The Geology, Exploration and Production History of the Capitan Benally No. 4A Uranium-Vanadium Mine, Apache County, Arizona

The Capitan Benally 4A uranium-vanadium mine was developed as the result of uranium minerals located by a single drill hole drilled by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). This exploration hole was drilled as part of a project to test the uranium favorability of the Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation in a large area north of the Rattlesnake mines in the northwestern Carrizo Mountains, Apache County, Arizona (Figure 1). Drilling by a private company located additional ore holes adjacent to the AEC drill hole. Unfortunately, mining indicated that the uranium - vanadium ore was not very continuous and occurred as small pods which the drill holes had penetrated. Also, this mine had the distinction of having some of the higher-grade ore from the mine stockpile illegally removed. Recently, information regarding this operation was located in the author field notes etc., which were made while he was employed by the AEC. This brief report summarizes this information.Documents in the AZGS Documents Repository collection are made available by the Arizona Geological Survey (AZGS) and the University Libraries at the University of Arizona. For more information about items in this collection, please contact azgs-info@email.arizona.edu)