Uranium Hunting and Ore Values

Customx_12

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May 22, 2008
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All Treasure Hunting
If this isn’t the right sub-forum, please let me know. I went to an auction today and purchased an old Geiger counter with a book about prospecting for uranium ore. Along with the device came a piece of uranium about 3 inches long and 2 inches wide. Any tips on uranium hunting and/or how to know the value of uranium ore?
 

hvacker

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Aug 18, 2012
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The Great American uranium rush of the late 40's and into the 60's is probably one of the least known about "rushes" in our history. But it was huge. There was real panic that we would fall to the Soviets, and miners hit the road.

The small prospector with a Geiger counter would soon be displaced by prospectors in small planes and scintillation counters.
If your ever in Grants New Mexico, they have a model uranium mine that takes you down to see how it was mined. A cool part is there are places that have the original miners voices explaining how they worked their jobs in the mine.
I was surprised that ammonium nitrite was used then for blasting instead of dynamite. Safer.
 

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BlasterJ

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Apr 2, 2020
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If this isn’t the right sub-forum, please let me know. I went to an auction today and purchased an old Geiger counter with a book about prospecting for uranium ore. Along with the device came a piece of uranium about 3 inches long and 2 inches wide. Any tips on uranium hunting and/or how to know the value of uranium ore?

It has actually been around since the turn of the century. ANFO and related products typically need a bigger hole (3" or so) and a dry environment, as they have no water resistance unless packaged up specially. Quarries and surface mines adopted AN products earlier, and underground mining was a lot later. You need a pneumatic loader if you want to use it in the typical 1.5" horizontal holes in a drift mine.
 

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