Taylor Ranch Mineral Assessment

Last updated on May 14, 2026

Prepared a Mineral Remoteness Evaluation (or Mineral Assessment Report) for the 3,638-acre Taylor Ranch located thirty miles northwest of Cañon City, Colorado. Stakeholders included Taylor Ranch LLC and Colorado Open Lands.

This mineral remote assessment and accompanying baseline documentation was prepared in accordance with classification systems developed by the Bureau of Land Management, United States Geological Survey, and Colorado Geological Survey by a Certified Professional Geologist registered with the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG).

Regional Geology — The subject parcel lies within the Southern Rocky Mountains of central Colorado and situated in the south-central part of the State. The area lies in the southern end of the Thirtynine Mile Volcanic Area to the north, and the Wet Mountain Uplift to the east. This region includes a complex geologic history, with bedrock ranging from Precambrian-age (~1.4 to 1.8-billion years) metamorphic granites, migmatites, gneisses, and schists; Cambrian- to Paleogene-age (~530 to 40-million years) sedimentary rocks; and Late Cretaceous- to Paleogene-age (~64 to 10-million years) igneous intrusions and volcanic fields.

Local Geology — Local bedrock geology exposed at the subject parcel consists of Tertiary volcanic rocks, including Miocene Waugh Mountain Andesite (Twa); Oligocene Gribbles Park, Thorn Ranch, East Gulch, Antero Formation Tuffs (Tgte), Thirtynine Mile Andesite (Ttml & Tsr), and Tallahassee Creek Conglomerate (Ttc), and Wall Mountain Tuff (Twm); Eocene-age Echo Park Alluvium (Tep); laying unconformably upon Precambrian quartz monzonite (Yqm) and migmatic gneiss (Xgn). Overlying the bedrock, surficial deposits found at the subject parcel include Quaternary-age stream terrace alluvium (Qp), landslide deposits (Qls), and glaciated alluvium (Qs) (Epis et al., 1979).

Proximal Metallic and Critical Mineral Deposits — 

Metallic Mineral Deposits — The Isabel Mine (MRDS ID D009707), including prospects, open cuts, and shafts, is located to the east of the property. Economic quantities of Zinc, Copper, Lead, Silver, and Gold were mined from copper-zinc skarn exhalative deposits along the Currant Creek fault zone near the contact of Precambrian biotite gneiss (Xgn) and Boulder Creek-aged and Silver Plume-aged granites. While production records are mostly incomplete, during 1946 approximately 91 tons of mined ore contained 2 ounces of gold, 168 ounces of silver, 866 pounds of copper, 1,723 pounds of lead, and 12,824 pounds of zinc (Sheridan et al., 1990; BLM, 2018; USGS, 2025c).

Uranium — Prompted by strong surface radiometric anomalies discovered during regional geophysical studies completed in 1954, exploration led to the discovery of about fifteen small ore bodies in what became known as the Tallahassee Creek Uranium District (Chenoweth, 1980). Contracted by Cyprus Mines Corporation, the Rampart Exploration Company discovered the Hansen (MRDS ID D009322) and Picnic Tree (MRDS ID D009336) ore bodies in 1977. Cyprus drilled over 1,000 holes at the Hansen deposit, completed three favorable feasibility studies, and obtained a DRMS permit to mine in 1981, but the project was tabled due to low uranium prices and the permit was terminated. Depths of these deposits are between 500 and 650 feet within the Echo Park Alluvium, which has been found to contain 80 to 90 percent of the known uranium mineral deposits in the Tallahassee Creek Uranium District (Chenowith, 1980; Dickinsen, 1981; Hon, 1984; BLM, 2018). These uranium ore deposits are presently part of the larger Tallahassee Uranium Project, presently owned by a joint venture between Western Uranium Corporation & Vanadium Corporation (WUC) and Global Uranium and Enrichment Ltd (GUE).

Issues Related to Proposed Uranium Mining (development remoteness) —  

• Proposed In-Situ Recovery (ISR) techniques are unproven within the local geologic and hydrologic environments. Potential risks include the spreading of the uranium laden leaching solution outside of intended mine areas and the difficulty of restoring groundwater to baseline conditions after mining. In the case of the Tallahassee Uranium Project, a scoping study was completed in May 2025, but specific details concerning the conclusion of site-specific feasibility tests are limited (GUE, 2025). While the general ISR mining method itself may be proven, its effectiveness and safety within the local hydrologic environment will require extensive technical assessment and regulatory scrutiny. It is important to note that the Cañon City water supply is derived from the Arkansas River drainage, the city being located downstream of the proposed project area.

• Sufficient water rights necessary for mining, milling, and reclamation activities will be required. The primary limitation regarding available water rights for the Tallahassee Uranium Project is the stringent requirement under Colorado law (H.B. 08-1161) to restore groundwater quality to pre-mining conditions after ISR operations. This poses a significant challenge because there are no known ISR projects where water quality has been successfully restored to pre-mining levels after ISR mining. Any project operator would face the challenge of demonstrating that water quality standards could be met, something that has not been previously achieved within the industry. 

• Extensive environmental baseline studies and permitting process for new mines in Colorado. The project operator will need to obtain an in-situ mining permit, which requires describing at least five similar mining operations that did not result in groundwater contamination. This is a major regulatory obstacle due to the lack of successful restoration cases. A uranium mill permit will be required from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), which has limited recent experience permitting uranium-related mill and radioactive materials licenses.

Select References — 

Barkmann, P.E., Broes, L.D., Palkovic, M.J., Hopkins, J.C., Bird, K.S., Sebol, L.A., and Fitzgerald, F.S., 2021, Colorado Groundwater Atlas (Data): Colorado Geological Survey, ON-010D, v20210304.  https://bit.ly/3wB482o

Chenoweth, W.L., 1980, Uranium in Colorado, in Colorado Geology, Kent, H.C., and Porter, K.W., eds., Rocky Mtn. Assoc. of Geologists, 1980, p. 221.

Dickinson, K. A., 1981, Geologic controls of uranium mineralization in the Tallahassee Creek uranium district, Fremont County, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 81-735, 22 p. https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr81735

Epis, R.C., Wobus, R.A., and Scott, G.R., 1979, Geologic map of the Black Mountain quadrangle, Fremont and Park Counties, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-1195.  https://doi.org/10.3133/i1195 

Global Uranium and Enrichment Ltd. (GUE) https://globaluranium.com.au/ 

McIntosh, W.C., and Chapin, C.E., 2004, Geochronology of the central Colorado volcanic field, in Cather, S.M., McIntosh, W.C., and Kelley, S.A., eds., Tectonics, geochronology, and volcanism in the southern Rocky Mountains and Rio Grande rift: New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources Bulletin 160, p. 205–237.  https://bit.ly/3NTfUef 

Nelson-Moore, J. L., Collins, D. B., and Hornbaker, A. L., 1978, Radioactive mineral occurrences of Colorado: Colorado Geological Survey Bulletin 40, 1054 p., 12 pl. https://bit.ly/4oB0V92 

Sheridan, D.M., Raymond, W.H., Taylor, R.B., and Hasler, J.W., 1990, Metallogenic map of stratabound exhalative and related occurrences in Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Geologic Investigations Map I-1971, scale 1:1,000,000. https://doi.org/10.3133/i1971 

U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), 2018, Mineral Potential Report for the Royal Gorge Field Office, Colorado.  https://bit.ly/3va1a4m 

Western Uranium Corporation (WUC) http://www.blackrangeminerals.com/mines-projects.html