Show 1 pack creek utah has large rich C Camo 1 0 tite 0 deposits that colorado is not entitled to credit for all the ore being produced in the united states has been still further emphasized by developments of the past year in the pack creek district of utah in a former issue of the mining review we published an article on the san rafael deposits which were the first to be placed T on a productive basis in utah aside from that section the other great producer is the pack creek section near moab in the henry mountains the standard chemical h company has started operations which will still further increase the production from utah deposits besides these three districts there are reports of excellent showings in the san juan section san juan county near the arizona line there are also possibilities of a large production to come from the vicinity of Pah reah further west in kane county that deposits are not confined to the eastern and southeastern section is proved by the earliest known occurrence of ore in utah in the silver reef country far to the west in washington county these deposits all occur mainly in the sandstones up in the northeast corner of the state on red creek uintah county oun y six miles from wyoming and colorado lines there is an occurrence of in quartzite how large or to what extent it is impossible to judge from the samples submitted to us the present productive districts are the san rafael near green river the pack creek deposits near moab and shipping from thompsons Thomp sons and the henry mountains with hanksville Hanks ville the nearest settlement first operations on pack creek early in 1912 about the time that active mining of was beginning in utah james L wade of this state located a i number of claims along pack creek fifty miles from thompsons Thomp sons on the D R G and fifteen miles southeast of moab grand county at the time when wade talked he met with the same disbelief that the pioneers in radium extraction met with in colorado his friends and acquaintances were prone to consider him a bittle bit off his head and a man who was to say the least slightly daffy that wades judgment was right has since been verified to an extent thought impossible not only has he added to reserves but he has demont demonstrated rated that there is no force in the argument of those who admit that we have a large area of but that it is all of low grade for he has shipped excellent bore ore consistently and has mined some of great richness it was not until 1913 that shipments were really begun but during the year wade shipped six cars of ore which averaged about two per cent uranium oxide and which gave him a handsome return over the costs of mining and the long haul to thompsons Thomp sons the shipping point it is probable that the cost of extraction has been about the same as at gre green en river 20 to 25 a ton with a haulage cost in the neighborhood of 25 making the cost fob thompsons Thomp sons about 50 a ton at a recent hearing before the committee of the senate on the question of radium control F V cu curran aran of placerville erville colorado stated that he sold his ores in europe for 60 to 80 per ton for each one per cent content in uranium oxide inasmuch as the price was based on the content in hydrous radium bromide which was from three to four milligrams for each unit of uranium oxide the price being about 20 a milligram since the pack creek ore carries about the same proportion it should bring a price abroad of to a ton and possibly nearer the latter figure this should leave a nice profit to mr wade on his operations nature of the deposits according to paul a salt lake geologist who visited these properties some time ago the ore occurs in a manner which makes for easy mining and easy development the uranium mining company of utah which mr wade has recently formed to operate the deposits has in the neighborhood of fifty claims covering three to four miles of outcrops and along these outcrops ore is often continuous for considerable distances and with frequent pockets in the intervals between the longer outcrops the ore occurs in two sandstone ledges each about thirty feet thick and separated by about fifteen feet of shale the ore is usually found in the base of these sandstones and in the largest pockets about depressions in the sandstone around animal fossils it would appear that the ore is in place in the upper ledge since it is usually found in the lower only where cracks appear in the separating shale or on the other hand it may have been formed simultaneously in both beds the particular lenses being determined by the accessibility of the depositing agents to the percolating solutions these ledges are less broken than on the san rafael and as indicated ore is found in long stretches along them and of shipping grade at outcrops no ore is here found in the conglomerate and the gypsum beds which overlie the sandstones conglomerates and quart on the san rafael are largely missing here the best exposures were observed on the chipmunk and blue goose while the precipitating action of organic remains was best shown on the amarillo claim at the time oil of the observation spangles of and in connection with some of the fossil remains also were 0 observed method of operations the company which mr wade has f ormed formed now has two well equipped camps one of which is at an elevation of about feet to which height the formation appears to have been lifted in mesa form with the uplift of the country which had but little effect in increasing the dips of the beds which lie nearly flat but having a slight dip toward pack creek on both sides of which they lie mr wade also maintains another camp of his own operating prop properties 1 arties not included in the company holdings about twelve men are employed at each camp mining proceeds very much as at the green river field all the men sorting the ore as they mine it sacking it and preparing for shipment operations are well organized with careful supervision of the work and the result has been gratifying success As said six cars of ore were shipped in 1912 one has gone forward this year and another is in process of loading at thomp sons from this time on production is to be regular emr mr wades early hopes are now bearing fruition and great credit is due for his foresight and perseverance we have heard of the pioneer manufacturers of radium in this country making good and mr wade may well stand as the pioneer mining operator in the ores of utah who has made good without the aid of a radium plant to make his profits As other districts come into the producing class we expect to furnish our readers with some description of their resources |