Uranium Industry

Uranium Industry (NMMA Hall of Fame—2005)

The discovery of uranium in New Mexico is as much legend as it is fact. Quimbly Farris probably staked the first claim in 1945 for Vanadium. Colton Tietjen and Alfred Hutton had been transporting “rocks” to the ore buying stations in Utah, when on the 17th day of April, 1950, a Navajo rancher named Paddy Martinez took a yellow colored rock to Grants. The discovery was on Santa Fe Railroad’s Section 19 near Haystack. Thus began a 50-year adventure and economic boom to northwest New Mexico and the state as a whole.

At its peak, over 120 mines and 6 mills operated throughout the Grants Mineral Belt. Employment, which exceeded 7,700 jobs in the mid 1970’s drove the economic engine of numerous Northwest New Mexico communities with over 165 million in annual wages.

Mining’s boom to bust cycle eventually overcame New Mexico’s uranium industry and after an extended period of unprecedented low prices in the early 1980’s, the industry rapidly declined until New Mexico uranium production finally ceased in 1999. With the mine closures, a new industry was born – uranium mine and mill reclamation. The uranium companies implemented innovative mill reclamation projects that have repeatedly been used as a model for achieving successful uranium reclamation throughout the world.

The Grants Mineral Belt produced more uranium than any other uranium district in the free world. New Mexico continues to reap tremendous benefits from the uranium mining that occurred in the Grants Uranium Belt. The severance tax, which supports the State general fund and education of New Mexico’s children, was born of the industry.

Recently, the slumbering giant is beginning to stir. New Mexico and uranium will once again play a key role in providing energy independence for the United States of America. The heritage that the uranium miners of the Grants Mineral Belt so proudly built will provide a base for renewed interest.

The New Mexico Uranium Industry was inducted into the NMMA Fall of Fame on September 7, 2005.