Atomic Treasure Hunt

The government man with the small box slung over his shoulder paced slowly to and fro, holding his rodlike detector close to the ground and listening to the sounds in his earphones: rhythmic clicks, five to 50 a minute, depending on the minerals under foot. As he walked, the clicking sped up, whirred into a roar. The man stopped, noted down the location. He had detected a deposit of the world's most coveted mineral: uranium ore, chief source of atomic energy.

Last week, for the first time since 1943, such Geiger-counter hunting for uranium was opened to any prospector. In the House of Commons, Trade and Commerce Minister Clarence D. Howe announced the end of the ban on private uranium mining,*promised prospectors $2.75 a pound for ores with a minimum of 10% uranium oxide. Said Howe: the government is seeking "discovery of important deposits. At the moment we know of only one. We think there are others."

The "one" was the Eldorado Mining and Refining Co. Ltd.'s rich pitchblende field in the Northwest Territories' Great Bear Lake region. Eldorado's lode, which has put Canada in the forefront of uranium producers, was expropriated by the government in January 1944. At the same time it clapped a total security blackout on all atomic activities.

First hint of the change in policy came last fortnight when a government official handed out copies of a Prospectors' Guide for Uranium and Thorium Minerals in Canada. It told everything about hunting uranium in Canada except where to look for it.

Prospectors who discover uranium will be caught immediately in the government's atomic blackout. Finds may be reported only to Canada's Atomic Energy Control Board or the Mines and Resources Department. While the government will permit a prospector to stake and exploit his claim, he may not disclose its location or existence. Maximum penalty for violation: a $10,000 fine and five years' imprisonment.

*The U.S. has permitted private uranium mining, subject to stringent security rules, since March 1947.

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