Undoubtedly these deposits have been feeling the effects of the rather large production of the last few years, and the average grade of the ore is now probably at least half of a per cent. lower in V2O5 than it was a few years ago. There is still considerable ore untouched that will average 1 per cent., or a little less. The British government for several years, according to reports, has been interested in obtaining control of vanadium deposits.
The Primos Chemical Co., with works at Newmire, Colorado, and Primos, Pennsylvania, is mining these deposits, and in 1917 made this production:
Treated 60,907,000 pounds of ore; from this was produced 496,731 pounds of vanadium in the form of iron vanadate running about 34 per cent. metallic vanadium. From this was produced 417,770 pounds of contained vanadium in the form of regular 40 per cent. ferrovanadium. In 1918, up to and including July, this company mined 17,449,000 pounds of ore, from which was produced 149,343 pounds of contained vanadium in the form of vanadate of iron and 133,666 pounds of contained vanadium made in the form of 40 per cent. ferrovanadium.
In 1919 the Primos Chemical Co., was absorbed by the newly organized Vanadium Products Corporation.
Vanadium ore has been discovered in Huerfano County, Colorado, near the Sangre de Cristo Range. The vein is said to be well defined and 1 to 4 feet in width. A number of assays show 2 to 7 per cent. V2O5 content, and others 2 to 4 per cent. copper. The ore is heavy, black and banded; it contains small quantities of uranium oxide, but should be classed as a vanadium, rather than a uranium mineral. There has been no commercial production up to date.
In Eagle County, 7 miles southeast of the town of Eagle, a silver ore has been found that carries vanadium. This was located mostly in the Lady Bell mine. The ore, a dark-greenish sandstone similar in appearance to the darker types of roscoelite ore found in San Miguel County, assayed from 25 to 1,000 ounces of silver to the ton. The mine has been largely worked out for silver, the vanadium being lost during the smelting process. There is still, however, an appreciable amount of vanadium ore left, as the low-grade silver ore was not mined or treated.
A considerable amount of vanadium is obtained as a by-product from the treatment of carnotite (uranium and radium) ore. It is difficult to say just what the yield from this ore is, but it is probable that it averages about 200,000 pounds of vanadic oxide per annum. This is produced by five or six operating radium companies. These deposits are found in southwestern Colorado, around the Paradox Valley, and in southeastern Utah, extending as far as the San Rafael Swell, southwest of Green River, Utah.
There is considerable ore running one-half to 1 per cent. uranium oxide which carries from 4 to 10 per cent. vanadic oxide. In the past this ore has not been mined, because the extraction of radium from it would not pay. With a strong demand and a high price for vanadium, at least the higher grades of this ore could be mined at a profit. There is considerable of such ore at certain localities north of the Paradox Valley; unfortunately, these deposits are somewhat scattered and some would involve not only long wagon hauls, but also transportation by burro to wagon roads. Only the higher-grade ore could be handled in this way at a profit, and the difficulty is to get enough to justify building a treatment plant.
The writer has been told that there are deposits of this same type of ore at Temple Mountain, 40 miles south of Green River, Utah.
A small vanadinite deposit, containing traces of wulfenite, has been found near Klinefelter Station, on the main line of the Santa Fe Railroad, near the eastern border of San Bernardino County, California. The ore is largely calcite and is low grade, averaging probably from 1 to 2 per cent. vanadic oxide.