New Mexico Geological Society Annual Spring Meeting — Abstracts

The Mt. Taylor Uranium Mine is located 25 air miles northeast of Grants, New Mexico. Gulf Mineral Resources attained interest in the property in 1971. Chevron Resources began operating the property in 1985 after the Chevron-Gulf merger.

Exploration has revealed uranium mineralization at depths from 3000 to 4000 feet. The deposIt area contaIned over 100 million pounds of U₃O₈ in proven and potential categories along a six mile NW-SE trend.

The uranium ore occurs in a braided stream system of the Westwater Canyon Member of the Jurassic age Morrison Formation. The uranium ore is intimately associated with carbonaceous matter which may have been deposited as humates subsequent to the deposition of the host sediments.

Humate-bearing fluids may have flowed through main permeable chanriel sands depositing humates along the lateral fringes, tops and bottoms of these channels in zones of decreased flow rates. The bulk of the uranium mineralization was carried down-stream and dumped in highhurnate zones, particularly near where channels coalesced.

Definite "C Roll" configuration is noted, including mirror image bodies which may have been deposited on opposite edges of the same channel. The rolls up to 15 ft wide and 20 ft thick, may continue for 1/2 mile or more along trend and eventually became part of a large tabular mass of ore in the "dump" area.

Chevron's current geologic work includes outlining of the Iorebody by underground longhole drilling, detailed mine mapping and ore-grade control.