Uranium ore for silver in the 16th century. F.E. Brückmann made the first mineralogical description of the mineral in 1727 and the vein deposit Jachymov in the Czech Republic became the type locality for uraninite. In 1789 the German chemist M. H. Klaproth discovered the element of uranium in a sample of pitchblende from the Johanngeorgenstadt vein deposit. The first industrial production of uranium was made from the Jachymov deposit and Marie and Pierre Curie used the tailings of the mine for their discovery of polonium and radium. Vein deposits consist of uranium minerals filling in cavities such as cracks, veins, fractures,
Uranium ore uranium content) in the Czech Republic. Also they are closely related to the granites, the mineralization is much younger with a time gap between granite formation and mineralisation of 20 million years. The initial uranium mineralisation consists of quartz, carbonate, fluorite and pitchblende. Remobilsation of uranium occurred at later stages producing polymetal veins containing silver, cobalt, nickel, arsenic and other elements. Large deposits of this type can contain more than 1,000 individual mineralized veins. However, only 5 to 12% of the vein areas carry mineralization and although massive lenses of pitchblende can occur, the overall ore grade is only about