| Show POINTERS FOR prospectors D L blake last weeks article named and described certain rock formations in which uranium deposits are most frequently found of course just dis covering one of these formations by no means guarantees that you ve made a strike these rock layers are only signposts which aich indicate that favorable conditions for uran ium aum exist at this location but uran ium aum may or may not be there in commercial co quantities but now that you ve located a favorable formation one of t the h e most important factors in the search for is to be able to judge whether or not uranium minerals are present you need to know some thing about uranium ore minerals their appearance and structure truc ture or you might take in a sample of the wrong rock PRIMARY ORES there are two general classi ficat ions of uranium bearing ores mary and secondary the primary ores are dark and heavy usually they are black or gray though sometimes dark brown or dark green with a glossy pitch like luster the two most important mary types of ore found so far are called pitchblende pitch blend and pran mite ite ac dually these are different varieties of the same mineral pitchblende pitchblende is most frequently found in veins or gega mites though in recent years it has been found in flat lying beds in sedimentary ricks pitchblende is usually but not al ways associated with one or several of the following minerals iron copper silver bismuth lead or co bait balt finding some of these minerals in a deposit indicates that conditions are favorable for also finding pitch blende the uranium content of pitchblende is 50 to 80 Uram nite Uran mite also dark is more fre associated with yellow or green minerals Uran mite has cubic crystals while pitchblende is not crystalline it does not flourence flou and its uranium content is from 65 to 85 percent SECONDARY ORES the three most important of these are and tober nite rute is the most important of these and is the most commonly found uranium ore on the colorado plateau it occurs as loose earthy masses in sandstone or as lations on the stone it is granular and sandy in appearance and its color range from lemon yellow to a bright yellow does not flourice flou flour and its uranium content is from 50 to 55 has small rather flake i like semi translucent crystals it also ranges from lemon yellow to a very dark yellow and may occur as a coating on rocks or in rock fissures and cracks a 3 strong yellow green its uranium con ent tent is 55 to 65 Tober nite Tober nite also occurs in flat cry but it 1 is 9 green reen in color all the way from very light shades to very dark green shades Tober nite will win sometimes flou flourence flo uresee green tober nite is often found near primary de posits where oxidation has taken place and a certain amount of cop per must be present to form them the uranium content of tober nite runs about 60 many stores shops service stat ions etc on colorado plateau feat ure displays of uranium ore and you will be wise to familiarize yourself with as many of the different types of ore before going out in the field to prospect until next week happy hunting |
