private companies and the United States Atomic Energy Commission

United States Atomic Energy Commission

The United States Atomic Energy Commission was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S...

failed to inform the Navajo workers about the dangers and to regulate the mining to minimize contamination. As more data was collected, they were slow to take appropriate action for the workers.

Studies provided data to show that the Navajo mine workers and numerous families on the reservation have suffered high rates of disease from environmental contamination, but for decades, industry and the government failed to regulate or improve conditions, or inform workers of the dangers. As high rates of illness began to occur, workers were often unsuccessful in court cases seeking compensation, and the states at first did not officially recognize radon

Radon

illness. In 1990 the US Congress passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act

Radiation Exposure Compensation Act

, to settle such cases and provide needed compensation. In 2008 the US Congress authorized a five-year, multi-agency cleanup of uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation reservation; identification and treatment of contaminated water and structures has been the first priority. Certain water sources have been closed, and numerous contaminated buildings have been taken down. By the summer of 2011, EPA had nearly completed the first major project of removal of 20,000 cubic yards of contaminated earth from the Skyline Mine area.

External links

Uranium Producers of America
http://navajoboy.com/webisodes/The Return of Navajo Boy
The Return of Navajo Boy
The Return of Navajo Boy is an award-winning documentary film produced by Jeff Spitz and Bennie Klain about the Cly family, Navajo who have suffered health problems due to environmental contamination from uranium mining on tribal land in Monument Valley, Utah...

Webisodes], EPA Clean-up of uranium contamination at Navajo Reservation

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

California

Colorado

Florida

Idaho

Nebraska

Nevada

New Jersey

New Mexico

North Dakota

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

South Dakota

Texas

Utah

Virginia

Washington

Wyoming

Health and environmental issues

Uranium mining and the Navajo people

See also

External links