Geochemical reconnaissance for uranium occurrences in the Notch Peak intrusive area, House Range, Millard County, Utah

Abstract

Samples collected from the contact metamorphic zone of the Notch Peak intrusive area, House Range, Millard County, Utah, indicate the occurrence of low-grade uranium and thorium ore. Maximum abundances in the altered mineralized rocks in the contact zone are 450 ppm uranium and 480 ppm thorium. Interpretation of factor analysis of the spectrochemical and delayed neutron analytical data suggests the presence of five geological factors which account for 82 percent of element covariance of 34 elements in 61 samples. The factors are identified as (1) limestone source rock reactions; (2) monzonite source rock reactions; (3) hydrothermal element group 1; (4) rare earth group; and (5) hydrothermal element group 2. The last factor effects the distribution of, primarily, beryllium, uranium, copper, molybdenum, tungsten, niobium, and secondarily, thorium, tin, and zinc; it is identified as the prime mineralization factor. The Notch Peak intrusive area has been a tungsten producing area since before the 1940's and the location of small-scale gold placer operations. This reconnaissance study was a 'follow-up' of uranium anomaly data which were developed during the U.S. Dept. of Energy National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE) program in 1978-80.