Durango Uranium-Vanadium Plant tailings

Abstract

Photograph showing the tailings and some of the buildings at the Durango Uranium-Vanadium Plant, which was originally a lead-zinc smelter. In 1942 the United States Vanadium Company converted it into a mill where vanadium concentrate was extracted from carnotite ore. It closed in 1946 and was later purchased by the Vanadium Corporation of America (V.C.A.). During the 1950s, it was one of the largest uranium-vanadium plants in the U.S. and processed carnotite and roscoelite ores from several mines in the Colorado Plateau area. The uranium and vanadium were extracted at the plant by salt roasting crushed ore and then leaching and precipitating the uranium concentrate (yellow cake) and vanadium concentrate (red cake). During the uranium boom of the 1950s, the V.C.A. had contracts to supply the Atomic Energy Commission with uranium.