Urad Mine, people on site

Abstract

The image shows eight people (seven men and one woman?) who may be visitors, at the Urad Climax Mine near Empire, Colorado. Between 1914 and 1917, the Urad Mine was owned by the Primos Exploration Company. The Urad Mine was later acquired by the Vanadium Corporation of America, but was not operated. During World War II the Urad was leased by the Molybdenum Corporation of America (Molycorp), which also operated processing facilities on site between 1944-1946. When Molycorp was unable to secure a federal loan to support mine operations, the property remained idle until the company's lease expired in 1961. American Metal Climax Inc. (AMAX) purchased the Urad Mine for $2,000,000 in 1963. After three years of development the Mine reopened in 1967 with the ability to process 6,500 tons of ore per day. By 1974 the ore body was depleted and the Mine closed. During the seven years of AMAX operation, 48,000,000 pounds of molybdenum were extracted from the 14,000,000 tons of ore.