Political and commercial geology and the world's mineral resources
Science
Political and commercial geology and the world's mineral resources
Geology, Economic; Mines and mineral resources
There is considerable ore running one-half to 1 per cent. uranium oxide
which carries from 4 to 10 per cent. vanadic oxide. In the past this
ore has not been mined, because the extraction of radium from it would
not pay. With a strong demand and a high price for vanadium, at least
the higher grades of this ore could be mined at a profit. There is
considerable of such ore at certain localities north of the Paradox
Valley; unfortunately, these deposits are somewhat scattered and some
would involve not only long wagon hauls, but also transportation by
burro to wagon roads. Only the higher-grade ore could be handled in
this way at a profit, and the difficulty is to get enough to justify
building a treatment plant.
The writer has been told that there are deposits of this same type of
ore at Temple Mountain, 40 miles south of Green River, Utah.
A small vanadinite deposit, containing traces of wulfenite, has
been found near Klinefelter Station, on the main line of the Santa
Fe Railroad, near the eastern border of San Bernardino County,
_California_. The ore is largely calcite and is low grade, averaging
probably from 1 to 2 per cent. vanadic oxide.
A deposit of vanadinite in Sierra County, _New Mexico_, on the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, was mined for a short period in
1912 and 1913. Besides vanadium, the veins contain galenite, copper
carbonates, barite, fluorite and other minerals. The ore was treated at
a mill close to the mine, but the whole undertaking was unsuccessful,
probably because the ore was so low grade, and because of metallurgical
difficulties. There are a number of other deposits of vanadinite in New
Mexico, but none of them have been commercially developed in any way.
Vanadinite is found in a considerable number of places in _Arizona_,
frequently associated with wulfenite, or lead molybdate. Indeed,
one of the difficulties of producing both vanadium and molybdenum
from vanadinite and wulfenite is the fact that the two minerals are
frequently so closely associated that, because of the slight difference
in specific gravity, it is not easy to separate them by mechanical
methods. At the Mammoth mine, in Arizona, the upper levels are richer
in vanadinite than in wulfenite, but at the lower levels, the reverse
is true. Undoubtedly a considerable amount of vanadinite could be
produced from this mine and others in the vicinity, but it is doubtful
whether it could be done at a profit, even at a high price for vanadium.
The United States Vanadium Co. has a mine 4 miles from Ray Junction,
Arizona, and at the mine a small mill to concentrate the ore, which
is low grade, and produces vanadium from the concentrates. The amount
of ore that can be obtained from this mine is somewhat doubtful. This
is the trouble with vanadinite as a whole; it exists over a wide
territory, but the deposits are all low grade and apparently are not
extensive in any one locality.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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