Images

Light-colored rocks in the foreground overlay a pluton, formed as a plume of magma rose, cooled and deposited minerals in the earth’s crust. Sedimentary rocks dip away from the intrusion.

USGS scientist Tom Frost stands on the northeast rim of the Blacktail pit of the Blackbird cobalt-copper mine, in the Salmon River Mountains of east-central Idaho.

USGS scientist Art Bookstrom uses a hand-lens to search for sulfide minerals in oxidized copper-cobalt-bearing siltite of the banded siltite unit of the Apple Creek Formation, exposed in the Blacktail pit of the Blackbird cobalt-copper mine, Salmon River Mountains, east-central Idaho.

USGS scientist Art Bookstrom maps and samples a gossan, developed on tightly folded, mineralized, metamorphosed, and weathered banded siltite, exposed on the southwest rim of the Blacktail pit of the Blackbird cobalt-copper mine, in the Salmon River Mountains of east-central Idaho. The gossan is overlain by unconsolidated colluvial debris.

USGS scientist Steve Box takes an oriented sample of folded, crenulated, and metamorphosed banded siltite, exposed in the Blacktail pit of the Blackbird cobalt-copper mine, in the Salmon River Mountains of east-central Idaho.

USGS scientist Tom Frost measures the distance across the transition from garnet-bearing rocks, upslope from the end of the tape, to garnet-free rocks below it, as exposed on the northeast wall of the Blacktail pit of the Blackbird cobalt-copper mine, in the Salmon River Mountains of east-central Idaho.

USGS scientist Art Bookstrom looks at greenish copper stain and pale pink cobalt bloom on limonite-stained meta-siltite and meta-argillite at the No Name prospect, near Iron Creek, in the southeastern part of the Idaho cobalt belt, in east-central Idaho.

USGS scientist Art Bookstrom looks at puzzling sedimentary structures in metasedimentary rocks of the Apple Creek Formation, near the Jackass prospect, near Iron Creek, in the southeastern part of the Idaho cobalt belt, in east-central Idaho.

USGS scientist Art Bookstrom hammers on limonite-stained breccia, cutting banded siltite of the Apple Creek Formation, exposed near the Uncle Sam portal of the Blackbird cobalt-copper mine, in the Salmon River Mountains of east-central Idaho.

USGS scientist Art Bookstrom photographs copper-stained banded siltite, exposed in the Blacktail pit of the Blackbird cobalt-copper mine, Salmon River Mountains, east-central Idaho.

USGS scientist John Slack holds his hammer to a biotitic mafic dike, intruded into twice-folded banded siltite, exposed in the Hawkeye adit of the Blackbird cobalt-copper mine, in the Salmon River Mountains of east-central Idaho. Biotite is a type of mica, and mafic refers to a high magnesium and iron content.

Residents and visitors should not be alarmed to witness a low-flying helicopter over southeastern Missouri starting in mid to late February, 2014.

Specimen of stibnite, an ore mineral of antimony. Antimony compounds help to prevent skin burns, increase battery life, and refine the glass used in cell-phone screens.

A sample of finchite, a newly discovered uranium mineral. Finchite is the yellow material on the surface of the rock. Finchite is found in the late Pleistocene sediments deposited during the Illinoian glacial stage.

The Southern High Plains of New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. USGS conducted a uranium assessment in this region in 2015.

The Southern High Plains of New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. USGS conducted a uranium assessment in this region in 2015.

Between Lamesa and Big Spring, Texas, runs the Sulfur Spring Draw, a dry creek. It's the site of an economic calcrete-type uranium deposit, the Sulfur Springs Draw Deposit, where a new mineral was discovered in 2015.

A scanning electron microscope image of the newly discovered mineral finchite. The Denver Microbeam Lab provided this scan of finchite in order to help describe and identify the mineral as a new one. Finchite is a uranium mineral first observed in Martin County, Texas.

A sample of finchite, a newly discovered uranium mineral. Finchite is the yellow material on the surface of the rock. Finchite is found in the late Pleistocene sediments deposited during the Illinoian glacial stage.

USGS scientist Bradley Van Gosen examines rock layers for the newly discovered mineral finchite near Lamesa, Texas.

Geologist and cataclastic shear zones in the Melozitna granite in the Ruby batholith. This granite contains abundant monazite and high levels of thorium and rare earth elements.