Grants Uranium Belt


New Mexico has the second highest uranium reserves in the United States, behind Wyoming. The largest deposits are in the northwestern corner of the state in the Grants Mineral Belt. Also known as the Uranium Belt, the region was the primary area for uranium extraction and production in New Mexico from the 1950s until the late 1990s. The belt extends along the southern margin of the San Juan Basin in Cibola, McKinley, Sandoval, and Bernalillo Counties as well as on Tribal lands. Hundreds of abandoned, unreclaimed uranium mines still exist in communities in northwestern New Mexico, and scores of Native American and non-Native merican families still live in close proximity to these mines. The legacy of uranium mining in the Grants Mineral belt also affects over 320 square miles of the San Mateo Creek Watershed.