Editing Uraninite (section)

==Occurrence==
[[File:Uraninite-usa32abg.jpg|thumb|left|Uraninite crystals from [[Topsham, Maine]] (size: 2.7&nbsp;×&nbsp;2.4&nbsp;×&nbsp;1.4 cm)]]
Uraninite is a major ore of uranium. Some of the highest-grade uranium ores in the world were found in the [[Shinkolobwe]] mine in the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] (the initial source for the [[Manhattan Project]]) and in the [[Athabasca Basin]] in northern [[Saskatchewan]], Canada. Another important source of pitchblende is at [[Great Bear Lake]] in the [[Northwest Territories]] of Canada, where it is found in large quantities associated with [[silver]]. It also occurs in [[Australia]], the [[Czech Republic]], [[Germany]], [[England]], [[Rwanda]], [[Namibia]] and [[South Africa]]. In the United States, it can be found in the states of [[Arizona]], [[Colorado]], [[Connecticut]], [[Maine]], [[New Hampshire]], [[New Mexico]], [[North Carolina]] and [[Wyoming]]. The geologist [[Charles Steen]] made a fortune on the production of uraninite in his Mi Vida mine in [[Moab, Utah]]. Uranium ores from the [[Ore Mountains]] (today the border between the Czech Republic and Germany) were an important supply of both the wartime [[German nuclear program]] (which failed to produce a bomb) and the [[Soviet nuclear program]]. Mining for uranium in the Ore Mountains (under the auspices of [[SDAG Wismut]] after the war) ceased after the collapse of the [[German Democratic Republic]].

Uranium ore is generally processed close to the mine into [[yellowcake]], which is an intermediate step in the processing of uranium.
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