Uranium mining in Colorado the Slick Rock, Gypsum Valley, Uravan, and Gateway mining districts. Uranium mining in southwest Colorado goes back to 1898, when a miner dug ten tons of yellow ore that tested high in uranium and vanadium out of a deposit at Roc Creek in Montrose County, Colorado, and shipped it to France, where M. M. C. Friedel and E. Cumenge identified the new mineral that they named carnotite. The mineral was mined for its vanadium, with uranium as a byproduct. Although radium had been discovered in 1898, it had been derived from pitchblende, and the radium content of carnotite was not
Uranium tile still standing from that era by use of a simple geiger counter that readily detects the beta radiation emitted by uranium's ever-present decay chain radio-daughters. In most situations, the radiation exposure is not excessive, but there are some exceptions in which pure uranium oxide [which produces red-orange coloration as a glaze] on bathroom floors can pose a hazard for infants crawling around for hours on end, day after day. ORAU Radioactive Tiles Uranium tile Uranium tiles have been used in the ceramics industry for many centuries, as uranium oxide makes an excellent ceramic glaze, and is reasonably abundant on the