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,
Uraninite Uraninite Uraninite, formerly pitchblende, is a radioactive, uranium-rich mineral and ore with a chemical composition that is largely UO, but due to oxidation the mineral typically contains variable proportions of UO. Additionally, due to radioactive decay, the ore also contains oxides of lead and trace amounts of helium. It may also contain thorium and rare earth elements. Uraninite used to be known as pitchblende (from "pitch", because of its black color, and "blende", a term (otherwise meaning "shade" or "screen") used by German miners to denote minerals whose density suggested metal content, but whose exploitation, at the time they were