Rautman, and 83 co-authors, reported in 1979 that the first "Symposium on the Geology of the Grants Uranium Region" was held as a field conference sponsored by the Society of Economic Geologists in 1961. One of the lasting results of this conference was the 1963 publication of New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Memoir 15, Geology and Technology of the Grants Uranium Region, compiled by Vincent C. Kelley. Through the years since 1963, this volume has remained an authoritative reference to the geology of this prolific mineral belt in northwestern New Mexico.
Despite the continuing usefulness of Memoir 15, the tremendous development of the Grants mineral belt since 1963 has resulted in an expansion both of ore reserves and of our knowledge of the deposits. By the mid-1970's, many people working in the area concluded that a revision of Memoir 15 was needed. Late in 1977, a decision was made to convene a new conference and to solicit papers from geologists working in the area. Three organizations agreed to act as cosponsors for the symposium: the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, the Energy Minerals Division (EMD) of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), and the Central New Mexico Section of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum
Engineers (AIME).
The symposium was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on May 13-16, 1979. Frank E. Kottlowski served as general chairman of the conference, and A. E. (Gene) Saucier was field-trip chairman. Rautman served as technical program chairman and memoir compiler. The response to the call for papers was extremely gratifying. Geologists from across the country rose to the occasion, and, despite full-time duties elsewhere, submitted literally dozens
of papers.
Contributing authors represented all facets of geologic endeavor: industry, government, academic institutions, and private individuals. The symposium attracted over 800 geologists and other scientists, including representatives from six foreign countries. Field trips run by Gene Saucier, William L. Chenoweth, and Morris W. Green conducted an overflow crowd of 260 geologists to parts of the mineral belt itself. Sondra Biggs and the convention department of AAPG handled all logistical details of the symposium. Their expertise in these matters was 100 percent responsible for the smooth progress of the symposium.
Forty-six papers were presented at the 1979 symposium. The present volume comprises these papers plus an additional three. The papers cover the broad spectrum of Grants region geology, including discussions of exploration history and methods, individual deposits and regional phenomena, and petrographic investigations and field studies. More peripheral but vitally related topics such as severence taxes, ground-water hydrology, and experimental studies also are included. Although no attempt has been made to compile a total synthesis of knowledge in the Grants uranium region, we hope that this memoir may serve as a reference work to the region for many years to come.
The papers contained herein are the results of investigations (some over many years) by the individual authors or coauthors, who are solely responsible for the conclusions and interpretations presented. Consequently, controversial and even conflicting conclusions may be found within this memoir. Compiling and editing such a diverse collection of manuscripts by authors with vastly differing experiences and opportunities for writing has not been an easy task. My intention throughout has been to assure a degree of uniformity in style and to ensure that the descriptive portion of each paper is sufficiently well documented to support the interpretations offered. Readers of this memoir are urged to evaluate these papers in the light of their own experiences and to use the volume as a way station in the evolutionary process of understanding the geology of this important contributor to the energy future of the United States: the Grants mineral belt.
As this Memoir 38 goes to press (late 1980), the domestic uranium industry appears to have entered a temporary period of decline. The economic recession that began in 1979, the aftereffects of the Three Mile Island reactor accident, governmental regulation, high tax rates, changing government policy, and inexpensive foreign supplies all have contributed to a declining demand for uranium and a slumping price for yellowcake. As a result, many operations have had to curtail activity—marginal mines have been closed, development projects have been stretched out, shelved, or canceled. Exploration is at a low ebb.
Several deposits discussed in this volume have been adversely affected by the depressed market conditions, and optimistic descriptions of planned development may no longer be valid. The need for secure supplies of energy will continue, however, if our industrialized society is to remain viable.
Nuclear power has been and remains an environmentally benign source of cost-effective energy. Given a stable and reasonable political/economic climate, the nuclear industry will probably emerge from its current problems and continue supplying secure energy to Americans. New Mexico and the Grants mineral belt undoubtedly will continue to play a leading role in this effort.
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