Uranium occurrences on the Blue Jay Claim, White Signal District, Grant County, New Mexico

A discovery of secondary uranium minerals on the Blue Jay claim was reported in 1949 and the occurrence was examined by the authors in March 1950, The Blue Jay claim is about three-fourths of a mile south of White Signal, Grant County, N. Mex. in sees, 23 and 26, T. 20 3., R. 15 W. , New Mexico principal meridian. The Blue Jay claim is underlain by a pre-Cambrian granite mass that was intruded by numerous dikes ranging from rhyolite to basalt in composition. Abnormal radioactivity and secondary uranium minerals occur in altered rocks near oxidized quart z-pyrite veins. Forty-four samples ranged in grade from 0.001 to 0.11 percent uranium. The intermediate and basic rocks seem to have been the more favorable host rocks for the deposition of secondary uranium minerals, possibly because of their higher phosphate content.