Abstract: Uranium-bearing copper deposits occur in steeply dipping beds of the Sangre de Cristo formation of Pennsylvanian and Permian age south of Coyote, Mora County, N. Mex. Mapping and sampling of these deposits indicate that they occur in lenticular carbonaceous zones in shales and arkosic sandstones. Samples from these zones contain as much as 0.067 percent uranium and average 3 percent copper. Metatyuyamunite is disseminated in some of the arkosic sandstone beds, and uraninite was identified in some of the copper sulfide nodules occurring in the shale. In polished section these sulfide nodules were found to be composed principally of chalcocite with some bornite and covellite, as well as pyrite and malachite. Most of the samples were collected near the surface from the weathered zone. The copper and uranium were probably deposited with the sediments and concentrated into zones during compaction and lithification. Carbonaceous material in the Sangre de Cristo formation provided the environment that precipitated uranium and copper from mineral-charged connate waters forced from the clayey sediments.

Report discussing the geological details of uranium-bearing copper deposits in the Sangre de Cristo formation, located south of Coyote, Mora County, New Mexico.