Everything about Uranium Mining In Arizona totally explained
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.
Carrizo Mountains
Uranium mining started in 1918 in the
Carrizo Mountains, as a byproduct of
vanadium mining. The district is in
Apache County, in the northeast corner of Arizona. The
uranium and
vanadium occur as
carnotite in sandstone of the Salt Wash member of the
Morrison Formation (
Jurassic). Production stopped in 1921. Another period of mining took place from 1941 to 1966, producing 360,000 pounds (160 metric tons) of uranium oxide (U
3O
8).
Monument Valley
A
Navajo discovered uranium in 1942 in
Monument Valley on the
Navajo Indian Reservation in northeast
Arizona. The first mine in the district opened in 1948. Uranium and uranium-vanadium minerals occur in fluvial channels of the Shinarump Sandstone member of the
Triassic Chinle Formation. Ore deposits are associated with carbonized wood in the sandstone. Mining stopped in the
Monument Valley district in 1969, after producing 8.7 million pounds (3900 tonnes) of uranium oxide, more than has been produced from any other uranium mining district in Arizona. In 2005 the
Navajo Nation declared a moratorium on uranium mining on the reservation, for environmental and health reasons.
Lukachukai Mountains
In 1948, a
copper deposit in the
Moenkopi Formation was discovered to have economic concentrations of
uranium. The deposit was in the
Lukachukai Mountains of
Apache County. Uranium totaling 3.5 million pounds (1600 metric tons) of U
3O
8 was produced from 1950 until the mines closed in 1968.
Cameron district
Navajo prospector Hosteen Nez found uranium near
Cameron in
Coconino County in 1950. The uranium is in the
Kayenta Formation and the
Chinle Formation. Production was from 1950 to 1963, and totaled 1.2 million pounds (540 metric tons) of U
3O
8.
Collapse breccia pipes
Uranium was discovered in the Orphan copper mine near the south rim of the
Grand Canyon in 1950. The mine has been private property since 1906, and is today completely surrounded by
Grand Canyon National Park. The discovery led to the finding of uranium in other
collapse breccia pipes in northern Arizona. The breccia pipes were formed when overlying rocks collapsed into caverns formed in the
Mississippian Redwall Limestone. The pipes are typically 300 feet in diameter, and may extend up to 3000 feet vertically.
Sierra Ancha district
Uranium mining started in 1953 from deposits in the
Precambrian Dripping Springs Quartzite in
Gila County. The uranium mineral is most commonly
uraninite, which occurs with
pyrite,
marcasite, and
chalcopyrite. The orebodies are in veins or strataform deposits within one-half mile of
diabase intrusions.
Date Creek Basin
The Anderson mine uranium deposit was discovered in 1955 by an airborne gamma-radiation survey. Small amounts of ore were produced from 1955 to 1959. Uranium is associated with organic material in carbonaceous
Miocene siltstones and mudstones of
lacustrine and
paludal origin of the Chapin Wash formation of the
Date Creek Basin in
Yavapai,
La Paz, and
Mohave counties.
Current activity
There are currently no producing uranium mines in
Arizona.
Denison Mines plans to begin mining its Arizona One mine in 2007.
(External Link
) The deposit is in a
breccia pipe on the
Colorado Plateau of northern Arizona.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Uranium Mining In Arizona'.
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