slgwv's photos with the keyword: Uravan

Reclaimed site of Uravan, Colorado, where uranium-vanadium ores were processed up until the mid 1980s. Dunno if Umetco Minerals is doing reclamation, environmental monitoring, or what.

Or rather, the former site thereof. This was a company town established by U.S. Vanadium Corp. in 1936, and at one point had as many as 800 people living here, with amenities such as schools, medical offices, and a recreation center. When the great uranium rush started after WW II, the tails were reworked for uranium, and it was recovered as well henceforth. Uranium and vanadium are often geochemically coherent, as here. So, by sheer dumb luck, US Vanadium found itself sitting on one of the Colorado Plateau uranium deposits, which became such a focus of attention--and made a few fortunes--in the 1950s, at least until the Federal Government yanked the subsidies about 1957. The mine closed in 1984 due to falling prices and increased environmental regulation, and the entire area was reclaimed. "Uravan", obviously, is a portmanteau of "uranium" and "vanadium."