Mineral: Autunite
Locality: Vénachat Mine, Compreignac, Bellac, Haute-Vienne Department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France
Dimensions: FOV 5mm

Description: A fairly rich dispersal of greenish-yellow autunite crystals (highly fluorescent under LW UV) on a granitic matrix with fragments of black uraninite from Vénachat. [In 1976 the Compagnie générale des mines was created based on the uranium production activities of CEA, the French government’s Commissariat à l’énergie atomique (English: Atomic Energy Commission). Later it was renamed Compagnie générale des matières nucléaire (COGEMA). In 2001 it became Areva after merging with other companies and in 2006 the subsidiary’s name was changed to Areva NC. In 2018 it changed its name to Orano Cycle to reflect the restructuring of Areva. Orano is an industrial group active in all stages of the uranium fuel cycle, including uranium mining, conversion, enrichment, spent fuel reprocessing, and recycling. The Vénachat mining site is located in the commune of Compreignac (about 4km NE of the village) in Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. It operated between 1959 and 1992 and was shut down due to the depletion of its uranium deposit. COGEMA operated the site for underground mining and as an open pit water mine. Vénachat was exploited by underground mining works between 1959 and 1962, then by surface mines and underground mining works between 1981 and 1992. The upwelling in mining works resulted in the establishment of a water body in the opencast mine in 1994, the gravity overflow of which was initially treated, then (since December 1999) it was discharged directly into the Ritord watershed at low flow. The water treatment station at this former mining site is kept operational, but it is no longer actually in operation. Although a formal declaration of completion of mining was recorded on 10th August 2001 Vénachat still remains a regulated and restricted site.]

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