| Deposit ID | 10166816 |
|---|---|
| MAS/MILS ID | 0080850043 |
| Record type | Site |
| Current site name | Uravan Mill |
| Point of reference | Plant |
|---|---|
| Geographic coordinates: | -108.72457, 38.36999 (WGS84) |
| Elevation | 1494 |
| Location accuracy | 100(meters) |
Political divisions (FIPS codes)
Montrose(county)
Colorado(state)
United States(country)
North America(continent)
Land(continent)
USGS map quadrangles
Uravan(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)
Nucla(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)
Moab(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)
Hydrologic units (watersheds)
San Miguel(hydrologic unit)
Upper Colorado-Dolores(hydrologic accounting unit)
Upper Colorado-Dolores(hydrologic subregion)
Upper Colorado(hydrologic region)
Federal lands
Bureau of Land Management(Bureau of Land Management CO)
Bureau of Land Management CO BLM(Type of land area)
BLM(Federal land areas administered by BLM)
| Country | State | County |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Colorado | Montrose |
| Meridian | Township | Range | Section | Fraction | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Mexico | 048 N | 017 W | 34 | Colorado |
| Commodity | Importance |
|---|---|
| Uranium | Primary |
| Plant (1) | -108.72457, 38.36999 |
|---|
| Operation type | Processing Plant |
|---|---|
| Development status | Producer |
| Commodity type | Metallic |
| Significant | No |
| Ownership category | BLM Administrative Area |
|---|
| Type | Owner-Operator |
|---|---|
| Owner | Union Carbide Corp., Mining And Metals Division |
| ID | 501785 |
| Year | 1980 |
| Agency | Database name | Acronym | Record ID | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Bureau of Mines | Minerals Availability System | MAS | 0080850043 | |
| Mine Safety and Health Administration | MSHA | MSHA | 0501785 |
COLO DIV OF MINES SUMMARY MIN ACTIV IN COLO 1978
MSHA DATA, REVISED BY MILS 3-80
| Subject category | Comment text |
|---|---|
| Deposit | CERCLA (SUPERFUND) SITE. LISTED ON NATIONAL PRIORITIES LIST (NPL). ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS INCLUDE: 1) RELEASE OF RADON FROM TAILINGS PILES, 2) SEEPAGE OF CONTAMINATED LIQUIDS INTO SOILS AND GROUND WATER, AND 3) CONCENTRATIONS OF LARGE QUANTITIES OF WASTES. |
| General | From http://www.uravan.com/ (accessed 9/20/10) "Originally the site of the Joe Jr. Mill, the company town of Uravan was established in 1936 when U. S. Vanadium Corporation moved its plant there. At one time, over 800 people lived along the tree-lined streets enjoying housing, schools, medical facilities, tennis courts, a recreation center and pool provided by the company. Trucks took ore from mines of the surrounding area, rich in uranium and vanadium deposits, to the processing plant at Uravan. Between 1936 and 1984 the plant milled 42 million pounds of vanadium . The mildly radioactive tailings (byproducts of the extraction) were deposited in huge piles above the canyon next to the plant Since 1983, Umetco Minerals corporation has been involved in a 15 year, $70 million reclamation project. Tailings above the mill have been stabilized and covered and process wastes from the evaporative ponds have been removed. A groundwater cleanup program is also underway. When the project is completed you will see the canyon almost as it was before milling operations began." |
| General | Copied from http://www.uravan.com/ (accessed 9/20/10): * Uravan, Colorado was in Montrose County, US Zip Code of 81436, location is 38?22'6"N 108?44'9"W; elevation is 4,992 feet * Standard Chemical Company (SCC) was the original owner of the Joe Jr. Mill, named for Joseph Flannery, Junior, the owner. SCC also had a radium refinery at Cannonsberg, Ohio. * U.S. Vanadium (USV) was acquired by Union Carbide and Carbon in 1926. * In 1929 USV acquired the SCC holdings at what was then known as the Joe Jr. Camp. * Uravan received its name in 1936 as a result of a company-sponsored contest. * "uravan" comes from the first three letters of uranium and vanadium. * The Joe Jr. Mill was torn down and USV built a mill on the hillside that was operational until 1957. * 1936 is the date that the mill began production on the hillside. * The USV mill was part of the Manhattan project that produced uranium for the first atomic bomb. |
| Type | Date | Name | Affiliation | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reporter | 17-NOV-83 | Intermountain Field Operations Center (IFOC) | U.S. Bureau of Mines | |
| Editor | 20-SEP-10 | Wilson, Anna B. | U.S. Geological Survey | Added comments from Colorado Public Radio report. |
Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.
| Status | Abandoned since 02/02/1994 |
|---|---|
| MSHA mine ID | 0501785 |
| Mine name (MSHA) | Uravan Remedial Action Project |
| Current operator | Umetco Minerals Corp |
| Current controller (parent) | Union Carbide Corp |
| Mine type | Surface (Metal / non-metal) |
MSHA cross-reference per the original MRDS record. Mine status and operator reflect MSHA's last published Mines export (February 2025); MSHA's public bulk feed has been unavailable since, so this may be out of date. See the Mine Data Retrieval System for current status.
Open MSHA's Mine Data Retrieval System for inspections, accidents, and violations for this mine.
These are landing pages for further research — the state agencies don't currently expose per-mine deep links.