Sweetwater Mill and Mine

Past Producer in Sweetwater county in Wyoming, United States with commodity Uranium
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Public Land Survey System information
  6. Commodities
  7. Materials information
  8. Mineral occurrence model information
  9. Host and associated rocks
  10. Nearby scientific data
  11. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  12. Mining district
  13. Land status
  14. Ownership information
  15. Production statistics
  16. Links to other databases
  17. Bibliographic references
  18. General comments
  19. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10106208
MRDS ID W031620
MAS/MILS ID 560370523
Record type Site
Current site name Sweetwater Mill and Mine
Alternate or previous names Sweetwater Uranium Project, Kennecott Sweetwater Mill, Rio Tinto Sweetwater Mill

Geographic coordinates

Point of reference Centroid
Geographic coordinates: -107.90194, 42.05722 (WGS84)
Elevation 2027
Location accuracy 500(meters)
Relative position APPPROXIMATELY 30 MILES SOUTH OF JEFFREY CITY, WY. Mostly in Sec. 15.

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Sweetwater(county)

Wyoming(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

Battle Spring(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Bairoil(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Casper(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Great Divide Closed Basin(hydrologic unit)

Great Divide Closed Basin(hydrologic accounting unit)

Great Divide-Upper Green(hydrologic subregion)

Upper Colorado(hydrologic region)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States Wyoming Sweetwater

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
6th Principal 024N 093W 9, 10, 14, 15, 16 Wyoming

Comments on the location information

  • CENTER OF THE NORTH HALF OF THE TOWNSHIP
  • Former MAS record 0560370523 listed the access as "PAVED ROAD JOINING U S 287 14 MILES NORTH OF RAWLINS"

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Uranium Primary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Uranophane Ore

Mineral occurrence model information

Model code 204
USGS model code 30c
Deposit model name Sandstone U

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Unconsolidated Deposit > Sand and Gravel
    Rock unit name Wasatch Formation
    Rock description Wasatch
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Eocene
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Eocene

Nearby scientific data

Centroid (1) -107.90194, 42.05722

Economic information

Comments on the geologic information

  • AREA OF URANIFEROUS COALS AND LIGNITES.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Operation type Surface
Development status Past Producer
Commodity type E
Deposit size Large
Significant Yes
Plant type Beneficiation (Mill)

Mining district

District name Great Divide Basin

Land status

Ownership category Private
Area name Private

Ownership information

  • Type Owner-Operator
    Owner Minerals Exploration Corp. ( a subsidiary of Union Oil of California)
    Home office P.O. Box 1500, Rawlins, Wy 83201
    Year 2011
    Last year 1982
  • Type Owner
    Owner Rio Tinto America, Inc.
    Year 2008
  • Type Unknown
    Owner Kennecott Uranium Company
    Year 2011
  • Type Owner
    Owner Wildhorse Energy
    Home office Australia
    Year 2012
    Last year 2012

Comments on the ownership information

  • Other owners might include Rio Tinto Energy America and/or Wildhorse Energy Ltd.
  • Kennecott Uranium Company appears to be owned by Kennecott Corp. USA, which is wholly owned by Rio Tinto. (as of 3/25/11, ABW)
  • Ownership record (line 3) is from deleted MAS record 0560370523. Ownership comment from deleted record 0560370138 (dated 1983) says Minerals Exploration Co. is Owner/Operator.
  • Wildhorse Energy (Australia) signed an agreement ot sell its non-core Sweetwater Uranium Project [...] to an unnamed mining company for a cash consideration of $1.4 million. The same company has an option to purchase Bison Basin in-situ leach uranium mining project for an additional $100,000. [Vaious press releases issued April, 16, 2012.]

Production statistics

  • Year 2010
    Material 2,736,120 st X .9071847 = 2,482,166 mt
    Ore mined 2482166mt

Comments on the production information

  • Note that this mill receives ore from a wide range of mines all over Wyoming (and possibly from other States), not just the mine that is on site.

Comments on the workings information

  • OPEN PIT

Reference information

Bibliographic references

General comments

Subject category Comment text
General The Union Oil Company of California (later known as Unocal) was founded in 1890. The Minerals Exploration Company was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Union Oil Company of California. In 1979, all of the company's energy mining operations (including the Minerals Exploration Company) were consolidated into the Union Energy Mining Division. The central region office of this division was based in Casper, Wyoming and was responsible for the exploration and acquisition of coal and uranium. Offices in Casper closed in the mid-1990s. (Information is from American Heritage Collection, University of Wyoming website, http://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=wyu-ah10419.xml)
General Former MAS record 0560370523 listed the contact as R. Smolie, PO Box 1500, Rwalins, WY 82301, phone 324-6667.
General Sweetwater is currently (2012) permitted by the NRC through Nov. 10, 2012). [http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/materials/uranium/licensed-facilities/sweetwater.html]

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 1982-01-01 Barari, Rachel A. U.S. Geological Survey
Reporter 1983-12-01 South Dakota School of Mines U.S. Bureau of Mines deleted record 0560370523 = newMRDS 10254660, merged and deleted.
Reporter 1983-11-18 Intermountain Field Operations Center (IFOC) U.S. Bureau of Mines deleted record 0560370138 = newMRDS 10230090, merged and deleted.
Editor 2010-02-02 Wilson, Anna B. U.S. Geological Survey merged and deleted records 0560370523 = newMRDS 10254660and 0560370138 = newMRDS 10230090.

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.