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Show RADIUM, URANIUM & VANADIUM The year 19U was an eventful one in the industry of mining radium, uranium and vanadium ores and had by far the largest year's production yet made. Figures collected by Frank L: Hess, of the United States Geological Survey, indicate in-dicate that the output amounted to about 4,300 short tons of dry ore carrying 87 tons of uranium oxide and 22.4 grams of metallic radium. The ore was valued at about $445,008. The ore produced in 19W contained 41 tons of uranium oxide and 10.5 grams of radium, and that produced pro-duced in 1912 contained 26 tons of uranium urani-um oxide and 6.7 grams of radium. A-bout A-bout nine-tenths of the contained radium radi-um is thought to be recoverable under improved processes. Although carnotite, a mineral of these rare metals, contains three times as much uranium oxide as vanadium oxide, the Colorado and Utah ores of these metals generally contain other vanadium minerals in such quantity that vanadium vanadi-um oxide is present in excess of the uranium oxide. However, little is paid for the vanadium, as its separation from uranium is troublesome, and only a few thousand dollars was received in 1914 by brokers or producers for the vanadium vanadi-um in the ores sold. Sandstone impregnated im-pregnated with roscoelite, a vanadium-bearing vanadium-bearing mica, is mined at Vanadium, San Miguel County, Colo., on the eastern east-ern edge of the carnotite field, by the Primos Chemioal Co. The total quantity of vanadium in the carnotite and other ores mined during the year was apparently appar-ently about 432 tons. About the beginning of 1914, owing to the very high prices charged for radium salt3. their scarcity, their evident evi-dent usefulness in treating cancer and other hitherto incurable diseases, the practical impossibility of the poor receiving re-ceiving treatment by radium because of its scarcity and high cost, and to the fact that much of the radium-bearing (Continued on page 4) RADIUM, URANIUM & VANADIUM (Continued from page 1) ore was being shipped out of the country, coun-try, Secretary of the Interior Lane caused to be introduced in Congress bills reserving radium-bearing lands from entry as mining claims, and providing for Government purchase. The hills are still pending. During the year the National Radium Institute conducted, under the supervision super-vision of the Bureau of Mines, mining operations at Long Park, near Paradox Valley, in Montrose County, Colo., and a plant at Denver for the production of j radium and investigation of processes. The work has heen so encouraging that ' Director Holmes has announced the probable production of radium at one-third one-third of its present cost. Messrs. Lind I and Whittemore, of the Bureau of Mines i state that their investigations show that I carnotite carries proportionally to its ! content of uranium as much radinm as pitchblende or other uranium minerals I that is, the radium has reached its maximum maxi-mum ratio to the uranium from which it is derived and is thus in equilibrium. From puolished results of experiments made on casual specimens of carnotite it had been popularly supposed that carnotite car-notite was less rich than pitchblende in ! radium. ' I In Utah the Standard Chemicol Co. I made the first commercial production of I carnotiteores from the Henry Mountains '' during the year, and the commercial ! production of uvanite, a radium-bearing mineral new to scionc, accompanied by other uranium minerals, one or more of which are yet to be described, was be-; be-; gun at Temple Rock, 45 miles southwest of Green River. Shipments were marie fiom newly opened carnotite deposits . at Court House, northwest of Moab, j Utah, and from deposits 16 or 18 miles ! southeast of Moab. A first shipment was also made from Blue Mountain, Routt county, Colo. The Paradox Valley region was, however, how-ever, as usual the chief producing area, and from it came the bulk of the ores. The Standard Chemical Co. was the largest single producer and shipped I more than half of the country's output. Two companies, the Standard Chemical Chem-ical Co. and the Radium Co, of America, I produced radium salts during the year, and Dr. W. A. Schlesinger started a radium-refining laboratory. The open- I ing of the European war stopped nearly I all operations in both mines and reduc ' tion plants, for the two companies men- tioned sold their product largely in I Europe and practicallv all the ore bought by brokers was sold abroad. A little more than 1,200 tons of ore, containing con-taining 28.1 tons of uranium oxide and 7.2 grams of radium, was consigned to Europe, but as 'he foreign refineries were closed, a part of it was held in transit. No vanadinite or similar ores are known to have been sold for vanadium during the year, but a number of mines i.i New Mexico and Arizona shipped and sold such ores for their lead and silver contents. |