"Uranium wasn't seen to hold very much value before World War II. It was much less important than radium, which sits alongside uranium in ores like pitchblende and carnotite and was widely used in medical settings and to make luminous instrument dials. Yet with the discovery of uranium's use in nuclear fission, what was once a byproduct became these ores' most hotly desired component."
"In fact, of the 1,200 tons of pitchblende packed into drums at Shinkolobwe, then shipped to Matadi and New York, the Manhattan Project only purchased the uranium. The project held onto the sludge left after refining, promising to return it to Union Minière du Haut-Katanga at the war's end so that it could be used for the company's main business: radium."
Before World War II uranium had comparatively little value and was secondary to radium, which was used in medicine and luminous dials. With the discovery of uranium's role in nuclear fission, uranium became the most sought component of ores such as pitchblende and carnotite. Edgar Sengier of Union Minière shipped 1,200 tons of Congolese pitchblende to New York, from which the Manhattan Project purchased only the uranium and promised to return refining sludge so Union Minière could recover radium. Germany's earlier seizures of Jáchymov and Belgian stockpiles intensified competition for Congolese deposits, prompting U.S. urgency. The Manhattan Project prioritized securing and managing scarce materials.
Read at Big Think
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