Manhattan Project feed materials program: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:05, 26 May 2025

Revision as of 22:52, 16 June 2025

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The original goal of the feed materials program in 1942 was to acquire approximately {{convert|1,700|ST|t|order=flip}} of [[triuranium octoxide]] ({{chem2|U3O8}}) (black oxide). By the time of the dissolution of the Manhattan District on 1 January 1947, it had acquired about {{convert|10,000|ST|order=flip}}, {{Percentage|6983|10220|1}} of which came from the [[Belgian Congo]], {{Percentage|1349|10220|1}} from the [[Colorado Plateau]], and {{Percentage|1137|10220|1}} from Canada. An additional {{Percentage|481+270|10220|1}} came from "miscellaneous sources", which included quantities recovered from Europe by the Manhattan Project's [[Alsos Mission]].

Ores from the Belgian Congo contained the most uranium per mass of rock by far. Much of the mined ore from the [[Shinkolobwe]] mine had a black oxide content as high as 65% to 75%, which was many times higher than any other global sources. In comparison, the Canadian ores could be as rich as 30% uranium oxides, while American ores, mostly byproducts of the mining of other minerals (especially [[vanadium]]), typically contained less than 1% uranium. In 1941, both the Shinkolobwe mine and the [[Eldorado Mine (Northwest Territories)|Eldorado Mine]] in Canada were closed and became flooded; the Manhattan Project had them reopened and returned to service.

Beyond their immediate wartime needs, the American and British governments attempted to control as much of the world's uranium deposits as possible. They created the [[Combined Development Trust]] in June 1944, with the director of the Manhattan Project, [[Major General (United States)|Major General]] [[Leslie R. Groves Jr.]] as its chairman. The Combined Development Trust procured uranium and [[thorium#Occurrence|thorium ores]] on international markets. A special account not subject to the usual auditing and controls was used to hold Trust monies. Between 1944 and his resignation from the Trust in 1947, Groves deposited a total of $37.5 million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|37.5|1944|r=2}} million in {{Inflation/year|US}}). In 1944, the Combined Development Trust purchased {{convert|3440000|lb|kg}} of uranium oxide ore from the Belgian Congo.

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====The US Army takes over====

Events began to move swiftly once the Army became involved. On 15 September 1942, Ruhoff secured Sengier's approval for the release of {{convert|100|ST|t}} of ore, which was shipped to Eldorado's refinery at [[Port Hope, Ontario]], for testing of the oxide content.{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=79}} Nichols met with Sengier in the latter's office at [[Cunard Building (New York City)|25 Broadway]] on 18 September,{{sfn|Norris|2002|p=326}} and the two men reached an eight-sentence agreement that Nichols recorded on a yellow [[legal pad]], giving Sengier a [[carbon copy]]. Under this agreement, the United States agreed to buy the ore in storage on Staten Island and was granted prior rights to purchase the {{convert|3,000|ST|t}} in the Belgian Congo, which would be shipped, stored and refined at the US government's expense. African Metals would retain ownership of the radium in the ore. At a meeting on 23 September, they agreed on a price: USD{{convert|1.60|$/lb}} (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|{{convert|1.60|/lb|order=flip|disp=number}}|1942}}/kg in {{Inflation/year|US}}), of which $1 would go to African Metals and 60 cents to Eldorado for refining.{{sfn|Nichols|1987|pp=43–46}} Sengier opened a special bank account to receive the payments, which the [[Federal Reserve]] was instructed to ignore and auditors instructed to accept without question.{{sfn|Groves|1962|p=37}} Contracts were signed on 19 October.{{sfn|Helmreich|1986|p=9}}

[[File:Bowling Green NYC Feb 2020 07.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Cunard Building (New York City)|Cunard Building]] at 25 Broadway, where Sengier had his office]]

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[[File:Gilbert Labine examining uranium ore at the Eldorado Mine located at Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories.jpg|thumb|right|[[Gilbert LaBine]] examines uranium ore at the [[Eldorado Mine (Northwest Territories)|Eldorado Mine]] ]]

On 16 May, LaBine found pitchblende near the shores of Echo Bay at a mine site that became [[Port Radium]].{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=23–25}}<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Science: Radium |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=https://time.com/archive/6757353/science-radium/ |access-date=25 February 2025 }}</ref> Eldorado also established a processing plant at Port Hope, Ontario, the only facility of its kind in North America. To run it, LaBine hired Marcel Pochon, a French chemist who had learned how to refine radium under [[Pierre Curie]], who was working at the recently closed [[South Terras mine]] in Cornwall.{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=55–57}}<ref>{{cite web |title=How Canada supplied uranium for the Manhattan Project |publisher=CBC Documentaries |url=https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/how-canada-supplied-uranium-for-the-manhattan-project-1.7402051 |access-date=25 February 2025 |archive-date=11 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250211161617/https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/how-canada-supplied-uranium-for-the-manhattan-project-1.7402051 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Science: Radium |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,758086-2,00.html |access-date=25 February 2025 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=10 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231010121538/https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,758086-2,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Ore was mined at Port Radium and shipped via [[Great Bear River|Great Bear]], [[Mackenzie River|Mackenzie]] and [[Slave River]]s to [[Waterways, Alberta]], and thence by rail to Port Hope.{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=11–15}}<ref name="Macleans">{{cite magazine |title=Port Radium's Eldorado - The Mine that Shook the World |first=Ronald A. |last=Keith |magazine=Maclean's Magazine |date=15 November 1945 |via=Republic of Mining |url=https://republicofmining.com/2016/09/14/port-radiums-eldorado-the-mine-that-shook-the-world-by-ronald-a-keith-macleans-magazine-november-15-1945/ |access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref> In 1936, Eldorado Gold Mines took over [[Marine Transportation Services|Northern Transportation Company Limited]] (NTCL). Its flagships were the ''[[Radium Queen (ship)|Radium Queen]]'' and ''[[Radium King]]'' both commissioned in 1937.<ref>{{Cite book sfn|last=vanVan Wyck |first=Peter |title=Highway of the Atom |date=2010 |publisher=MQUP |isbn=978-0-7735-3783-5 |___location=Montreal |pagesp=31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=15 April 1937 |title=Radium King's en route - Eldorado subsidiary ship leaves for west by train |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Gi8rAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qZgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4583,2000389&dq=radium-king&hl=en |worknewspaper=The Montreal Gazette |volume=CLXVI |issue=90}}</ref> The two [[Tugboat|tugboats]] pulled or pushed, depending on the conditions, ore [[scow]]s named ''Radium One'' to ''Radium Twelve''.{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=66–67}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Discouraging Difficulties Overcome by Eldorado Pioneers |newspaper=[[Edmonton Bulletin]] |date=11 December 1945 |page=16 |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-edmonton-bulletin/113391751/ |access-date=26 February 2025}}</ref> Great Bear Lake is only navigable between early July and early October, being icebound the rest of the year,{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=11, 41}} but mining activity continued year-round, sustained by the [[Eldorado Radium Silver Express]], which flew personnel and supplies to the mine and transported ores back by air.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947a|p=3.1}}{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=368–375}}<ref name="CnsBulletin2005">{{cite journal |author=Arsenault |first=Jim E. |date=December 2005 |title=The Eldorado Radium Silver Express |url=https://cns-snc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Vol26_No4_2005.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Canadian Nuclear Society Bulletin |issn= 0714-7074 |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=47–49 |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=2012-12-01}}</ref>

Competition from Union Minière was fierce and served to drive the price of radium down from CAD$70 per milligram in 1930 ({{Inflation|CA|70|1930|fmt=eq}}) to CAD$21 per milligram in 1937 ({{Inflation|CA|21|1937|fmt=eq}}). Boris Pregel negotiated a cartel deal with Union Minière under which each company gained exclusive access to its home market and split the rest of the world 60:40 in Union Minière's favor. The outbreak of war in September 1939 blocked access to hard-won European markets, especially Germany, a major customer for ceramic-grade uranium. Union Minière lost its refinery at [[Olen, Belgium|Olen]] when Belgium was overrun, forcing it to use Eldorado's mill at Port Hope.{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=71–75}} With sufficient stocks on hand for five years of operations, Eldorado closed the mine in June 1940.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947a|p=3.1}}{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=102–107}}

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Complex negotiations followed between the Americans, British and Canadians regarding patent rights, export controls, and the exchange of scientific information, but the purchase was approved when Churchill and Roosevelt met at the [[Second Washington Conference]] in June 1942.{{sfn|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|pp=85–86}} Over the next eighteen months, LaBine and John Proctor from the [[Imperial Bank of Canada]] criss-crossed North America buying up stock in Eldorado Gold Mines,{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=123–124}} which changed its name to the more accurate Eldorado Mining and Refining on 3 June 1943.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947a|p=3.1}} On 28 January 1944, Howe announced in the [[House of Commons of Canada]] that Eldorado had become a [[crown corporation]], and the remaining shareholders would be reimbursed at $1.35 a share.{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|p=149}}

Shortly after to the nationalization of Eldorado Gold Mines, the Canadian government initiated an investigation into the company's historical management practices and operations tha yielded evidence suggesting fraudulent activities.<ref name=":0">{{Cite webmagazine |last=Sylvain |first=Lumbroso |last2=Wentzell |first2=Tyler |date=2 January 2024 |title=Unearthing a Nuclear Scandal |url=https://thewalrus.ca/unearthing-a-nuclear-scandal/ |access-date=26 April 2025 |websitemagazine=[[The Walrus]] }}</ref> As a result, in February 1946, Marcel Pochon, financial director Carl French, and Boris Pregel were charged with criminal conspiracy and fraud. They were alleged to have misappropriated and significant funds from Eldorado through a network of secretly controlled companies.<ref>{{Cite news |date=12 February 1946 |title=Uranium To Forefront In Spy Ring Inquiry |url=https://princealbertlibrary.ca/padh/1946/February/Feb%2019,1946.pdf |newspaper=[[Prince Albert Daily Herald]] |pages=1, 8 |access-date=26 April 2025 }}</ref> However, the criminal proceedings against Pochon, French, and Pregel were discontinued. This decision was reportedly driven by the Canadian government's desire to avoid public disclosure of potentially sensitive wartime transactions. Terms of any settlement reached with Eldorado remained confidential.<ref name=":0" /> Related scrutiny also brought to light reports that Pregel, operating with U.S. government authorization, had facilitated the sale of {{convert|500|lb|kg|abbr=in|order=flip}} of uranium oxide to the Soviet Union during the war period. This transaction indicated that the distribution of Canadian uranium was not solely confined to the Manhattan Project.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Mining: Uranium Unlimited? |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |issue=11 |date=13 March 1950 |pp=83–84 |url=https://time.com/vault/issue/1950-03-13/page/87/ |access-date=26 April 2025}}</ref>

====Production====

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Nor was this the end of it: on 22 December, Preger's Canadian Radium and Uranium Corporation placed an order for another {{convert|500|ST|t|order=flip}}. This meant not only that the mine would be reopened, but that it would be fully occupied with American orders until the end of 1944.{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|p=110}} The British now became alarmed: they had allowed {{convert|20|ST|t|order=flip}} of oxide earmarked for them to be diverted to the Americans, whose need was more pressing, but were now faced with being shut out entirely, with no uranium for the [[Montreal Laboratory]]'s reactor. The issue was resolved by the Quebec Agreement in August 1943.{{sfn|Gowing|1964|pp=182–187}}{{sfn|Villa|1981|pp=142–145}}

Ed Bolger, who had been the mine superintendent from 1939 to 1940, led the effort to reactivate the mine in April 1942. He arrived by air with an advance party of 25 and supplies, flown in by [[Canadian Pacific Air Lines]]. Some ore had been abandoned on the docks when the mine was closed, and could be shipped immediately, but reactivation was complicated. The mine had filled with water that had to be pumped out, and the water had rotted the timbers. One [[raise (mining)|raise]] was filled with helium. In order to thaw out the rock, electric heaters were brought in and ventilation was reduced, but this exposed the miner workers to a build up of radon gas. Bolger sought out the richest deposits and worked them first; in one [[vein (geology)|vein]], the oxide content was as high as 5%, but monthly production consistently fell short of targets, falling from a high of {{convert|80,000|ST|t|order=flip}} in August 1943 to {{convert|18,454|ST|t|order=flip}} in December.{{sfn|Bothwell|1984|pp=102–107}}{{sfn|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|p=85}}

[[File:Radium Queen at the Fort Fitzgerald docks, July 1, 1937.jpg|thumb|left|The ''Radium Queen'' at the dock in July 1937]]

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* {{cite book |last=Compton |first=Arthur |author-link=Arthur Compton |year=1956 |title=Atomic Quest |url=https://archive.org/details/atomicquestperso0000comp |url-access=registration |___location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |oclc=173307 }}

* {{cite journal |last=Corbett |first=John D. |title=Frank Harold Spedding 1902–1982 |url=http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10269&page=300%E2%80%93326 |journal=Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |volume=80 |year=2001 |author-link=John Corbett (chemist) |access-date=June 6, 2015 |isbn=978-0-309-08281-5 |archive-date=5 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405232844/http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10269&page=300%E2%80%93326 |url-status=live }}

* {{cite book |last= Cotta Vaz |first=Mark |title=Pan Am at War: How the Airline Secretly Helped America Fight World War II |date=2018 |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing Company, Incorporated |others=John H. Hill |isbn=978-1-5107-2950-6 |___location=New York }}

* {{cite book |last=Dahlkamp |first=Franz J. |title=Uranium Ore Deposits |publisher=Springer-Verlag |___location=Berlin |year=1993 |isbn=978-3-540-53264-4 |oclc=23213888 }}

* {{cite report |author=Fleishman-Hillard |title=Fuel for the Atomic Age: Completion Report on St. Louis-Area Uranium Processing Operations, 1942–1967 |date=1 January 1967 |doi=10.2172/4137766 |osti=4137766 |___location=St. Louis, Missouri }}

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* {{cite book |last=Smyth |first=Henry DeWolf |author-link=Henry DeWolf Smyth |title=Atomic Energy for Military Purposes: the Official Report on the Development of the Atomic Bomb under the Auspices of the United States Government, 1940–1945 |___location=Princeton, New Jersey |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1945 |oclc=770285|title-link=Smyth Report}}

* {{cite book |last=Vanthemsche |first=Guy |title=Belgium and the Congo, 1885-1980 |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |___location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-19421-1 |oclc=801193141 }}

* {{Cite book |last=Van Wyck |first=Peter |title=Highway of the Atom |date=2010 |___location=Montreal |publisher=MQUP |isbn=978-0-7735-3783-5 |oclc=630475325 }}

* {{cite book |last=Villa |first=Brian L. |title=The Second World War as a National Experience: Canada |contribution=Chapter 11: Alliance Politics and Atomic Collaboration, 1941–1943 |publisher=The Canadian Committee for the History of the Second World War, Department of National Defence |year=1981 |editor-first=Aster |editor-last=Sidney |editor-link=Sidney Aster |oclc=11646807 |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/Canada/Natl_Exp/index.html |access-date=8 December 2014 |archive-date=17 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917040749/http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/Canada/Natl_Exp/index.html |url-status=live }}

* {{cite journal |last=Wilhelm |first=H. A. |author-link=Harley A. Wilhelm |title=Development of Uranium Metal Production in America |journal=[[Journal of Chemical Education]] |issn=0021-9584 |date=February 1, 1960 |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=56–68 |doi=10.1021/ed037p56 |bibcode=1960JChEd..37...56W |osti=4732659 }}

* {{cite book | last = Williams |first = Susan |authorlink = Susan Williams (historian) |date = 2016 |title = Spies in the Congo: America's Atomic Mission in World War II |___location = New York |publisher = [[Hachette Book Group|Hachette]] |isbn = 978-1-61039-655-4 |oclc=962172953}}

* {{cite book| last = Williams |first = Susan |authorlink = Susan Williams (historian) |date = 2016 |title = Spies in the Congo: America's Atomic Mission in World War II |___location = New York |publisher = [[Hachette Book Group|Hachette]] |isbn = 978-1-61039-655-4 }}

{{refend}}

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