United Kingdom
Noteworthy uranium occurrences are located mainly in Cornwall and Scotland (Fig. 20.1), but uranium mineralization is also reported from other parts of the country. Deposits in Cornwall are of vein type, and in Scotland of small vein-, sandstone-, phospha
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eview Uranium minerals were first reported in 1796 when Emmerling described uranium micas from the Carharrack Mine in Corn wall. As far as traceable, uranium production in Great Britain was
# Table 20.1. Cornwall, documented producers of uranium. Terminology used by Cornish miners: cross course N to NW vein, killas slates, lode vein, elvans ENE–WSWtrending porphyry dikes, greenstones spilitic pillow lavas, tuffs, and agglomerates, wheal old Cornean ‘huel’ = mine, metam contact metamorphosed
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016 F.J. Dahlkamp, Uranium Deposits of the World, DOI 10.1007/978-3-540-78554-5_20
restricted to Cornwall, where uranium ores were recovered peri odically from about 1840 to 1927. Documented uranium produc ers are listed in $ Table 20.1. The South Terras Mine was the only operation to exploit uranium as main product (see details fur ther below), all other mines recovered uranium as by-product, mainly of copper. Annual production statistics exist only for the South Terras Mine. From three other mines, tonnage is recorded for certain operating intervals (see $ Table 20.1). Production at about 1840 was estimated at 4–5 t yr–1 uranium ore by Penberthy (1846). Recorded uranium ore production was in 1874: 0.206 t; 1879: 0.127 t; 1890: 22.3 t; and 1895: 41 t. Since 1890, uranium was obtained solely from the South Terras Mine where a uranium lode was discovered in 1873 and exploited from 1878 to 1900, 1906– 1909, 1913–1914, 1920–1921, and 1923–1927 (Gregory 1946). Until 1889, South Terras produced only small amounts of uranium ore, totaling ca. 10 t annually. Production increased to 20 to 40 t yr–1 ura nium ore between 1890 and 1898 (Collins 1890, 1892a,b; Robertson and Dines 1929). Cornwall ranked third in world uranium produc tion after Jáchymov/St. Joachimsthal, Czechoslovakia, and Urgei riça, Portugal, prior to the discovery of Shinkolobwe in the Belgian Congo in 1915. Uranium was used mainly for ceramics during the early periods and in the early 20th century for radium extraction.
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# Fig. 20.1. United Kingdom, generalized geological map with location of uranium occurrences. (After OECD-NEA/IAEA 1994, 1996)
20.1 Cornwall Cornwall, the southwestern county of Great Britain, is rich in uranium occurrences but poor in economic uranium deposits. In any event, it was famous in the 19th century for its outstand ing specimens of hexavalent uranium minerals, particularly uranium micas (torbernite, autunite etc.) e.g., from the Stennagwyn Mine near St. Stephen. Uranium occurs in veins in close spatial association with Hercynian leucogranite. Deposits are therefore classified as granite-related vein-type uranium deposits. Original resources of uranium are unknown. Ball et al. (1982) list 51 mines or sites from which uranium minerals have been recorded. At least twelve mines periodically produced uranium from about 1840 to 1927. Total tonnage produced is given as 1 440 t U by Willis-Richards and Jackson (1989) while other sources estimate a recovery of
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