pitchblende
pichb lend
- n a mineral consisting of uranium oxide and trace amounts of radium and thorium and polonium and lead and helium; uraninite in massive form is called pitchblende which is the chief uranium ore
- The Belgian pitchblende mines, whence the related radium, polonium and lead are refined, are at Katanga, Belgian Congo.
- The Turkestan samples of pitchblende (the main source of radium) run almost twice as high in radium content as the Congo ores, and will make possible its distribution in America .
- They carry the pitchblende to the surface in crude buckets attached to winches.