Overview

Mine Type	In-Situ
Status	Care and Maintenance
Commodities	Uranium
Mining Method	Solution mining
Production Start	...
Snapshot	Crow Butte was the first uranium mine in Nebraska, discovered in 1980 and beginning production in 1991. The mine is not currently producing, as a decision in 2016 led to the curtailment of production and the deferral of all wellfield development. Commercial production ceased in 2018. Crow Butte Mine used the in situ recovery mining to extract uranium and has its own processing facility. In September 2024, the operating license renewal for Crow Butte was submitted, and timely renewal is now underway with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. As of December 2024, the mine remains on care and maintenance, with Cameco Corp. not expecting any production at Crow Butte in 2025.

Deposit type

• Sandstone hosted

Summary:

The Crow Butte uranium deposit is a sandstone-type, roll-front uranium deposit, and is contained within the Chadron sandstone, at the base of the Oligocene Chadron Formation.

The Chadron uranium deposits are roll-front deposits formed by the precipitation of uranium from uranium- rich, oxidizing waters as they moved into or through a reducing aquifer. Because the uranium was transported by, and precipitated from, groundwater, an interpretation of the development of the groundwater system through geologic time has been made to identify factors controlling uranium accumulation.

Petrographic data (e.g., U-bearing matrix at grain contacts) indicate that U mineralization occurred before lithification of the sandstone. Dissolution of abundant rhyolitic volcanic ash produced U- and Si-rich ground waters that were channeled through permeable sandstones at the base of the Chadron by relatively impermeable overlying and underlying beds. The precipitation of early authigenic pyrite created a reducing environment favorable for precipitation and accumulation of U in the basal sandstone. The U has remained in a reduced state, as evidenced by the fact that the unoxidized minerals, coffinite and uraninite, comprise the bulk of the ore. At least some U and V remain bound to amorphous volcanic material and/or smectite rather than existing as discrete mineral phases.

The Chadron sandstone, which hosts the Crow Butte deposit, consists of coarse-grained, cross-bedded sandstone, with thin lenses of gravel-size conglomerate and interbedded clay layers. The sandstone is composed of 65% quartz, 25% feldspar and 10% rock fragments. The sediments also contain up to 30% air-fall ash in places.

Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Processing

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Production

Personnel

Job Title	Name	Phone	Email	Profile	Ref. Date
.......................	.......................		...........		Nov 12, 2024
.......................	.......................	...........	...........		Aug 19, 2022
.......................	.......................				Feb 25, 2025

Workforce

Employees	Year
......	2015