| Show THE B B URANIUM AND RADIUM SITUATION tit T it io i o T iano T v by CHARLES L PARSON I 1 some months since rumors reached the united states instates bureau of mines of an increased demand for ores from colorado and that these ores were being shipped abroad in some quantity further it was reported that the methods of production involved large losses of material and that methods for concentrating low grade material now being thrown on the dump were greatly needed accordingly According tY R B moore and K L kithil were assigned to the task of investigating the situation w with ith headquarters at denver where the bureau established a laboratory for the purpose of investigating the rare metals occur ing in the western part of the united states and problems bearing upon the prevention of waste and increased efficiency in the it radiograph from uranium ore mining industry the surprising ison has been reached that while all the radium placed upon the market in the last few years has been produced in europe a large portion of this output has come from american ores radium institutes have been established in austria france germany and england a european science and industry have been developed from american radium ores and even the uranium present with the radium has been manufactured into marketable condition only in foreign countries and returned in finished condition to our own american hospitals and physicians have been forced to procure from abroad such radium as they could afford for experimental purposes and investigations in our governmental ern mental and university laboratories of the wonderful properties of radium and their possible application to the aradi eradication cation of disease and the development of 1 industry have been hampered by the almost prohibitive hibi tive prices at which the finished material is held chief of the division of min mineral eral tech cology of the united states state S bureau of mines published by permission of the director of the bureau of mines while the austrian go vern ment r ing the untold possibilities of the lz radium radl ores of st Joachim joachimsthal has purchased t e mines put their output under direct govern goye mental supervision and has entered into aa a arrangement whereby this ore is W worked I 1 for experimental purposes in cooperation co operation with the vienna academy of sciences 11 in a a carefully administered radium institute america has allowed her large an and d much much greater resources to be exploited on a basis which wastes perhaps irretrievably a large portion of the material mined and has ex ported carefully selected ores at a price by no means commensurate with its radium value if worked up at home even before was exported pitchblende of the highest grade was sent senj out of the country at the time when the world s radium output was supposed to be coming from austrian ores at least 20 to 25 tons of high grade pitchblende has beef sent out of the country within the last two years however lio wever foreigners have realized the value ol of our resources and most of the radium that has been exported has gone abroad in this ore during the last yeary year carrying tons of u daog from which 88 grams of radium chloride or 1143 grams of radium bromide could be obtained were produced practically all of this ore was shipped abroad for the extraction of radium the value of the radium salts extracted would be at the minimum market price the total supply of radium salts from an all other sources including the austrian mines was probably not more than grams of radium chloride basing the production of the austrian mines for 1912 upon that of 1911 which is known pitchblende the richest of all uranium minerals is composed mainly of uranium oxide but also carries lesser quantities of a large number of other substances it has been found in small quantities in connecticut and in the feldspar quarries of north carolina practically the total Ameri american cag output has come from the mines in quartz hill gilpin county colorado the liw is a heavy black substance nee which can be will SO suspend readily identified by any one who a sample of the pit pitchblende above photographic plate wrapped in blac black k pa and kept in iii the dark for a few da days ys alt feitli M ixu iau ni n i iu radi um ra a key or other cither metal opaque to radium dictions diat ions placed between the sample e of ore and the plate so that when the pla plate te is de a shadowgraph of the object identity identify the ore pitchblende may caw carry b alth alt bouc high as 80 per cent uranium oxide the is nearly as rich average ore not conal gangl fl mineral is a yellow but ate 4 m mainly of potassium containing also small amounts of barium and f calcium compounds being a uranium min oral eral as is pitchblende it of necess necessity dy carries radium although it has not yet been definitely established that the uranium and van daum are in equilibrium as they are in pitchblende however it is known that in our western the amount of radium is not far from the equilibrium ratio and in calculations given above an allow ance of 10 per cent has been made to cover this possible deficiency while is known to occur in smaller quantities in other states the more important deposits are scattered over a considerable area in colorado and utah embracing meeker and skull creek colorado green river thomp sons moab richardson table mountain Pah reah and other places in utah the largest proportion of the ore however has been produced in or around paradox valley in southwest colorado from which it has to ka wa 5 I 1 K 77 t fc rn 5 4 M v on the border of san rafael swell where ore is found stand long haus hauls by pack animal or wagon to the railroad always carries vanadium as well as uranium and radium but is purchased almost wholly on its radium content comparatively little being allowed for the vanadium present the ore consisting of a fine grained sandstone containing yellow finely alent occurs in pockets and is easi easily y mined As ore below two per cent uranium oxide cannot at the present time find a market a considerable portion of the ore has been thrown on the dump and is ib now being wasted as material of lower grade has to be discarded on account of the long haul and the fact that european buyers have set this standard as to quality ores of higher grade are sometimes obtained but they occur only in small pockets and it is generally advisable to mix these high grade ores with ores of somewhat lower grade in order to increase the marketable output ore of two per cent uranium oxide is now worth approximately 75 per ton f fob ob new york in the mining of these ores it is probable that five tons of material capable of concentration are thrown upon the dump for every ton that finds its way to market to develop methods for concentration of these ores and save the valuable material now wasted is one of the problems before the bureau of mines with fair prospect of a successful conclusion it is difficult to estimate the total amount of radium that has been produced up to the present time but it is quite certain that if the ores which have been mined in this country and abroad and sold for radium production have been actually worked up into this material there is now in existence some thing like 40 grams 1 l ounces of radium the price of radium salts varies somewhat in large quantities it has been 60 per gram for both radium chloride and radium bromide although the latter contains less metallic radium in proportion to its weight than the former it should be remembered therefore that it is more advantageous vant ageous to purchase radium chloride than radium bromide in small quantities the average price has been per gram grain which represents about an ounce the figures given show very plainly that the united states has taken the palm from austria as the radium producing country of the world very few people have been cognizant of the fact that the united states has such deposits within her borders up to the present time very little interest has been taken in the matter and only one firm has engaged in the extraction and refining of radium in this country a condition which is deplorable this firm has not yet entered the radium market practically every ton of ore mined in 1912 went abroad and as the american deposits are far from being inexhaustible we are rapidly depleting our own reserve and are shipping from the country material of great value and of unknown possibilities which cannot be replaced the applications of radium are still too little understood to admit of definite statement its discovery and marvelous properties have already changed our ideas regarding the constitution of matter and scientific investigation will undoubtedly lead to valuable results which we cannot now even foresee altogether too many incorrect statements s and vague specula speculations tiona have been placed before the public as to its use in medicine A recent report of the london radium institute and the many articles emanating from minor laboratories experimenting peri in the application of radium to therapeutics all tend to show however that it has a real value the certain application of which must await further experimentation in the meantime no credence should be given to the many stories that are sure to be printed unless they are backed up by the highest medical authority which will always give publicity with caution the best medical authorities appear to agree that up to the present time radium lia has not been proved to be specific for any disease although it has been shown to be helpful in many cases and the outlook for its future application to certain tain diseases not easily treated otherwise is decidedly encouraging cou raging apparently no uranium is worked up in the united states but according to statistics gathered by the division of mineral resources of the united states geological survey about worth of its oxides and salts were imported into the united states in 1911 it is one of the few ma materials material teriah shipped abroad as ore and returned in manufactured form A preliminary report on uranium radium and vanadium by R B moore and K L kithil will soon be issued by the bureau of mines this bulletin describes the earno tite of colorado and utah and the blende deposits of the former state it also contains detail of which the foregoing is simply a general 41 I 1 tn A temple rock viewed from the east summary which cannot fail to be of value to all those interested in our mineral resources and their development |
