Garfield, Utah

(Associated names include Howe Sound Mining Company, Blackbird Mine, Garfield Cobalt Refinery, Minerals Engineering, Susquehanna Minerals)

Jobsite

A subsidiary of Howe Sound Mining Company, Calera Mining Company, mined cobalt from the Blackbird Mine located in Idaho in the 1940s and processed the cobalt at their plant in Garfield, Utah, which opened in the 1950s.  By the early 1950s, Calera Mining Company was the primary producer of cobalt ore in the United States.

Address or general location

Garfield, Utah

Detail

Constructed by the Chemical Construction Corporation in the early 1950s, the Calera Mining Company’s cobalt refinery in Garfield, Utah, produced cobalt granules from concentrate shipped to the refinery from Calera Mining’s operations in Cobalt, Idaho.  By 1952, Calera Mining, a subsidiary of Howe Sound Mining Company, was the primary producer of cobalt ore in the United State.  At the time, the primary uses of cobalt were for high-temperature alloys and for preparation of cemented carbides.  

In the early 1960s, the refinery was purchased by Minerals Engineering Company and Susquehanna-Western, Inc., and was converted to produce vanadium pentoxide for use in nuclear energy, alloy steels and smog-control devices.