Description:
The Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation of Jurassic age contains
significant deposits of uranium-vanadium minerals in the Lukachukai Mountains
in northeastern Apache County, Arizona. Similar, but smaller, deposits have
been mined around the perimeter of the Carrizo Mountains north of the Lukachukai
Mountains (Chenoweth and Malan, 1973).
During the uranium boom of the 1950's a small amount of uranium was mined
from the Salt Wash near Rough Rock Trading Post in northwestern Apache
County (Figure 1). Although some information concerning this area has been
published (Chenoweth and Malan, 1973), this report gives the details of the
production history.
Much of the information presented here was recently located in the old
records of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in the archives of the
U.S. Department of Energy's Grand Junction Projects Office, Grand Junction,
Colorado. A review of the 1950-53 records of the AEC's ore-buying stations
provided accurate information on the dates early ore shipments were received.
Information previously published by Chenoweth and Malan (1973) and Chenoweth
(1973) was found to be incorrect.