Scientist finds three new uranium-rich minerals in Utah
Mining.comreports that a US scientist has found three new uranium-rich secondary minerals in the Red Canyon region of Utah, growing on the walls of the area’s old mines.According to Travis Olds, a former student at Michigan Tech currently enrolled at Notre Dame, the relevance of his discovery is that all three specimens — leesite, leószilárdite and redcanyonite — represent a “small and unique slice of the earth’s crust” where human activity spurred the formation of previously unknown minerals.
The three new minerals, leesite, leószilárdite and redcanyonite, will allow researchers to study how different forms of uranium can propagate in the natural environment.