Pitchblende is a radioactive mineral composed of the mineral uraniumite; it is one of the main mineral ores of uranium. It is historically important as the mineral in which the chemical elements polonium and radium were first discovered in 1898 by the French scientists, Pierre and Marie Curie. Pitchblende was commercially important only as a source of uranium needed for the production of the atomic bomb.
Pitchblende is black, opaque mineral with a dull, pitch like luster. The hardness is 5.5 and the sp. gr., witch is extremely high for a mineral, ranges from 9.0 to 9.7. It crystallizes in the isometric system and usually occurs in massive formations as a constituent of granite rocks and pegmatites or as a secondary mineral associated with silver, lead or copper ores. Large deposits of Pitchblende are located in South Africa, Czechoslovakia, Canada, Germany, and France. In the US the most important source is a deposit found in Marysvale, Utah. Smaller deposits have been discovered in Connecticut, North California, and Colorado.
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