**10. West Germany uranium mining after World War II**

and sulphides Co and Ni and native Bi is significant. The main mined ores were uranium ores, and accompanying ores (Co, Ni, Ag, Bi, Se and/or Pb, Zn and Cu from older quartz-sulphide

The second most significant area with uranium mineralisation in GDR was the Ronneburg district in Thuringia. This district is part of the Thüringisch-Fränkischen Schiefergebirge. The main geological structure of this district is the Berga anticlinorium. Uranium mineralisation occurs in the Upper Ordovician to Lower Devonian black schist series with total thickness about 250 m. The main part of uranium mineralisation is bounded on the Upper Ordovician Leder schists. In the Ronneburg ore district, three morphological types of uranium mineralisation, namely mineralisation in faults and shear zones, mineralisation in breccias and highly dispersed mineralisation in black schists, were distinguished. Uranium mineralisation was formed by two associations: carbonate-uraninite and uraninite-pyrite associations. The main mined association was uraninite-pyrite association containing uraninite, pyrite, coffinite, marcasite, chalcopyrite, arsenides, calcite, dolomite, hematite and hydrogoethite. The uranium deposits in the Ronneburg district were mined from 1951 to 1990 in three open pits (Ronneburg, Lichtenberg and Stolzenberg) and in seven shafts. Total open pit and mine production of the Ronneburg ore district was 112914.3 t U with average grade of 0.099% U [40].

Small occurrence of uranium mineralisation was also found in the Lower Permian hard coalbearing sediments of the NW-SE Döhla basin near Dresden. The basin that evolved along the late Variscan Elbe lineament contains the Upper Carboniferous and Lower Permian freshwater sediments (conglomerates, breccias, schists and hard coal-bearing sediments). The Lower Permian hard coal sediments contain hydrothermal uranium mineralisation (uraninite and coffinite) together with sulphide (sphalerite, chalcopyrite and galena) and carbonate mineralisation. Main uranium mining area in the Döhla basin was by Dresden-Gittersee and Freital. Total mine production of the Freital ore deposit mined from 1968 to 1989 was 3691 t U with

In the natural park Saxony Switzerland, near Pirna was from 1967 to 1990 mined uranium deposit Königstein. This deposit was developed in the local Cretaceous basin that is NW part of the North Bohemian Cretaceous basin. From this large basin, the local Pirna basin was separated by the NNW-SSE Elbe lineament. The uranium mineralisation is developed in the three Cenomanian formations: lower freshwater continental, middle lagoon sediments and upper marine sediments. Bodies of the Lower Cambrian granodiorites and Variscan granites of the Markersbach granite body form the basement. Freshwater sediments are developed in depressions of the paleo relief and consist of sandstones and clay-bearing schists. All these rocks are often rich in organic matter (coalified plant detritus). The sediments of marine Cenomanian contain different sandstone types. Mostly horizontal lenses form the ore bodies. The thickness of ore bodies was between 0.5 and 1.0 m, sometimes up to 2.5 m. Some part of uranium mineralisation occurs also in the younger faults. Uranium mineralisation is formed by uraninite, coffinite and fourmarietite. Total mine production of the Königstein ore deposit mined from 1967 to 1995 was 18526.9 t U with average grade of 0.03–0.08% U [40]. After closing all uranium deposits in 1990, various large-scale remediation activities were provided

average grade of 0.11% U [40].

from 1991 to 2014 [31].

veins) have been extracted only temporarily and in small quantities [39, 40].

14 Uranium - Safety, Resources, Separation and Thermodynamic Calculation

Starting in 1956, exploration for uranium ores in Federal Republic Germany (FRG) was carried out in several Variscan units, especially in Black Forest, Odenwald, Frankenwald, Oberpfalz, Bayerischer Wald and Harz. Three small uranium deposits were found: vein deposit near Menzenschwand in the southern Black Forest, sedimentary Müllenbach deposit in the northern Black Forest and the Grosschloppen deposit in the Fichtelgebirge. The total uranium production was about 700 t U [31].
