The Vancoram Review

2024-09-03T16:44:25-04:00

Newsletter issued by the Vanadium Corporation of America with articles entitled "Uranium in the Colorado Plateau Area," "Bus Springs: Wellsprings of Good Will," "The Vanadium Minerals — Part II — Mineral Sources of Vanadium," "Vanadium Data Sheet — Optical and Other Physical Properties," "Sixteen-Year Record in Hammermill Service Proves Reliability of Vanadium Steel Shafts, "What's New," "Abstracts of Current Literature," and "Vancorum Products — Compositions — Applications." Newsletter features black and white photographs of a Uranium mill and plant, a Navajo Indian mining crew, and a map showing the Vanadium Corporation of America's Uranium plants and mines in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona.

Vanadium, a malleable transition metal, was discovered in its natural state in Mexico by Spanish-Mexican scientist, engineer, and naturalist Andrés Manuel del Río (1764-1849) in 1801, though it was not isolated and recognized as an element until 1830. Following the discovery of a large deposit of vanadium in the Peruvian Andes in 1905, vanadium became commercially viable and significantly impacted the steel industry. In 1906, the American Vanadium Company (later the Vanadium Corporation of America) was organized to mine the new deposit, known as Mina Ragra, and use of vanadium to produce specialty steel alloys quickly became widespread, particularly in the burgeoning automobile industry.