By Jamie Hyland
Historic Opportunity in Southeastern Utah and Southwestern Colorado
Canadian investors seeking uranium opportunities in Southeastern Utah and Southwestern Colorado may be overlooking a crucial piece of history—the 1950s Uranium Boom. This era not only transformed the U.S. uranium industry but also unveiled vast deposits in the Paradox Basin that remain largely unexploited.
Industry experts estimate that several hundred million pounds of undiscovered uranium and vanadium still lie within these two states, with as much as 80 to 100 million pounds of uranium potentially awaiting discovery on the down-thrown side of the Lisbon Valley Anticline.
Uranium’s Legacy: Lessons from the 1950s Boom
Between 1948 and 2019, the United States produced 980 million pounds of uranium oxide. During the peak of the uranium rush, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) purchased over 347 million pounds of uranium concentrate (1948–1971), driving extensive exploration efforts. By the late 1950s, most major uranium districts had been identified, with 94% of known U.S. uranium resources occurring in sandstone deposits.
The most productive regions included:
- Colorado Plateau (65% of U.S. uranium production)
- Wyoming Basins (24%)
- South Texas Coastal Plain (5%)
Two key deposit types—roll-front and peneconcordant uranium ore deposits—defined production, with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah leading in underground mining, while Wyoming and Texas favored open-pit and in-situ recovery (ISR) methods.
Notably, the Schwartzwalder Mine in Colorado was America’s largest non-sandstone uranium deposit, producing 15 million pounds of uranium oxide between 1953 and 1995.
Why the Paradox Basin Matters Today
The Paradox Basin, home to the Big Indian Ore Belt and the Uravan Mineral Belt, remains a largely untapped uranium hotspot. During the 1950s boom, the AEC incentivized uranium mining, but once those incentives were removed, only high-grade and large-scale deposits remained viable. As a result, many uranium prospects in California, Nevada, and Arizona never achieved significant production, while Colorado Plateau mines thrived.
Exploration efforts in the 1960s and 1970s confirmed additional uranium deposits, particularly in the Lisbon Valley, Utah, where independent drillers like Humeca Partnership and Larry Lahusen identified major ore bodies later developed into productive mines.
By the Second Uranium Boom of the 1970s, U.S. utilities drove exploration, bypassing the AEC. This era saw major discoveries, including New Mexico’s Mountain Taylor deposit—the largest unexploited uranium deposit in the U.S.
What This Means for Canadian Investors
Fast forward to today: Public companies currently report around 110 million pounds of uranium across multiple properties in the Paradox Basin, yet substantial deposits remain unproven at depth. The potential for an additional 80 to 160 million pounds of uranium in the Big Indian Ore Belt alone suggests the region could soon become a critical part of North America’s uranium supply chain.
With the global push for nuclear energy as a clean power source, the timing may be ideal for Canadian investors to tap into a region rich in uranium history—and untapped opportunity.
For more info on Uranium security, please read this article that came out today from Gracelin Baskaran, PhD, Director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Meredith Schwartz, Research Associate, Critical Minerals Security Program: Fueling the Future: Recommendations for Strengthening U.S. Uranium Security : https://www.csis.org/analysis/fueling-future-recommendations-strengthening-us-uranium-security
