Description
Colorado vanadium production, an integral part of uranium processing, was the world’s largest source of vanadium oxide as of 1961. Technological advances creating new uses and increased demands for vanadium heralded the need for larger supplies and improved methods in its processing. However, because Colorado Plateau vanadium production was intimately dependent upon Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) uranium requirements, the vanadium industry has been confronted with limitations imposed by its parent activity.
The purpose of this study is to accumulate data that provides insight into the problems of vanadium production in terms of economics, reserves, metallurgy, markets, and research. In the context of vanadium conservation and use, these data may form the basis for a policy directed toward an autonomous vanadium industry. Included in the report is an in-depth review of vanadium: its history, production and distribution, mineralogy and geochemistry, deposits, reserves and resources, uses, as well as Colorado’s processing history and recent processing developments, metallurgical problems, and a selected bibliography of vanadium processing. Digital PDF download. MI-05D
