Uranium mining Cornwall. The first deliberate mining of radioactive ores took place in Jáchymov, a silver-mining city in the Czech Republic. Marie Curie used pitchblende ore from Jáchymov to isolate the element radium, a decay product of uranium. Until World War II uranium was mined primarily for its radium content; some carnotite deposits were mined primarily for the vanadium content. Sources for radium, contained in the uranium ore, were sought for use as luminous paint for watch dials and other instruments, as well as for health-related applications, some of which in retrospect were certainly harmful. The byproduct uranium was used mostly as
Uranium trioxide which operates at the world's largest uranium refinery at Blind River, Ontario, produces high-purity uranium trioxide. It has been reported that the corrosion of uranium in a silica rich aqueous solution forms uranium dioxide, uranium trioxide, and coffinite. In pure water, schoepite (UO)O(OH)·12(HO) is formed in the first week and then after four months studtite (UO)O·4(HO) was produced. This alteration of uranium oxide also leads to the formation of metastudtite, Like all hexavalent uranium compounds, UO is hazardous by inhalation, ingestion, and through skin contact. It is a poisonous, slightly radioactive substance, which may cause shortness of breath, coughing, acute