The uranium of Morvan and Forez

The Morvan and Forez regions have been the cradle of the famous autunite and more globally, of the history of the uranium ores discovery in France and of their economical valorization which has made possible the energy independence of France. These mountains with soft reliefs and huge forests of firs are the places of prestigious mining districts like: Lachaux, Grury, Saint-Symphorien-de-Marmagne, and in particular Les Bois Noirs-Limouzat near St-Priest-la-Prugne which supplied 7000 t of uranium and some superb torbernite (chalcolite) and autunite mineralizations. This book brings to life again the history of the uranium industry in the Morvan and Forez regions with a regional and local synthesis of the geology and a detailed description of the exploration, exploitation and ore processing techniques and some information about production statistics. (J.S.)