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
=Production.=--The United States is today by far the largest producer
of radium and uranium ores in the world, and is also the largest
producer of manufactured radium and uranium compounds. Before the
war, England, France and Germany, especially Germany, imported large
quantities of American ores and extracted the radium in a refined state
as its different salts, much of which was returned to the United States
for sale. Now, however, American ores are almost entirely treated in
the United States, with the exception of a little shipped to England
and possibly to France. The Standard Chemical Co., of Pittsburgh, was
a pioneer in this work, and others quickly followed, among them the
National Radium Institute, of Denver; the Schlesinger Radium Co., of
Denver; the Chemical Products Co., of Denver; the Cummings Chemical
Co., of Lansdowne, Pa.; the Radium Luminous Materials Corporation, of
New York, and others.
Before the discovery of radium in 1898, but little attention was given
to uranium ores in America, though some little pitchblende was shipped
from the Central City, Colorado, region for use in making uranium
compounds. Shortly after the discovery of radium, however, mining was
begun on the carnotite of southwestern Colorado, and from 1900 to 1910
several companies were formed to work these ores both in Colorado and
Utah. The pitchblende of Central City also began to attract renewed
attention. For a few years active work was done in prospecting for
it, but the quantities have so far proved to be small. A few tons
probably represent the total amount derived from these mines since the
search began. In the meantime, however, the production of carnotite
increased rapidly until 1915, when it greatly decreased on account of
the curtailment of shipments to Europe. In the latter part of 1916,
however, the production increased again, on account of the increased
consumption of ore in this country, and in 1918 the production was very
active, largely on account of the increased use of radium not only in
medicine but especially in luminous paints.
The amount of radium and uranium ores produced in the United States, or
in fact anywhere, during a given period, is difficult to determine, on
account of the different bases on which reports are made, but it may be
said that the tonnage is small compared with that of ores of commoner
metals, a few thousand tons being a large amount of carnotite, and
simply a few tons or pounds being a large amount of pitchblende. Though
the mining of radium and uranium ores in the United States began about
1900 or shortly before, no very large quantities were produced until
1912, when about 1,100 tons were mined, consisting chiefly of Colorado
carnotite. The production gradually increased to several thousand tons
yearly, practically all of which is carnotite from Colorado and Utah.
RADIUM AND URANIUM RESOURCES OF EUROPE
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