There's keen interest in both commodities.
The construction industry, gripped in a building-products shortage, needs more limestone to make cement, and western Utah offers an abundance of good-quality reserves.
And, with many talking about a renaissance of the nuclear-power industry, those who stake claims are hoping for a third uranium boom on the Colorado Plateau in southeastern Utah.
The maps will be most sought after from people in both industries, according to the state's geology office.
"The number of public inquiries about uranium has gone up tremendously," said Ken Krahulec, who helped plot the map of uranium and vanadium mines, districts and deposits.
Utah has been going through a boom already - at least in terms of interest. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management counted about 508 mining claims of all types in the 2000-01 budget year. In an an 11-month period in 2004-5, as the price for uranium quadrupled, the number of mining claims jumped to 6,823, according to the agency.
BLM geologist Frank Bain said the price for a pound of uranium is now $34.25. He said many claims stakers are old-time southeastern Utah miners with ties to the booms in the 1950s and 1970s.
They generally are, he said, "people who are hoping make a few bucks by selling their claims to someone else."
Lately, that often means Canadian uranium companies.
The renewed interest in uranium claims has been accompanied by an increase in conflicts over claim jumping, he added. Some appear headed to court, Bain said. "In the old days, it was solved with a shotgun."
Bryce Tripp, the state geologist behind the limestone report, noted that two cement plants already rely on Utah limestone, one in Morgan County and the other near Delta.
Meanwhile, a few times a year his office fields questions from international construction companies. One is currently exploring for a new mine.
"The West is certainly an attractive area," Tripp said. "Companies can't get enough [construction raw materials] to finish what they are building now."
The state School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration has its eyes on both commodities. Agency spokesman Dave Hebertson said uranium inquiries have come in for trust lands in San Juan, Grand and Emery counties.
"We have leased some lands that haven't been leased in a long time," he said.
In addition, the agency, which raises money for state schools from the 3.4 million acres in its charge, earns about $750,000 a year from limestone companies.
The limestone map and report costs $15.95. A CD containing the uranium-vanadium map costs $24.95, while the plot-on-demand map is available for $14.95.
fahys@sltrib.com
