Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Geology of the Shinarump No. 1 uranium mine, Seven Mile Canyon area, Grand County, Utah

March 6, 1953

The Shinarump No. 1 uranium mine is located about 12 miles northwest of Moab, Utah, in the Seven Mile Canyon area, Grand County, Utah. A study was made of the geology of the Shinarump No. 1 mine in order to determine the habits, ore controls, and possible origin of the deposit.


Rocks of Permain, Triassic, and Jurassic age crop out in the area mapped. Uranium deposits are found in three zones in the lower 25 feet of the Upper Triassic Chinle formation. The Shinarump No. 1 mine, which is in the lowermost zone, is located on the west flank of the Moab anticline near the Moab fault.


The Shinarump No. 1 uranium deposit consists of discontinuous lenticular layers of mineralized rock, irregular in outline, that, in general, follow the bedding. Ore minerals, mainly uranite, impregnate the rock. High-grade seams of uranite and chalcocite occur along bedding planes. Formation of unraninite is later than or simultaneous with most sulfides. Chalcocite may be of two ages, with some being later than uraninite. Uraninite and chalcocite are concentrated in the poorer sorted parts of siltstones. Guides to ore in the Seven Mile Canyon area inferred from the study of the Shinarump No. 1 deposit are the presence of bleached siltstone, copper sulfides, and carbonaceous matter. Results of spectrographic analysis indicated that the mineralizing solutions contained important amounts of barium, vanadium, uranium, and copper as well as lesser amounts of strontium, chromium, boron, yttrium, lead, and zinc.


The origin of the Shinarump No. 1 deposit is thought to be hydrothermal, dated as later or early.

Publication Year 1953
Title Geology of the Shinarump No. 1 uranium mine, Seven Mile Canyon area, Grand County, Utah
DOI 10.3133/tei287
Authors Warren Irvin Finch
Publication Type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Series Title Trace Elements Investigations
Series Number 287
Index ID tei287
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse