Uranium mining in Utah

Following World War II buying for nuclear weapons programs made uranium valuable for its own sake, and attracted hundreds of prospectors to southeast Utah.

[3] Uranium was discovered in sandstone of the Chinle Formation in Lisbon Valley, San Juan County in 1913, and some carnotite was mined on a small scale for vanadium in 1917, 1940, and 1941.

Then in 1952, Charles Steen drilled into a rich 70-foot-thick (21 m) uraninite orebody in the Triassic Chinle Formation; that type of deposit became the largest producer in the district.

Ore is distributed along 15 mi (24 km) of outcrop on the southwest side of the Lisbon valley anticline.

[5] On November 4, 2016, a historical marker commemorating the Lisbon Valley's uranium heritage and noting Charlie Steen's discovery was dedicated on the Anticline Overlook road off U.S. 191.

[11] At the Marysvale district, in Piute and Sevier counties, uranium occurs in hydrothermal veins in igneous rocks (quartz monzonite, latite porphyry, and aplite).

The Henry Mountains Complex (including the Tony M mine) has an indicated resource of 12.8 million pounds (5,800 tonnes) of uranium at a grade of 0.27% U3O8.

[17] In 2012 Energy Fuels Inc. acquired all of Denison Mines uranium properties located in the United States, including the White Mesa Mill.