France
France with original resources of approximately 140000 t U (including some 74000 t U production) accounted for most of Western Europe’s minable uranium resources, the bulk of which occurred as vein uranium deposits in the following regions and districts (
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d (1992– 2008), and Valsardieu (1995, 1997, 2000) have issued, in part with co-workers, several volumes with coverage of uranium mines and operations of various uranium districts and their historical aspects in France. Thorough research of the metallogenesis of granite-related uranium deposits was conducted by Poty, Cuney, and their co-workers in Centre de Recherche de Géologie d’Uranium (CREGU). The papers of these authors largely provided the base for the subsequent general description amended by Bruneton P, Cuney M, and Poty B (pers. commun.), as well as data from other investigators as mentioned.
Historical Review Earliest recorded uranium finds in France date back to 1799 as reported by de Champeaux (1801). This author describes the discovery of yellow-greenish uranium minerals (“urane oxidé”) near Saint-Symphorien-de-Marmagne in Bourgogne (Burgundy), some 15 km south of the town of Autun. In 1852, Brooke and Miller named these uranyl-phosphate species after this town autunite. It deserves mentioning, however, that uranium minerals, which supposedly derived from this locality, were already earlier brought, since about 1760, to some collections. Pitchblende has been noted in the Autun area by Germar in 1837. Uranium from Saint-Symphorien-de-Marmagne was originally used to color glass; at first by F. E. de Fontenay in 1837, who used autunite at the Vallerysthal and Baccarat crystal factories. And E. M. Péligot, who was working for Baccarat crystal factory, reduced uranium oxide from Saint-Symphorien to isolate uranium metal for the first time in 1841. Next oldest discoveries were in Limousin, Département Haute Vienne, where uranium had been found at Chanteloube-Razès as documented by “uranit jaune dans une argile” specimen in the mineral collection of the École Supérieure de Mines in Paris, which were delivered by F. Alluaud in “an XI” of the French revolution calendar, i.e., 1802 or 1803. Delamétherie reported in 1805 “uran oxidé jaune” found by Alluaud and Cressac at Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche 30 km south of Limoges. In subsequent years of the 1800s and early 1900s numerous uranium showings were found in other parts of the Massif Central, and elsewhere in France. While uranium recovered in the 1800s was mainly used for coloring of glass and ceramics, mining of uranium during the 1900s prior to World War II served for the recovery of radium. During this latter period some 7500 t U were mined from which about 900 g radium were extracted (Guiollard 1998). Systematic countrywide uranium exploration began after World War II by the Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique (CEA) founded in 1945. Exploration and mining was transferred in 1976 to Compagnie Générale des Matières Nucléaires (COGEMA, now AREVA), a 100% CEA subsidiary. In addition, seven major and several small private companies carried out exploration and mining for uranium. Exploration commenced 1947 in Limousin and achieved success with the discovery of pitchblende in 1948 near Cantiant, which became in 1950 as Henriette Mine the first industrial
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