Radium of radium Curie used the residues after extraction of uranium from pitchblende. The uranium had been extracted by dissolution in sulfuric acid leaving radium sulfate, which is similar to barium sulfate but even less soluble in the residues. The residues also contained rather substantial amounts of barium sulfate which thus acted as a carrier for the radium sulfate. The first steps of the radium extraction process involved boiling with sodium hydroxide followed by hydrochloric acid treatment to remove as much as possible of other compounds. The remaining residue was then treated with sodium carbonate to convert the barium sulfate into
Radium Gilbert Radium Gilbert The Radium Gilbert was a tugboat built for transporting supplies to, and ore from, the radium and uranium mines in Canada's Northwest Territories. Like the other tugs in the Radium Line she was steel-hulled. She was named after Gilbert Labine, the prospector who discovered radioactive ore where Port Radium was built. She was built in Vancouver, in 1946 disassembled, so she could be shipped by rail to Waterways, Alberta. Like all vessels assembled in Waterways that operated on the Mackenzie River, and its tributaries, after she was reassembled she first proceeded downstream to Lake Athabasca, and down the