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The advent of World War II again resulted in a high demand for moly, and the U.S. Government bought the mine from Vana- dium Corporation and turned it over to Molybdenum Corporation to operate. The mine was again shut down at the end of World War II. During all pre-AMAX operations, outside access to the upper portals of the mine on Red Mountain was gained either by a burro trail (Map ",) „r an overhead !ram Syc(am„_ An access driii and i.100-fuui service raise was develcped prier fo P,MAX operations. AMAX took an option on the property in 1961 and paid two million dollars for it after determining the extent of the ore body inside Red Mountain. AMAX then spent about 30 million dollars in further exploration and development and went into production in 1967. By the end of 1974, the ore body was depleted, and the reclamation and stabilization of the Urad Valley began. Ri collar to thr? mina at Climax. Colorado. the objective of the Urad operation was the extraction of molybdenite ore and the production of molybdenum disulfide (MoS._) concentrate. The con- centrate was shipped to Langeloth, Pennsylvania where it was converted to various molybdenum (cooly) products as required by each industrial user of the metal. There are many uses for cooly, some of which are: t) alloys for high-strength, heat-resistant steel and abrasion and corrosion- resistant steels, 2) high-stress lubricants. 3i pigments. 4i catalysts. and 5) as an essential micronutrient constituent of fertilizer, The Urad ore body contained approximately 14 million tons of ore at an average grade of about 0.33 percent MoS_. The mining and milling rate was about 5.000 tors of ora'day, which repre- sented about five percent of the free world production of molyb- denum during the years AMAX operated the mine. At the time of shutdown, the mine had produced about 48.5 million pounds of pure moly. Tha remaining aooroximate 99.7 percent of the 14 million Tons of ore was predominantly composed of silica antl was trans- ported by water slurry to two tailing deposition areas. The water was then decanted from the surface of the tailing areas and recycled back through an industrial mill water circuit. The Urad Mine used a modified block-caving system of under- ground mining in removing the ore from the deposit located inside Red Mountain. The ore processing facilities were conventional crushing and flotation milling circuits. Employment at the mine was as high as 279 people, most of whom were miners, with the remainder serving various support positions, such as miii aiienuaiiis, niecilnitiCS, eiC. Production ran 24 hours/day, seven days a week. The reclamation of the Urad Valley has been a continuing objective of AMAX. II beyan with awell-planned, environmentally concerned mining operation in the valley when AMAX re-opened the mine. A concentrated effort at the total stabilization and reclamation of the valley will begin during the summer of 1975. The following is a comprehensive plan for the reclamation, stabili- zation, and revegetation (all interrelated terms) of ecologically disturbed areas in the valley. 4